Showcasing Canada's Linguistic Duality

The Canada Games, the Jeux de la francophonie canadienne, the Games of La Francophonie, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, these are all great opportunities for promoting and experiencing Canada's linguistic duality. The Government of Canada and the Francophone and Acadian communities recognized these opportunities and took full advantage of them!

The Games, year over year

• The Canada Games are held every two years, alternating between summer sports and winter sports.The first Winter Games took place in Quebec in 1967; the next Games will be held in Yukon in 2007.The next Summer Games will be held in Prince Edward Island in 2009.The program includes an artistic component that covers dance, theatre, music and visual arts.
• The Jeux de la francophonie canadienne have been held every three years since 1999, the Year of La Francophonie in Canada.The next games will be hosted by Edmonton in 2008.
• The Games of La Francophonie take place every four years, in the year that follows the Olympic Games.These Games have been played since 1989 and feature two components: sport and culture.The next Games will be held in Lebanon in 2009.
• The Olympic Games have been played since 1896 and are held every two years, alternating between summer games and winter games. The next Games will take place in Beijing, China, in the summer of 2008.

Sport Canada's Web site provides an overview of the Games and contains a wealth of information: www.pch.gc.ca/sportcanada

• Jeux de la francophonie canadienne
• 2005 Canada Summer Games
• 2007 Canada Winter Games
• The Games of la Francophonie
• 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games

   Jeux de la francophonie canadienne

Created in 1999 for the Year of La Francophonie in Canada, the Games are organized by the Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française. It includes three components: sport competitions, artistic competitions, and leadership activities.The Games provide a concrete approach to helping young Francophone Canadians break out of their isolation, promoting exchanges, and supporting the commitment to the culture and identity that is associated with the French language.

The sport and artistic components are competitive. In 2005, the teams challenged each other in track and field events, badminton, volleyball, visual arts, music, video and improvisation. The leadership component aims to introduce future leaders to activities that are of interest to them, without competing against one another.They learn to lead a delegation in a large-scale event such as the Games, organize special activities, and create and write a daily journal.

The 2005 Jeux de la francophonie canadienne introduced a particularly effective practice for increasing the number of exchanges and promoting the development of solid ties.The competitive activities under the sport and artistic components, which pitted provincial teams against one another, were systematically followed by cooperative activities within a team created on-site, comprising young people from various participating provinces.The same was done in the artistic disciplines: a group project was completed following the individual competitions.

The young people were especially appreciative of this formula, because they were given the opportunity to meet more young Francophones in Canada, and they had a chance to win more than one medal.The formula will certainly be retained in the next Games, which are to be held in Edmonton in 2008.

Jeux de la francophonie canadienne
www.jeuxfc.ca

   2005 Canada Summer Games

Thanks to the teamwork of Canada Games and the Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise, the two official languages in Canada were an integral part of this great sporting and cultural event.

In the host city of Regina, 70 businesses agreed to provide services in French, and thousands of bilingual volunteers wore a badge, proudly proclaiming, Je parle français. The organizing committee assigned these volunteers to the work that involved the most contact with the public. As a result, numerous volunteer students from French immersion schools were able to speak with visitors in their second language.

With very few exceptions, the activities and documents identified as public were produced in both official languages, as were the training activities and the announcements made during the competitions.The 2005 Canada Games Web site (www.regina2005.ca) was also bilingual.

Throughout the Games, the Canada Games Language Services Division ensured that all athletes, coaches, officials, dignitaries and visitors were greeted and served in the language of their choice.This effort was a great success, based on the positive comments made by the delegations from New Brunswick and Quebec and the federal government representatives. Everyone was pleasantly surprised and delighted to discover that Saskatchewan had the capacity to host a national bilingual activity.

Some statistics:

• Approximately 500,000 words were translated prior to the Games, and more than 100,000 words were translated during the activities.
  
  
• 1,008 bilingual volunteers took part in the activities relating to the Games.
  
  
• More than one third of the employees hired by the Games were bilingual.
  
  
• 1,700 Je parle français badges were produced; 150 of them were worn by employees in a number of Regina businesses.
  
  
• 2,500 people live in French in Regina.
  
  
• 50,000 people speak French in Saskatchewan.

   2007 Canada Winter Games

Broadening the Francophone space

The Canada Winter Games will be held in Whitehorse in 2007. This will be the 40^th Games: the first to be held north of the 60^th parallel and the first to be held in a territory.

According to Lucy Steele-Masson, a former participant in the Canada Games and honorary Chair of the 2007 bid, there are few opportunities in the Yukon to attend elite sporting competitions. This will be a rare experience for the Yukon residents and for everyone arriving from points south of the 60^th parallel.

