Ontario officially an observer member of the International Organisation of La Francophonie

A weekend that ended wonderfully with a wonderful announcement! Ontario has been accepted as an observer member of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (IOF).

Following this announcement, I must congratulate and salute the leadership of the province of Ontario, not to mention Canada and the provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec. As for us, we truly believe that this new status will definitely bear fruit on many levels and above all open doors to La Francophonie on a much larger scale. It is a unique opportunity to enjoy a number of economic and cultural benefits as well as an exchange of knowledge and best practices with other member countries.

We hope that this good news will influence the immigration strategy that the government is to develop following the recent publication of the report by the Group of Experts on Francophone Immigration. The province now has a special place on the stage of the International Francophonie, so it may very well take inspiration from that to put in place an effective recruitment plan and achieve its target.

The IOF Summit proved once again that the French language is not in decline. According to the 2014 study by the Observatory of the French Language, if advances in French-language education continue around the world, the number of Francophones will reach 767 million by 2060. The French language continues to make headway among the languages used at the international level by many countries. As LeDroit highlighted in his editorial, the are more and more Ontarians that realise the presence and the importance of the francophone community. Now that Ontario has observer member status, it’s only a matter of time, I hope, until it becomes a permanent member.

The Premier prepared a gretting on Youtube following the acceptance of Ontario as an observer member of the IOF.

Once again, well done!