Hon. René Cormier: Honourable colleagues, as we prepare to return to our home regions to be with our families and friends, I want to share a few thoughts with you on our national celebrations, which bring us together and give us an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the diversity of our Canadian culture.

Yesterday, we celebrated National Indigenous Peoples Day. In a few days, we will be celebrating the national holiday of Quebec and the Canadian francophonie, and then we will have Canada Day on July 1.

I would like to add an important holiday to that list, National Acadian Day, which is August 15. It is a day to recognize, affirm and celebrate the place that the Acadian people occupy in our country, while reminding everyone of the role this francophone nation has played in shaping Canada and its international diplomacy.

The president of the Société nationale de l’Acadie, an organization that represents the Acadian people on the national and international stages, noted the following in a brief submitted to the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages, and I quote:

The international success of the Acadian people shows the way forward for the renewal of cultural diplomacy policy in Canada. . . .

Cultural diplomacy has been central to the Acadian national project for a century and a half. It is by forging links with the francophonie, including Quebec, France and the international Francophonie, that we have asserted ourselves as a people within the Canadian federation. . . .

In fact, with its Acadian World Congresses, its partnerships with Louisiana, Quebec, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, and Belgium, its membership in the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, or OIF, the creation of SPAASI, the strategy for the promotion of Acadian artists on the international stage, and the creation of OMIA, the office for international mobility in Acadia, the Société nationale de l’Acadie is an active and effective leader in Canada’s civil and cultural diplomacy.

According to her December 2021 mandate letter, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has the following responsibility, and I quote:

Celebrate Canada’s unique francophone cultures through the promotion of the French language across our diplomatic missions and in our work to transform the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.

The Acadian people and the Société nationale de l’Acadie are essential partners in this important mission. I fervently hope that the Government of Canada will fully recognize the monumental work being done in this regard by the Acadian people.

In closing, dear colleagues, I want to wish each and every one of you a peaceful and relaxing summer. I hope that, when the bells ring out for the Grand Tintamarre on August 15 and Acadians peacefully take to the streets to celebrate their existence and their contribution to the world, when men, women and children from all walks of life, all genders and all identities merrily bang on pots and pans and play improvised instruments to show that they belong to this proud people, the whole country will vibrate with joy. I hope you will all take part and that your hearts will be filled with gratitude for this people, who have been helping to build our magnificent country since 1604, a country where, despite what some may say, we are free to be ourselves, no matter our identity, background or origins. Thank you.