US embassy cable - 05PARIS8120

UNCLAS PARIS 008120 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 
 
E.O. 12958:     N/A 
TAGS: SCUL, ETRD, CJAN, CA, UNESCO 
SUBJECT:  USUNESCO:  CULTURAL DIVERSITY CONVENTION: 
CANADA IS THE FIRST TO SIGN UP 
 
REF:  Paris 7915 
 
1.  The Canadian mission officially notified the UNESCO 
Director General 23 November that Canada had accepted 
(ratified) the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity, 
recently adopted by the biennial UNESCO General 
Conference at its October 2005 meeting.  It also 
registered its acceptance with the UNESCO Legal Office 
on 28 November. 
 
2.  UNESCO Canadian Mission Political Assistant 
Dominique Levasseur told poloff 28 November that the 
Canadian political system requires only Cabinet action 
to "accept" international conventions.  Parliamentary 
action was not necessary, she said, and had not been 
taken in this particular case.  She also noted that 
Article 29 of the Convention on Cultural diversity 
provided for entry into force after deposit of the 
thirtieth instrument of "ratification, acceptance, 
approval or accession" and that Canada's "acceptance" 
instrument would be the first to be deposited in 
UNESCO. 
 
3.  The 23 November statement of the Canadian 
Department of Cultural Heritage explains the Canadian 
view and says, in part: 
 
"Early acceptance by Canada of this Convention, 
confirms our strong leadership and commitment to the 
protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural 
expressions," said Minister of Canadian Heritage and 
Minister responsible for Status of Women Liza Frulla. 
"I want to thank representatives of provincial and 
territorial governments, the arts and cultural 
community, and other Canadians on the hard work they 
have done since 1998 to help develop and build 
international support for this Convention. Every 
culture must have the means to promote its ideas, its 
values, its perspectives on the world, and its hopes. 
The Convention will allow us to do that." 
 
4.  The Canadian acceptance of the Cultural Diversity 
Convention comes even before the absolutely last final 
text is available.  The UNESCO web site text of the 
convention (http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php- 
URL_ID=29123&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201. html) 
warns that this is only an advance copy of the 
Convention which has not gone through the standard 
editing and language reconciliation procedure.  A 
UNESCO staffer told poloff that Canada's acceptance was 
a bit premature, but noted that Canadian support for 
the Convention across the political spectrum was rock- 
solid and speculated that any new Canadian government 
would likely jump at the opportunity to score points in 
Canada by accepting the Convention once again. 
 
5.  Levasseur confirmed to poloff 28 Nov that Canadian 
diplomatic strategy calls for obtaining quick 
ratifications in capitals so that the Convention enters 
into force as soon as possible.  Canada is not alone. 
As reported ref, French Foreign Minister Phillipe 
Douste Blazy recently reaffirmed that France will 
quickly ratify the Convention and will continue to urge 
others to do so. 
 
6.  Steps have already been taken to execute this 
strategy. 
 
--A Canadian NGO, the International Network of Culture 
Professionals (INCP), which supplements Canada's 
diplomatic efforts on culture matters was the official 
sponsor of a recent Culture Ministers' conference in 
Dakar at which a top UNESCO culture official was slated 
to plump for quick ratification of the Convention.  A 
political lobbying group that is funded by the Canadian 
government, the International Network for Cultural 
Diversity (INCD), whose strident voices had been heard 
in support of the Cultural Diversity Convention 
throughout the negotiations, announced on its web site 
(http://www.incd.net/resources.html) that its own 
annual meeting would be held in Dakar in the same time 
frame, which would allow INCD members to lobby culture 
ministers attending the other, more official ministers' 
meeting and that the conclusions of its INCD meeting 
were slated for formal presentation at the ministers' 
meeting. 
 
KOSS