Participation of the Honourable Rose-Marie Losier-Cool, Speaker pro tempore of the Senate, and a Parliamentary Delegation, to the France-Canada Seminar on the 400th Anniversary of Québec City, France
The pro tempore Speaker of the Senate, the Honourable Rose-Marie Losier-Cool, and a delegation composed of the Honourable Senators Gérald Comeau, Claudette Tardif and Pierre Claude Nolin, undertook a visit to Paris, France, from March 6 to 8, 2008, to attend a symposium marking the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain's settlement at Québec in 1608. The symposium, entitled Empreint de la France au Canada après 400 ans [France's imprint on Canada 400 years later] was sponsored by the France-Canada Interparliamentary Association and the French Senate.
On March 6, the delegation began by attending a presentation by Mr. Jean Raspail, entitled De Samuel de Champlain à Antoine de Tounens : l'aventure française en Amérique [from Samuel de Champlain to Antoine de Tounens: the French adventure in the Americas].
At the symposium, held March 7 and 8, the delegation attended the following lectures:
- Mr. John Ralston Saul - L'évolution du Canada et de la France vers un modèle social fondé sur des valeurs humanistes [the evolution of Canada and France toward a model society based on humanist values;
- Professor Alain Beaulieu (Université du Québec à Montréal) – L'Empire colonial français et les Nations autochtones [the French colonial empire and the Aboriginal nations];
- Professor John A. Dickinson (Université de Montréal) - L'héritage laissé par la France au Canada à la conclusion du Traité de Paris en 1763 [France's legacy in Canada by the conclusion of the 1763 Treaty of Paris];
- Professor Françoise Le Jeune (Université de Nantes) - Conquête ou cession – l'interprétation historique des objectifs politiques de la France à l'égard du Canada : 1763; 1778; 1804; 1837/38; 1855 [conquered or handed over – the historical interpretation of France's political objectives vis-à-vis Canada: 1763; 1778; 1804; 1837-38;1855];
- Professor Yves Frenette (University of Ottawa) - Français du Canada ou Canadiens d'Amérique ? [French in Canada or Canadians in America?]; and
- Professor Guy Martinière (Université de la Rochelle) - Champlain et la fondation de Québec, entre Mémoire et Histoire – 2008/1608 [Champlain and the founding of Quebec City, between memory and history – 2008/1608].
The senators also attended an address by the former Prime Minister of France, Senator Jean-Pierre Raffarin, organized by the Institut France Amériques.