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<html> <head> <meta name="Generator" content="Corel WordPerfect 8"> <meta name="DATE" content="1/27/1997"> <meta name="Author" content="Hon. Raymond Chan, PC, MP"> <title>MR. AXWORTHY - ADDRESS AT HARBOURFRONT CENTREON THE LAUNCH OF CANADA S YEAR OF ASIA PACIFIC CULTURAL PROGRAM - TORONTO, ONTARIO</title> </head> <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> 97/8 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE LLOYD AXWORTHY, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, AT HARBOURFRONT CENTRE ON THE LAUNCH OF CANADAS YEAR OF ASIA PACIFIC CULTURAL PROGRAM TORONTO, Ontario February 8, 1997 This document is also available on the Department's Internet site: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca Introduction I am very pleased to join you in celebrating the opening of the Lunar Chinese New Year Festival of the Arts. This event marks the launch of a year-long program of cultural events across the country as part of Canada's Year of Asia Pacific. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade will support this program with funding of $1.9 million. And Harbourfront Centre, our hosts for these New Year's festivities, will manage and co-ordinate this ambitious undertaking. Harbourfront will oversee a busy schedule of live performances, exhibitions, forums and the like throughout 1997, which we expect over 2 million Canadians across the country to attend. Millions more will be reached through the mass media. Canada as APEC Host The government declared 1997 to be Canada's Year of Asia Pacific in order to make the most of our role as host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Our year as host culminates in a meeting of APEC leaders in Vancouver this November. It also includes five meetings of APEC ministers, along with trade shows and business seminars, a youth forum and many other events. The ministerial meetings will take place throughout the year in cities across Canada. They will focus on the issues of transport, energy, environment, small and medium-sized business, foreign affairs and trade. As a cross-cutting theme for all the APEC events, we have chosen to focus on small and medium-sized business and on youth. Culture and Canada's Year of Asia Pacific The cultural component of Canada's Year of Asia Pacific will involve five types of projects, all related to the Asia Pacific region and its links to Canada: projects by Canadian community organizations, since we want to see events penetrating down to the local level as much as possible; <ul> <li> projects by Canadian artists or arts organizations; <li> collaborative projects, in which Canadian and Asian artists co-operate on the creation of an original work; <li> traditional and contemporary performance events and visual exhibits sponsored by our partners in the region; and <li> collective projects that bring together artists or their works from three or more Asia Pacific economies. To assist Harbourfront Centre in developing this program, we have established regional advisory boards in every province, composed of volunteers active in arts and ethno-cultural organizations in their communities. They will ensure a transparent, decentralized project selection process, with grass-roots involvement of local stakeholders. Together, these projects form a special, targeted cultural initiative that will enhance Canadian awareness of our Asia Pacific connections, from coast to coast to coast. In fact my colleague Raymond Chan, Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific), is in Vancouver today to celebrate both the Lunar New Year and the launch of the cultural component of Canada's Year of Asia Pacific. Our aim is to expose a wide Canadian audience to the diversity of the Asia Pacific region, and expand opportunities for cross-cultural exchange. To build and sustain new partnerships in the region, it will be particularly important to capture the imagination of young Canadians. Canada's Year of Asia Pacific is also about seeking opportunities for jobs and growth. Events are planned to help Canadian businesses open up new markets in what is the world's fastest-growing region. All of these events will highlight the significant contribution made to this country by over 2 million Canadians of Asian descent. They bring empathy and knowledge to our relations with economies in the region, which allow them to pursue many promising opportunities in their countries of origin. The language, cultural skills and market knowledge of Asian Canadians are a significant asset to Canada. In fact, many of the community events I referred to are being organized by Asian Canadian groups. Here in Toronto, for example, we will be funding two community-sponsored events this month: <li> a visual arts exhibit organized by the Toronto Vietnamese Association; and <li> a series of Indian dance performances by Menakka Thakkar, an expert in both contemporary and traditional dance. Both the APEC forum and Canada's Year of Asia Pacific will emphasize the global, international dimension of Canada as a major player in this immensely important region. They will help Canadians to think in terms of the Pacific dimensions of their country. And they will showcase Canadian capabilities, values and diversity to Asian leaders. The lasting legacy of 1997 will, I am confident, be seen in two things: <li> continued and strengthened Canadian involvement in the Asia Pacific region; and <li> the emergence of a true Pacific consciousness across Canada. The International Dimensions of Culture Why are we putting such an emphasis on culture in this year of events? Because cultural activities are not just an accessory or an afterthought; they are the key to enhancing Canada's image in the Asia Pacific and elsewhere. As author John Ralston Saul says, "Canada's profile abroad is, for the most part, its culture. That is our image. That is what Canada becomes in people's imaginations around the world." There has been quite a bit of discussion lately about the most effective ways to preserve, protect and promote Canadian culture. As my colleague Art Eggleton, Minister for International Trade, put it, the question is not whether we ought to support Canadian culture, but how best to support it. This is a timely and necessary debate. In the age of economic globalization and electronic communications, which render borders increasingly irrelevant, we have to come up with new ways to fulfil our long-standing cultural objectives. One crucial ingredient of any new approach is how we work to