Report

 

Led by the Honourable Andrée Champagne, Senator and President of the Canadian Branch of the APF, the delegation also included the following parliamentarians: the Honourable Pierre De Bané, Senator, the Honourable Rose‑Marie Losier‑Cool, Senator, the Honourable Marcel Prud’homme, Senator, Vivian Barbot, MP, the Honourable Denis Coderre, MP, Christiane Gagnon, MP, Luc Harvey, MP, and Bernard Patry, MP and President of the APF.  They were accompanied by Jean‑Michel Roy, Executive Secretary to the Branch, and Marion Ménard, Analyst with the Library of Parliament.

The following branches were represented at the XXXII session: Benin, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Cap Vert, Central African Republic, Chad, Communauté française de Belgique (Wallonie-Bruxelles), Comoros, Congo, Egypt, France, Gabon, Guinea, Hungary, Jura, Laos, Lebanon, Luxemburg, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Monaco, Morocco, New Brunswick, Niger, Ontario, Quebec, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, Switzerland, Syria, Togo, Tunisia, Valais, Val D'Aoste and Vietnam.

Prior to taking part in the activities of the APF, Bernard Patry gave a speech to the participants at the first meeting of the Conference of Elected Representatives of the Mediterranean organized by UNESCO in cooperation with the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), also being held in Rabat, Morocco.

On Thursday, June 29, 2006, Bernard Patry, MP, chaired the APF Bureau meeting.  The Honourable Pierre De Bané, chair of the Parliamentary Affairs Committee, and Rose-Marie Losier-Cool, acting co-Chair of the Network of Women Parliamentarians, also took part in the meeting.

In his welcoming address, Bernard Patry mentioned the 40th anniversary of the APF and the 50th anniversary of Morocco's independence.

The address was followed by a speech given by the President of the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of Morocco, Abdelwahad Radi.  In his speech, Mr. Radi mentioned the linguistic diversity that exists in Morocco and where French and Arabic exist side by side with Berber.

The main items on the agenda for the Bureau meeting were as follows:

Termination of suspension: It was recommended and approved that the suspension imposed on the Haitian section be terminated.

Composition of the Bureau: It was pointed out that the Mauritania Branch was still suspended and that the suspension resulted in a vacancy in the position of Chair of the Network of Women Parliamentarians. It was agreed, as proposed by the Africa region, that Baloukina‑Eza Nimon from the Togo Branch would fill the position of Network Chair.  Furthermore, it was agreed that Hilarion Etong from the Cameroon Branch would be named to the position of APF Vice President, and that Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of the Mali Branch would replace Etong as a member of the Bureau.

The Parliamentary Secretary General's activity report: In his activity report, the Parliamentary Secretary General pointed out that Canada had ratified the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.  He also hoped that 30 branches would ratify the Convention before the next Francophone Summit, to be held in Bucharest in September 2006. Regarding crisis situations and ending conflict in the French-speaking world, particular attention was focused on Haiti, Côte d’Ivoire and Mauritania.

Committee proceedings: Senator De Bané, Chair of the Parliamentary Affairs Committee, reported on the activities of the Committee, which held its latest meeting in Ottawa from March 26 to 29, 2006. Richard Cazenave, Chair of the Political Committee, mentioned the report of the Canadian Branch entitled Ratifying International and Regional Human Rights Treaties, presented by Vivian Barbot at the Quebec City meeting in May 2006.  Regarding the Cooperation and Development Committee, Senator Losier‑Cool described reports on call centres as a development tool for the Francophonie and on the follow-up of the program from the Ouagadougou Summit to increase cooperation on sustainable development and solidarity presented during the meeting held in Delémont (Jura) in March 2006.

Reports from the regional Chargés de mission: The Asia-Pacific region Chargé de mission mentioned that the first regional assembly had been held in Hué, Vietnam in March 2006, and participants included the Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Vanuatu branches.

Follow-up on the work of the APF Network of Women Parliamentarians: Senator Losier‑Cool reported on the business of the Network Steering Committee, which met in Toronto in January 2006.

Interparliamentary cooperation programs: It was proposed and subsequently approved that a high-level parliamentary mission including APF President Bernard Patry would travel to Haiti, and the mission would be followed by a parliamentary seminar.

The final item on the agenda was the report on the business of the Association des secrétaires généraux des Parlements francophones, which mentioned that André Gagnon, Clerk Assistant of the House of Commons, had been elected Vice President of the Association.

At the close of the Bureau’s activities, Senator Losier-Cool moved a motion to thank the Moroccan Branch.

On Friday, June 30, 2006, the Honourable Andrée Champagne and the Honourable Rose‑Marie Losier‑Cool took part in the meeting of the Network of Women Parliamentarians.

Saturday, July 1, 2006 was set aside for the work of the committees that were meeting simultaneously.  The following members took part in the work of the Political Committee: the Honourable Marcel Prud’homme, Vivian Barbot, the Honourable Denis Coderre, Christiane Gagnon and Luc Harvey.  The Canadian delegation played an active role in drawing up a draft resolution on Palestine.  It should be noted that the presentation of the Barbot report on Ratifying International and Regional Human Rights Treaties was postponed until the next meeting of the Political Committee.

