Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Ms. Louise Mushikiwabo, Secretary General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).

The Prime Minister congratulated the Secretary General on assuming office and thanked her for visiting Canada, a sign of her interest in our country and its Francophone communities. They discussed priorities in La Francophonie, namely with respect to the influence of the French language, the promotion of democratic values, respect for human rights, gender equality and youth-focused programming. They stated the importance of youth being involved in discussions on the major issues that affect countries in La Francophonie.

In her mandate at the OIF, the Secretary General presented the broad strokes of the direction she would like to take to make the OIF more flexible, visible and focused on action to better serve the Francophone states and bring a value-added to the current international context. The two leaders reiterated the need for action in responding to crisis situations, and in this context, the Secretary General spoke of her recent visit to Cameroon and the urgency of implementing measures to open an inclusive dialogue among stakeholders.

The Prime Minister reiterated Canada’s support in the implementation of OIF reforms, together with the administrator, Catherine Cano, and the representative of the Prime Minister for La Francophonie, Ambassador Isabelle Hudon.