Ottawa, March 20, 2023 — Canadian Parents for French (CPF) joins Francophones and Francophiles across Canada in celebrating the French language, its richness, history and culture. On this special day, CPF also acknowledges its place as one of Canada’s two official languages.
March 20 marks the International Day of La Francophonie, a day celebrated by francophone and non-francophone countries around the world. This year’s theme “321 million francophones, millions of cultural contents” (321 millions de francophones, des milliards de contenus culturels) highlights the diversity of French cultural content and the necessity of making it more accessible online. CPF recognizes the role cultural content plays in the language learning process and the importance of having access to a wide variety of authentic resources for French as a second language learners.
As part of its mandate to create opportunities for youth to use and learn French, CPF also develops resources and supports initiatives to encourage young FSL learners to use French outside the classroom. Most recently, CPF launched a series of five booklets, part of the “Finding French and Story and Learning Time” project, that invite children to read and learn about the bilingual nature of Canada’s capital. The booklets have been produced with Bilingual Ottawa project funding and are available online on cpf.ca.
Additionally, as partners of the Rendez-vous de la Francophonie, one of the main cultural events organized annually to celebrate the International Day of La Francophonie in Canada, CPF is supporting their programming and has also contributed resources for youth twelve years of age and under as part of their Mini-Rendez-vous content for 2023.
“We wish francophones and francophiles in Canada a happy International Day of La Francophonie. It is an important day to recognize the importance of FSL learners, bilingual Canadians and their contributions to the French language in Canada. We encourage our members and all Canadians to participate in an event, interact with the French language and appreciate the benefits of learning French today and every day,” said Nicole Thibault, CEO, CPF Network.
The International Day of La Francophonie has been observed since 1970 as it marks the creation of the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation in Niamey, Niger, which would later become the International Organization of La Francophonie.
CPF invites you to join the celebration by taking part in an event offered by the Rendez-vous de la Francophonie (rvf.ca), connecting with fellow French speakers or by engaging on social media with the hashtags #Francophoniedelavenir and #Mon20mars.
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Canadian Parents for French is a nationwide, research-informed, volunteer organization that represents 35,000 members across Canada and champions the opportunity to learn and use French for all those who call Canada home.