advance and develop the international dimensions of Canadian culture. This is important not just in projecting an image of Canada in other countries, but also for the benefits to Canadian culture when our artists and performers gain a world stage. Given the relatively small audience base in Canada, Canadian artists must have access to the international marketplace to survive and flourish. Since we are increasingly obliged to share our domestic cultural markets with imports, we need to ensure access for Canadian cultural exports to foreign markets. This is, after all, an important part of our economy: there are now more Canadians employed in the cultural sector than in agriculture, for example, or in transport or construction. Cultural Diplomacy As Minister, I want the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to chart a new course in developing this international dimension of Canadian culture. In a range of ways, we are raising the profile of Canada and of Canadian artists and performers abroad. In Canadian embassies abroad, we are showcasing Canadian culture. Last month, the Prime Minister inaugurated the renovated Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris. It has been redesigned not just in the physical sense, but also through a rethinking of its functions and purpose. In addition to the traditional, or "real" presence abroad in the form of live performances, art exhibitions and Canadian literature, the Centre will also promote Canada through the "virtual," that is, through the electronic media. Our dramatic cultural facilities in Tokyo and Washington also serve as platforms to promote a wide range of Canadian culture. We are currently redesigning our cultural facilities at Canada House in London. And we are planning ways to showcase Canadian culture at our new embassy in Berlin. Here at home, we are elaborating a Canadian International Information Strategy. This strategy will bring together government and the private sector to raise Canada's international profile in an increasingly wired world. Government must work with Canadian writers, producers, film-makers and others to find new ways to project ideas and information abroad. As Anne Medina put it in a recent article, "It's time for us to build that third pillar of foreign policy. It's time because culture and information are our newest and best 'defence' weapons. And over the last decade we have built up a valuable arsenal. It's time to parade it in front of the world." We continue to defend and promote Canadian culture in our relations with other countries, both bilateral and multilateral. One of our key tools is the international cultural relations program, which provides support through our embassies, and financial assistance to Canadian performers, visual artists, authors and film-makers to present their works abroad. Despite wide-ranging cuts to Departmental budgets under Program Review, the core funding for this program has not been touched. Our overall level of financial support to Canadian artists is unchanged. At the same time, we have been looking at ways to make this money go further. After an extensive review, we have renewed and revised our grants policy. I would like to take this opportunity to outline for you the new funding guidelines that I recently announced, which will link cultural activities more closely to our broader foreign policy objectives. The new guidelines aim to reflect Canada's full regional and cultural diversity abroad. They also stress the importance of offering opportunities to Aboriginal artists and to young people. Funding applications will be assessed on their relevance to Canadian foreign policy objectives, their artistic quality and their cost-effectiveness. We also wish to encourage partnership with the private sector. To give you an example, last year in São Paolo, Brazil, we were able to use $25 000 in funding to leverage private-sector donations of some $2 million. These funds were used to stage one of the biggest Canadian cultural events ever held abroad. As an important part of our new approach, we will target resources to particular themes or events. We will use special high-impact projects, sometimes involving a series of events, to highlight priority themes and regions in a coherent and integrated way. The cultural component of Canada's Year of Asia Pacific is an excellent example of these new special projects. By targeting resources in this way, we will ensure that our international cultural grants work to promote Canada's international objectives -- including strengthening our ties with the Asia Pacific region. In the same way, we will be targeting our efforts for maximum impact in Europe and in the Americas. Canada will have a major presence at the year-long festival in Thessaloniki, Greece, for example, which has been designated as Europe's Cultural Capital for 1997. Toronto's Nexus percussion ensemble, the Tafelmusik baroque orchestra, Dancemakers, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Montreal's LaLaLa Human Steps will all perform at Thessaloniki, jointly supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the private sector. The government is also planning a cultural program around the 1999 PanAm Games in Winnipeg, to highlight our cultural presence in the Americas. This approach is new, and it represents something of a work in progress. We will continue to work to build a strong international focus in all of our cultural activities. Our aim is to promote and enhance international awareness and appreciation of Canada, in the borderless world of instant communications and global multiculturalism of the next millennium. I can think of no better example of this new meshing of culture and foreign policy, and of domestic and international priorities, than the cultural component of Canada's Year of Asia Pacific. Conclusion Our culture is one of the greatest assets that Canada brings to the world. It helps to explain Canada's values and to show our strength and our qualities as a diverse, creative people to an international audience. You are an important part of the richness and diversity that make Canada stand out, and that have proven fertile ground for the development of a flourishing Canadian cultural life. I hope that all of you will partake in the wide range of cultural events planned throughout this Year of Asia Pacific. And, on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, I extend to you my best wishes for the Year of the Ox. Gong-hey fat-choy!</li> </ul> </body> </html>

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