City of Québec, Tuesday, September 30, 2008
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I am so pleased to welcome such ardent champions of heritage to this city steeped in history, rather appropriately known as the Gibraltar of North America, particularly as we celebrate this year the 400th anniversary of its founding by explorer Samuel de Champlain.
We are here in the heart of the Historic District of Québec, at Place d'Youville, in a building built on the foundations of an old market.
This public market, once one of the busiest in the region, was converted into a concert and performance hall that became very popular with artists.
It is said that the acoustics in this room are perfect, as though, like a musical instrument, the sound had mellowed over time.
To understand the spirit of this place, you almost need to close your eyes and listen.
Listen for the sound of merchants and farmers calling out the price of their wares.
Listen for the sound of lively conversations between shoppers moving from stall to stall.
Listen for the sound of the strings of Les Violons du Roy, of the warm, deep voice of Félix Leclerc, the great Édith Piaf, the mythical B. B. King, resonating within these walls.
Listen and imagine.
Imagine the hustle and bustle outside, in the square, long before cars filled the streets once travelled by horses.
Imagine the traditions, the cultural and religious practices, the currents of thought passed from generation to generation, in this very place.
The visible traces of our time here on Earth are little more than the material representation of the values, beliefs, myths, and customs that shape who we are and influence our vision of the world and how we live in it.
They are the privileged witnesses to all of those intangible things embedded in the deepest recesses of our collective memory that define the essence of each civilization.
It is through these traces and witnesses that the soul of a people is revealed, and it is in that revelation that we find meaning.
The meaning of history.
The meaning of life.
We all share a profound belief that this intangible heritage must exist beyond the reach of time, archived and conserved, safe from every threat, just as we do with the most extraordinary building projects and important archaeological sites.
Failure to do so would be to betray or undermine the meaning-the spirit-of those places that we have inherited and that enrich our present.
In some parts of the world, and this is true of the Americas, preserving intangible heritage has reached a critical point.
When the Europeans arrived on these shores, they saw the Americas as a new world.
Because of this, they made a clean sweep of a world that was very real, that had been the cradle of ancient civilizations.
The people that had been living here for thousands of years and their descendants were dispossessed of themselves, of their languages, of their cultures.
As an example, barely two hundred years ago, an entire people, the Beothuk, who roamed across the island of Newfoundland in search of food, was decimated.
Thankfully, an explorer and philanthropist, William Cormack, took into his care the last of the Beothuk. Her name will not be forgotten: Shawnadithit.
For six years, Shawnadithit taught Cormack the rudiments of her language and the customs of her people. Through drawings, she illustrated the tools used by the Beothuk, their dwellings, their way of life.
The result is that the history, culture, legends, myths-in other words, the intangible heritage of that semi-nomadic people-are remembered to this day.
Without Shawnadithit and Cormack, the Beothuk would not only have disappeared; the very essence of their spirit would have been snuffed out, and they would have fallen into oblivion.
Likewise, it has taken a great deal of historiographical work to restore entire chapters of the history of the Americas that had been wiped from memory, whose meaning had been twisted or simply tucked away into shadow.
Work that is by no means finished.
In Canada, nothing is cause for greater concern than the decline of Aboriginal languages.
According to a study by the Assembly of First Nations, of approximately 53 Aboriginal languages in Canada, 50 are on the verge of extinction.
In the case of many languages, only the elders speak them regularly; the young know the languages but use them less often.
Which is why nothing is as moving, why nothing makes me happier, than to see and hear young Aboriginal artists reconnect with their first language and use it with pride.
I recently heard Samian and Shauit, two young Montagnais singers who rap in Algonquin and in Innu. They are part of that music scene so rich in possibilities. Others are doing the same in Cree, Inuktitut and Mohawk.
In their own way, these young artists are protecting our heritage and keeping it alive. It is a responsibility they take on with determination, and one that we must encourage.
Without language, the principal vehicle for passing on cultural values and traditions no longer exists.
An entire way of life and a wisdom dating back thousands of years risk disappearing if we are not careful.
And being careful means looking beyond the straight line of the present in which we are all too often mired in this era of instant access and seeing things in a broader perspective.
I think Chesterton said it best when he said, "all the men in history who have really done anything with the future have had their eyes fixed upon the past."
This is why it is so important for us to refocus our concerns on history, to give history its rightful place in the public space and to promote heritage, particularly among our youth.
To do this-and I know that you understand this, for you are holding a youth forum as part of this symposium-we must include youth in our reflections on the preservation of heritage.
I have made youth my priority because I love that almost organic and vital way they have of turning cultural expression into essential and incredibly effective tools for social change and handing down values.
Young people will keep us moving forward. They define themselves in relation to the past. The future is already their present.
We must never forget about them, and we must remember that the history of peoples and civilizations exists beyond the time of our own lives and forms the memory of the places we live.
That memory is what we leave behind and what you are helping to perpetuate through your work and commitment.
In all of those places around the world, where the past is alive and can be seen, touched and felt, every fragment whispers with the voices of a civilization, revealing the essence of those who came before us.
These places speak to us, if we know how to listen. Of places near and far, of yesterday and today, of those around us and those who have not yet crossed our path.
This is how the spirit of these places guides us to look to the past to find roots that dig deep; how it compels us to strive constantly and forever to improve the fate of humanity.
Thank you for undertaking this very important work, and may you find the spirit of this magnificent place, where Europe and the Americas meet.
Thank you.