The community will have a unique opportunity to gain visibility and make itself known by showcasing the wealth and colours of the Francophone North. The Host Society of the Games will work closely with the Association franco-yukonnaise to ensure the success of the Winter Games and the active participation of the Francophone communities in the North and the West.

Canada Winter Games
www.2007canadagames.ca

   The Games of la Francophonie

A cultural exchange opportunity for Francophones around the world

The Games of La Francophonie are the only international games in which both artists and athletes can win medals. Essentially, the participation of Team Canada artists in the December 2005 Games in Niger revolved around exchanges with Francophone artists from other cultures who practise very different forms of artistic expression. Luc-Robert Martin, Deputy Head of Mission for the Culture component, noted that "the discussions on the techniques, artistic approaches, and the context for creation offered an experience that was all the more rewarding, given the prospect of winning a medal, which has a different meaning in arts than it does in sports."

In Canada, the Games of La Francophonie come under the responsibility of the Minister responsible for La Francophonie. He is Canada's representative in the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, which includes Quebec and New Brunswick as participating governments. As such, three separate Canadian teams take part in the Games of La Francophonie every four years: Team Canada, Team Canada-Quebec, and Team Canada-New Brunswick.

Canadian Heritage is responsible for the participation of Team Canada in the Games, whereas Foreign Affairs Canada (FAC) handles the policy issues and Canada's financial contribution. Madelaine Duchesne, Head of Mission for Team Canada, explains that, throughout the preparations, her work consisted of ensuring the health and safety of the team's athletes and artists, and FAC was responsible for the positions adopted by Canada and the decision to participate in the Games. The excellent cooperation between Canadian Heritage, FAC and the Canadian International Development Agency merits special mention.

5^th Games of La Francophonie
www.jeux2005.ne

How does the artistic competition unfold?

For example, storytellers give a 15-minute presentation that showcases their writing style, presence, technique and research. The same principle applies to dancers who present an original 20-minute creation. The photographers, painters and sculptors prepare a creation for the Games and produce one on-site during a workshop.

   2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games

In 2010, the eyes of the world will be focussed on Canada as it hosts the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.More than 6,500 athletes and officials from 80 countries, and approximately 250,000 visitors are expected in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia. More than 10,000 journalists will be covering the two events, with an estimated international audience of three billion television viewers.

The Government of Canada is proud to be a member of the team responsible for organizing the 2010 Games. It is determined to make this event a celebration that is on par with its ambitions and to ensure that the two official languages in Canada are fully integrated into the planning and organizing of the Games. It is working closely with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) to see to it that the linguistic duality in Canada and the rich pan-Canadian Francophone heritage are reflected in every aspect of the Games, for example, by involving the Francophone community in British Columbia and ensuring the provision of bilingual services, communications and bilingual staff.

The 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Federal Secretariat is the mainspring of the Government of Canada's participation in the Games. Its role is to provide guidance, advice and support to the departments and governments in order to promote cooperation and participation in the Games.The Secretariat works closely with VANOC to ensure that its official languages commitments are fulfilled.

The promotion of linguistic duality and the participation of Francophone communities from across the country are part of the Government of Canada's priorities. A discussion forum took place in December with the Francophone community of British Columbia. Representatives from VANOC, the Fondation Dialogue, the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique, the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada and the federal government attended this meeting.The session gave VANOC an opportunity to present its official languages objectives, and it allowed the Francophone community to identify the ways in which it could help support these objectives.

The meeting gave rise to productive exchanges and to the determination of the guiding principles for the development of a cooperation framework between VANOC, the Fondation Dialogue, and the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique. This session was part of a process initiated in March 2005 further to a strategic-thinking session, to open discussions with Francophone community leaders across Canada and to talk about ways to optimize opportunities and the visibility of the Francophonie in Canada during the 2010 Winter Games.The Fondation Dialogue was identified as a catalyst to developing a strategic pan-Canadian plan to ensure the participation of the Francophone communities in the 2010 Games.

XXI Olympic Winter Games and X Paralympic Winter Games
www.vancouver2010.com

2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Federal Secretariat
Tel.: (819) 934-2010
www.pch.gc.ca/special/2010

Fondation Dialogue
Tel.: (613) 241-6055
www.fondationdialogue.ca

Planned and synchronized Francophone participation

The Fondation Dialogue (formerly known as the Fondation canadienne pour le dialogue des cultures) is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to:

• promote and support dialogue among the Francophone and Acadian communities in Canada, Francophones in Quebec, the Anglophone population, ethnocultural communities and Aboriginal Peoples;
• educate and inform the people to bring the various communities closer together and to promote closer ties with each of them;
• create partnerships and promote, support and conduct research on bringing the Francophone and Acadian communities in Canada closer to the various sectors of Canadian society.