The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Mathieu Lacombe, Minister of Culture and Communications, Minister responsible for Youth and Minister responsible for the Outaouais region, as well as Martine Biron, Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie and Minister responsible for the Status of Women, are proud to launch the activities for the first meeting of the UNESCO Group of Experts on the diversity of cultural expression in the digital environment.

This meeting of experts from around the world will be held in Québec City from May 28 to 30, 2024. It will be preceded on May 27 by a day of conferences for Canadian, Quebec and international cultural workers. These conferences will be organized by the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDCE), with the collaboration of the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD).

Over the past few months, Canada and the government of Quebec have supported the creation of this international group of 18 independent experts within UNESCO. Until the 18th session of the Intergovernmental Committee in February 2025, this group will conduct a reflection and make recommendations to the Parties to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (“2005 Convention”) on four themes: the linguistic diversity of cultural content online, the discoverability of local and national cultural content online, the greater transparency of digital platforms, and the impact of artificial intelligence on cultural and creative industries.

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