Celebrations from coast to coast to coast

by Michel Boucher, St. Boniface, Manitoba

Francophones across the country will be featured in Québec 2008 activities. “We want the vitality and accomplishments of all French-language communities across Canada to be part of Québec City’s 400th anniversary. It’s important for each community to contribute in its own way to this great celebration,” said Serge Quinty of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada. Francoforce, a multidisciplinary roadshow, will thus come to life.

Francoforce will tour all regions of Canada from May to September, stopping in Québec City as part of the Québec 2008 festivities. “The show will be staged in a geodesic structure called the Francodôme, giving it the feel of a travelling party. The structure can accommodate up to 500 spectators and will be transported from location to location,” said René Légère, the project’s executive producer in cooperation with Jac Gautreau.

Photo credit: Pacific Domes
Francodôme

A team of 12 versatile artists will compose a multidisciplinary show, each contributing to an overall performance that expresses the vitality of Canada’s French-speaking communities today. At each stop along the Francoforce’s tour, communities will be asked to make a local contribution: a play, concert, visual arts exhibition or other event.

Québec 2008: Increasing awareness of the heritage of French Canada

The Société du 400^e anniversaire de Québec, which has already applauded Francoforce, is also planning projects that will reach out to Francophones across Canada and celebrate their accomplishments. “We want to organize festivities that recall our common roots, sense of belonging and culture,” said Lucie Latulippe, the Société’s national and international affairs delegate.

Various cooperative initiatives are in the works to ensure participation from everyone across Canada. Québec City and Calgary are sister cities; because of their association, the Québec Carnival’s colours will appear at the Calgary Stampede, and vice versa. The Société du 400^e anniversaire, which is currently discussing details with the Francophone association of Calgary, will participate in Calgary’s Festival des sucres in March. A special show will be organized and the Québec 2008 program announced.

The City of Québec and the National Capital Commission in Ottawa have joined forces to highlight in the Outaouais region the 400th anniversary of the founding of the first permanent French outpost in North America. Québec City’s anniversary will be celebrated in particular at Winterlude in February. Through the summer, Confederation Boulevard in Ottawa will be dressed in the banners of the 400th. The event will also be featured in Ottawa’s Tulip Festival in May. The City of Ottawa offered Québec City 10,000 tulip bulbs, which will bloom in the colours of Québec’s 400th anniversary.

At the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Champlain will be honoured in the exhibition Jamestown, Québec, Santa Fe – Three North American Beginnings. The exhibition examines the common drive 400 years ago among British, French and Spanish empires to conquer the New World.

On August 15, 2008, Québec City will dance to the rhythm of Acadia: the streets of the capital and of Caraquet, New Brunswick, will come alive at the same moment, as Quebecers and Acadians dance and sing in unison. Québec 2008 is also hoping to be featured in Direction Ontario’s Sur les traces de Champlain, which follows some of the great explorer’s travel routes.

Photo credit: Carol Doucet
Tintamarre at Caraquet, New Brunswick – August 15, 2006