In addition, Senator Pierre De Bané served as Chair of the Parliamentary Affairs Committee.  Senator Andrée Champagne and Senator Rose‑Marie Losier‑Cool sat on the Education, Communication and Cultural Affairs Committee and the Cooperation and Development Committee, respectively.

The official opening of the XXXII annual session of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie was held on Sunday, July 2, 2006.

The plenary session opened with a message from His Majesty the King Mohammed VI, read by Prime Minister Driss Jettou.  His Majesty commended the role played by APF, as an authority for proposing action and as a forum for cooperation and dialogue. He also considered that the Francophonie played a key role in cultural diversity. The President of the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of Morocco, Abdelwahad Radi, also made opening remarks.

The Secretary General of the Francophonie, Abdou Diouf, gave a speech to the parliamentarians in attendance. He commended the APF for choosing to devote the discussions at its General Assembly to the issue of cultural and linguistic diversity. This is a major issue in the 21st century, and one which requires concerted action. Mr. Diouf took the opportunity provided by his address to the APF General Assembly to call for urgent and determined action by all elected Francophone officials to ratify the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

For his part, the President of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie, Bernard Patry, also gave an opening address.  After the customary acknowledgements to the Moroccan hosts for their warm welcome, Mr Patry officially declared the XXXII session of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie open. The delegates then gathered for the plenary session.

Abdou Diouf, Secretary General of the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF), addressed the session. The session was in two parts: an update on OIF activities and questions from APF participants. Mr. Diouf pointed out that the next OIF activities report for 2004-2006 will give an in-depth account of all the OIF initiatives over the previous two-year period. Mr. Diouf mentioned and explained how active the OIF has been in a variety of crisis situations, including in Haiti. He also warmly welcomed Haiti back to the APF.  In terms of the process for ratifying the Convention on Cultural Diversity, Mr. Diouf pointed out that only Canada and Mauritius had ratified the Convention. Francophone parliamentarians must therefore accelerate the ratification process in their respective parliaments. Other issues raised by the Secretary General included the implementation of the Bamako Declaration, United Nations reform and the appointment of Clément Duhaime as OIF Administrator.

In the second part of his address, Mr. Diouf answered questions regarding:

·         the situation in Congo;

·         the situation in Chad;

·         the airline ticket solidarity tax;

·         violence against women;

·         the establishment of a Maison de la Francophonie in Paris.

The Honourable Denis Coderre asked the Secretary General a question on behalf of the Canadian delegation. He asked how the OIF was planning to strengthen the newly elected government of Haiti. In reply, Mr. Diouf pointed out that he had met with President René Préval to determine how Francophone community institutions could be involved in the months to come. For instance, the APF might work on training the new Haitian parliamentarians.

In the afternoon, a general discussion was held on promoting the French language, cultural and linguistic diversity, and the Francophone community's role in monitoring democracy. A number of participants described the close links that exist between these three concepts. The discussions were held in light of the introductory remarks made by Francisco José Pinon, Secretary General of the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI), on the theme of cooperation among linguistic spheres. Abdejalil Lahjomri, director of the Collège Royal du Maroc, explained that linguistic diversity was indissociable from cultural diversity. Then Pietro Sicuro, director of the Institut francophone des technologies de l’information et de la formation, gave a speech about the importance of information technologies and communications in the promotion of French.  Finally, Robert Chaudenson, a professor at the Université de Provence, explained that the disappearance of languages was a normal and inevitable occurrence as societies and civilizations evolve.

On Monday, July 3, 2006, in keeping with the agenda, the parliamentarians proceeded with the adoption of the reports and resolutions of the various committees.

On a motion by the Political Committee, the assembly adopted resolutions on the following topics:

·         the political crises in francophone communities, specifically in Côte d’Ivoire, Haiti, Lebanon, Mauritania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the African Great Lakes area and the Chad, Darfur and the Central African Republic area;

·         Palestine;

·         violence against women and children (proposed by the Network of Women Parliamentarians).

On a motion by the Education, Communications and Cultural Affairs Committee, the Assembly adopted resolutions on the following topics:

·         the use of French in institutional communications and in government and corporate communications;

·         the London protocol on European patents;

·         use of French at the United Nations;

·         cooperation between the APF and UNESCO;

·         ratification of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

On a motion by the Parliamentary Affairs Committee and further to the summary of committee business presented by Senator Pierre De Bané, the assembly adopted draft resolutions on:

·         Parliaments’ actions in the implementation of policies for the protection of human rights, specifically with regard to refugees.

On a motion by the Co-operation and Development Committee, the assembly adopted draft resolutions on the following:

·         privatizations;

·         waste management;

·         development assistance;

·         the contribution of the Francophone community to innovative development funding sources.

At the end of the session, it was agreed that the next annual session of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie would be held in Libreville Gabon, in July 2007.

 

Respectfully submitted,