Launch of the Rendez-vous de la Francophonie 2005 in the Public Service of Canada

Thank you. What a success!

On March 4, 2005, at the invitation of the Honourable Mauril Bélanger, Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister responsible for Official Languages, some 660 Francophones and Francophiles from the National Capital Region gathered at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau to celebrate the 7^th edition of the Rendez-vous de la Francophonie 2005 in the Public Service of Canada.

The morning was kicked off with a French-language folk rock performance by the Saskatoon duo Polly-Esther, who warmed up the crowd. The participants enjoyed the good company and pleasant atmosphere, and spent time mingling and hunting for treasures at the various booths.

A message seemed to come from the beyond. We were in for a surprise. Véronique Cloutier, spokesperson for Rendez-vous 2005, gave us a warm welcome.

Mélanie Riendeau, radio cultural reporter for Radio-Canada, and Normand Latour, cultural reporter for the Radio-Canada television show Le Téléjournal Ottawa/Gatineau, put the crowd at ease with their dynamic and extremely professional presentation.

Minister Bélanger shared with us his vision of la Francophonie and his speech was met with warm applause. Three young Haitians thanked him by reciting poems from their country, highlighting Haiti's participation as a founding member of la Francophonie and its role as the host country for the International Day of La Francophonie, which will be celebrated on March 20, 2005.

Eight students from the Canada School of Public Service's Language Training Centre put on a short play inspired by a work from Quebec author Roch Carrier. The actors were Bill Mattews, as the teacher, and Eric Alscher, Kate Beauchamp, Erin Mostovac, Rachel Nadeau, Bonnie Royle, Chris Wright and Kathy Tsui as grade three students. The budding artists demonstrated a strong grasp of the French language and delighted the crowd with their performance.

Playwright and author Laurier Gareau, outgoing President of the Saskatchewan Historical Society, highlighted the contribution of Francophones from Western Canada since 2005 marks the 100th anniversary of Saskatchewan and Alberta. You can read his reflections in his speech.

Bertin Dzangué, an artist with the company Ekongo ya Mbé-Mbé, made us realize that la Francophonie speaks to the entire world. With its diversity, the French language is often surprising!

When we came back down to earth, the Translation Bureau from Public Works and Government Services Canada entertained us with an interactive language game entitled "La petite école," a takeoff of a Radio-Canada game show. The host, Éric Charette, bombarded the two teams with language questions. With the help of two Bureau employees, Kathleen Hedley, Kenneth Lawrence, Stan Lipinski, John Samuel, Heather Stecliffe and Stephen Van Dine—six worthy students from the Canada School of Public Service's Language Training Centre—cheerfully made it to the post-doctoral level by answering language questions prepared by Fanny Vittecoq on the theme of Western Canada, its history, its geography and its artists. This game helped make the event a success. Language games are a fun way to test one's second language knowledge!

The 54-student choir "Les deux rives" from Lycée Claudel in Ottawa and the school l'Escalade in Gatineau closed the ceremony. Choir master Judith Pelletier and teacher Jacky Lepeintre left us with some wonderful memories of a beautiful musical performance.

The organizing committee wishes to thank all the institutions that contributed to the door prizes. The participants appreciated the generosity and the quality of the prizes. Once again this year, the door prizes included books from local authors who work or who have worked in the Public Service.

Finally, we were lucky to have among our guests Officer Anick Bernard from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Gilles Provost, director of Gatineau's Théâtre de l’Île, who played Jules Verne, the father of French-language science fiction, marking the 100th anniversary of the writer's death.

The organizing committee members were:

Marie-Ève Sylvain, Canadian Museum of Civilization
Lyne Labrèche, Privy Council Office
Michèle Paré, Canadian Heritage
Jacinthe Mathieu, Language Training Centre, Canada School of Public Service
Hakima Adjali and Hocine Toulait, Export Development Canada
Nathalie Samure, Rendez-vous de la Francophonie
Nathalie Jamault and Constant Mudekereza, Health Canada
Aline Manson, Public Works and Government Services Canada (Translation Bureau)
Marie-Édith St-Vil and Brian Murphy, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Francine Dubé, Olivier Legros and Bernadette Larrue, Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada

What a celebration!

Here's to future events that promote the bringing together of Canada's two linguistic communities.