Ottawa, November 29, 2000
The Internet: A Tool for Promoting the International Francophonie
Speech Delivered at a Meeting of the Club Richelieu d'Ottawa
Dr. Dyane Adam - Commissioner of Official Languages
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I would like to thank the Club Richelieu d'Ottawa, the founding club of Richelieu International, for inviting me to meet with you and share some thoughts on the Internet as a tool for promoting the international Francophonie. For 50 years now, Richelieu International has been a rallying point for the Francophone community. It is established in 13 Francophone countries and influential in many others where French is a language of culture.
I would like to salute the great energy of the President of the Club Richelieu d'Ottawa, Dianne Comeau, and also thank on your behalf François-Xavier Simard and Marc Agostini for organizing this dinner.
I know that the Club Richelieu Roger Saint-Denis, the Canada-Bénin association, the amis(es) de Cité-libre and a number of embassies are represented here this evening. I am also delighted that part of the profits from this event are going to the Ontario Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Perhaps this remarkable solidarity and collaboration are a sign of the times. In the face of the growing pressure to use English as the sole international language of communication, everyone must cooperate and strive to promote the international French-speaking community and the French language, especially on the Internet.
It is worth noting from the outset is that, as far as language is concerned, Canada is doubly blessed.
English is indeed becoming the lingua franca of the world, to quote the President of the French Republic, Mr. Jacques Chirac, who spoke at a recent symposium in Paris on the new Europe. This language, which is also the basic language of the Internet, is one of Canada's official languages, and our country is certainly fortunate in this regard.
French, for its part, is a great language of diplomacy and culture, and is one of the most frequently taught foreign languages in the world. It is an international language of prime importance for it is one of the few languages used on every continent and most international organizations have adopted it as an official language.
Canada's linguistic duality therefore offers strategic advantages, commercially, culturally and diplomatically.
In connection with the Francophone summit held in Moncton in September 1999, we published a study entitled The Government of Canada and French on the Internet. The government has responded favourably to the twelve recommendations in this study by the Office of the Commissioner. The government made a commitment, for example, to the further digitization of French-language collections of heritage interest, in particular by creating the Canadian virtual museum linking 1,000 different Canadian institutions. In addition, the government's plan to modernize the delivery of government services and provide all federal services on the Internet by the year 2004 will help to substantially increase the amount of French-language content on the Internet. According to a recent survey, 42 percent of residents of Quebec and 50 percent of residents of the other provinces have access to the Internet. It is also interesting to note that 42 percent of Canadian Web users visit government sites.1
As the Commissioner of Official Languages, I am recommending that the Government of Canada speed up the investment required to increase the critical mass of information and services in French and thus help to build momentum in the direction of increased use of the Internet in French, particularly within the international Francophone community.
The fact that our economy is now continental in scope is opening the door to greater linguistic diversity, notably with the increasingly assertive use of Spanish in the Americas. Seven years from now, it will be the language of the majority in California and the second language in 40 American states. It is easy to see how quickly the linguistic profile of our continent is changing.
In this context, the Canadian message of linguistic and cultural diversity, including the Internet, will find an ever wider audience. The Third Summit of the Americas will be held in Quebec City in April 2001, with the theme of Connectivity: the Cyber Hemisphere, and it will certainly help to make progress in this regard, since it will have four official languages.
We should mention as well that a Canadian, Louise Fréchette, recently tabled a resolution at the United Nations calling for the promotion of linguistic and cultural diversity on the Internet. Another Canadian recommendation in this regard was adopted at the Sixth Francophone Summit in Cotonou, Benin. I firmly believe that the promotion of linguistic duality in Canada and cultural diversity around the world demand a stronger presence for French on the Internet.
As Jean-Louis Roy so aptly put it when he was Secretary General of the Agency for Cultural and Technical Co-operation, globalization, notably through the Internet, "is abolishing the hard and fast lines drawn by history-national borders, cultural spaces-and pulverizing the notion of time and space."2 Yet the Internet is not breaking down linguistic borders. The exchange of information and services on the Internet is primarily conducted in English. Of the two billion pages on the Internet, 75 percent are estimated to be in English and 2 percent in French.3
The intergovernmental agency known as the Francophonie, formerly the ACCT, was established in 1970 in Niamey, through the efforts of presidents Senghor, Diori and Bourghiba. It now includes 55 countries and governments that have the use of French in common. This represents one country in four in the world, and a market of half a billion people. There are huge disparities between these countries in terms of Internet use. Canada could play a leading role in developing and implementing a two-part strategy focussing on the connectivity of the Francophonie and the development of French-language content.
A few years ago, a Canadian initiative made it possible to connect 25 Francophone countries to the Internet for the first time, including many in Francophone Africa. This is a beginning, but we must do more and act more quickly to reduce the digital divide between the countries of the Francophonie. As Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary General of the international organization of la Francophonie, reminded us during his recent visit to Canada, the Internet is especially well suited to spreading and promoting French in the world. In a very practical way, the Internet can facilitate communication among Francophones the world over and stimulate cultural exchanges.
The government also wants to develop a showcase for Canadian culture and values on the Internet. This site would be a special showcase promoting Canadian values, including linguistic duality.
We are now preparing a follow-up to our study about French on the Internet, to report on the implementation of our recommendations and formulate proposals for action that could help further extend the influence of French in the world. Among other things, such proposals could address issues relating to language industries.
I believe that we must do more, and act more quickly, to devise a genuine strategy to develop language industries. You will recall that the various products of language industries promote linguistic ease on the Internet, tools such as machine translation, computer-assisted human translation, and software for gisting from an intermediate language to another language. In short, all automated language-processing tools are valuable.
A lively committee on the sharing of language technology expertise was created by the federal government, marking the beginning of a comprehensive and forward-looking initiative in this area. These tools allow various types of conversion into French without in any way detracting from the importance of promoting the creation of original French content.
In conclusion, I would like to remind you that Canada's linguistic duality is based on our appreciation of and the complementary nature of the official languages. Bilingualism is thus part of a pluralistic process that values differences. It is a meeting place which is the cornerstone of Canadian identity.
The Official Languages Act is becoming a tool for openness that enables the government to invest in building a society based on the coexistence of two languages. Canada's linguistic diversity must also be evident on the Internet. I would even venture to say that Canadians' openness to the other official language will create very fertile ground for learning a third language on this continent, perhaps Spanish. For, as the writer Julien Green said, the more languages we know, the more human we become.
Pierre Elliott-Trudeau wanted a just society. Our society, whose economic and cultural horizons are now being expanded to the ends of the earth by the international Francophonie, can only be just if it implements not only the letter but also the spirit of the Official Languages Act. This is a challenge to our commitment because the measure of our devotion to a just society, based in particular on the promotion of the official languages in the emerging knowledge society, is to work tirelessly for its advancement.
Thank you very much.
Notes
1 PriceWaterhouse, survey, December 2000.
