An audience member said during the question and comment period that arts education constitutes “an essence for existence.” According to her, art transforms French from a simple school subject into a lived experience.
Photo : Dany Lepage
FRANCOPRESSE – Gathered on March 13 in Ottawa during a round table, speakers highlighted the crucial role of the arts in giving a voice to Francophones and nourishing their sense of belonging in minority communities.
Organized by the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française (FCCF) as part of the Pan-Canadian Summit on Arts Education, the round table “The plural Francophonie as a place of cultural belonging” was a full house at the auditorium of the Ottawa Museum of Fine Arts on March 13.
The objective of this meeting was to bring together thoughts on the contribution of the arts to the feeling of belonging. This dialogue, in the eyes of host Noémie Dansereau-Lavoie, should make it possible to explore how the arts can strengthen cultural identity in French-speaking minority communities.
Also read: How to reconcile French-speaking identity and cultural diversity at school
Tristan Claveau, grade 12 student and president of Franco-Jeunes à Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador, shared his passion for music and the accordion.
Photo: Le Hai Huong Vu – Francopresse
Art as a vector of identity
Table of Contents
According to the president of Franco-Jeunes de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador, Tristan Claveau, any person can become a cultural transmitter by getting involved in their community and sharing their vision of the Francophonie.
For French artist and entrepreneur Alexis Normand, a cultural conduit acts as a bridge between an artistic work and a community. This role consists of giving meaning to a work for the people who discover it.
The slammer and poet Yannick Mbuluku, alias Kimya, says that his meeting with the host and member of the group Improtein, Martin Laporte, during a leadership camp profoundly influenced his trajectory.
Yannick Mbuluku, aka slammer and rapper Kimya, is originally from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and lives in Ottawa. He continued his artistic activities there and held a position as cultural facilitator at the Eastern Ontario Public School Board.
Photo: Le Hai Huong Vu – Francopresse
“If Martin Laporte hadn’t been there, maybe I wouldn’t be here today. […] The role of cultural broker is someone who bridges the gap between a work and community, or their experience and another person.”
The Manitoba youth representative for the Canadian Association for French-language Education (ACELF), Raphael Raharijaona, also affirmed that art and culture play a fundamental role in building fraternity between the country’s Francophone communities. Her own sense of belonging was not built primarily through traditional school subjects, but rather through artistic experiences.
“Art is like a vehicle for asserting identity, and being able to share your story or being a cultural person allows us to understand each other,” noted Alexis Normand. According to her, artistic works also make it possible to create bonds of empathy between individuals.
Alison Palmer, artist, teacher and life coach in Saint-Pierre-Jolys, Manitoba, has been offering young French-speaking people the opportunity to discover artistic expression since 2020.
Photo: Le Hai Huong Vu – Francopresse
Concrete experiences for young people
Life coach, teacher and artist Alison Palmer spoke about the Manitoba Youth Theater Festival, which brings together around 800 young people each year. According to her, these activities allow participants to have experiences in French outside of the classroom.
The speaker added that the memories created during these events help to forge lasting friendships between young Francophones.
Alexis Normand then told an anecdote about a student who had attended one of his shows and who was left alone towards the end: “He was trembling, then he said to me: ‘Me, my family, we are of Rwandan origin. And today, finally, I understood that I can be Franco-Manitoban.'” According to the artist, this experience clearly illustrates the plural nature of today’s Francophonie.
Ontario youth representative Éliane Hamed also mentioned the importance of new media in the expression of young people. She says podcasts and digital projects offer new ways for students to share their ideas.
Also read: More funding “so that art has its rightful place in schools”
Raphael Raharijaona, born in France, grew up in Manitoba before studying political science in Ottawa. His journey allowed him to observe different realities of the Canadian Francophonie.
Photo: Le Hai Huong Vu – Francopresse
Funding for the arts in question
“When it comes to budgetary issues, art and French-speaking culture are the first things to be cut,” said Yannick Mbuluku. According to him, these areas are nevertheless essential to motivate young people to remain engaged in their school career.
Raphael Raharijaona adds that access to culture is also an issue of school retention. According to him, this problem remains particularly visible in rural and isolated regions.
“We recognize that arts courses are already included in curriculums across the country. However, their accessibility and quality vary considerably from one region to another and a significant gap persists between what is planned on the curriculum and what actually happens in schools,” observed the president of the FCCF, Nancy Juneau, in writing to Francopresse after the round table.
Read our newsletter
Wednesdays and Saturdays
Saskatoon-born artist, singer-songwriter and filmmaker Alexis Normand trained in education and regularly works in schools to educate young people about music and artistic creation.
Photo: Le Hai Huong Vu – Francopresse
Tristan Claveau compared the situation of artistic activities to that of sports: “It’s super simple for a company to see a sports team and give money. When it comes to artistic and cultural activities, you have to dig a lot harder to find money […] Above all [pour] instruments.”
Present at the event, the administrator within the Ontario Cultural Alliance, Anik Bouvrette, called for a more honest dialogue between governments and artists. According to her, young people should be at the heart of decisions regarding cultural and educational policies. “Young people at the center. We adults, when we make decisions, [il faut] let us put ourselves in the shoes of young people.”
Also read: French-speaking immigration : when culture promotes integration and retention
The arts as a megaphone for French speakers
“For me, the biggest obstacle or the biggest challenge is not English, it’s silence,” said Alexis Normand. She believes that the arts make it possible to break this silence and encourage expression.
Éliane Hamed added that practicing the arts allowed her to develop greater self-confidence. She explained that the experience of participating in this roundtable made her feel like she was truly being heard.
And the next steps?
Following the discussions at the Pan-Canadian Summit on Arts Education, the president of the FCCF, Nancy Juneau, indicated that her organization wishes to structure actions around four ideas.
- Promote collaboration between educational, cultural, community and institutional environments to avoid working in silos and increase impact;
- Strengthen and adapt already effective projects;
- Improve knowledge sharing through tools, data and training;
- Encourage stable investments in arts education in order to support the academic success, linguistic vitality and retention of young Francophones.
