2 July 2012
Quebec City, Quebec
During the 13th Sommet de la Francophonie held in Montreux, Switzerland in October 2010, the Heads of State and Government unanimously decided that a global forum on the French language would soon be held. Given the important place that the French language occupies in Canadian society and in our cultural identity, Canada is proud to be the first to hold this major international event from July 2 to 6, 2012, in Quebec City, where civil society actors will gather to reflect on the future of the French language. The Government of Canada has offered $950,000 in support for the Forum.
The Forum will offer the hundreds of participants drawn from every continent a program that is contemporary, relevant and feasible, and that can result in actions for the future. There will be exchanges and discussions on issues relating to the place and future of the French language, issues that will be divided into four main themes, namely: the economy, labour and training; cultural references; the new digital universe; and linguistic diversity.
The second Rencontre internationale de la Francophonie économique (RIFÉ 2) will serve as an economic complement to the Forum. Its mission is to define a strategy and develop concrete and effective mechanisms designed to augment the importance of the economic dimension of the Francophone space. The RIFÉ will be an opportunity to delve deeper into the “Doing business in French” theme, based on the principle that sharing a common language represents value added for commercial exchanges. The Canadian International Development Agency has contributed $70,000 toward the organization of the RIFÉ.
The Forum also includes a festive dimension that will take up a significant part of the program: not only will the scheduled activities help make for some dynamic exchanges, but they will serve to showcase the wealth of cultural expression on display.
Youth associations and young people aged 18 to 30 will also play a prominent role, since 60% of the population in most Francophone countries are under the age of 30.
Spurred by the discussions leading up to the Montreux Declaration and by the proceedings of the Observatoire, a series of consultations with over a hundred persons and organizations was undertaken by the Commissariat général du Forum mondial de la langue française to better define the event and finalize its structure.
The Government of Canada is proud of Canada’s bilingualism and cultural diversity, and is working to promote French both here and abroad. In Canada, it showcased the Francophone identity by launching the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality, while overseas, it has supported a number of organizations like the Organisation internationale de La Francophonie, the TV5 global television network and the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie.
One of Canada’s founding languages, French is spoken by over 9.5 million Canadians.
