Educational Aid for French Africa
| Published date | 01 March 2001 |
| Author | Robin S. Gendron |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200105600102 |
| Date | 01 March 2001 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
ROBIN
S.
GENDRON
Educational
aid
for
French
Africa
and
the
Canada-Quebec
dispute
overforeign
policy
in
the
1960s
IN
JANUARY
1968,
TO THE
DISMAY
of
the
federal
government
of
Canada,
the
government
of
Quebec
accepted
an
invitation
to
send
provincial
representatives
to
a
meeting
in
Libreville,
Gabon,
of
educa-
tion
ministers
of
France
and
the
French
African
states.
After
centuries
of
relative
isolation,
the
French
Canadian
people
had
begun
to
take
an
interest
in
other
French-speaking
peoples
around
the
world,
and
in
the
late
1950s
and
early
1960s
that
interest
grew.
At
the
same
time,
the
government
of
Quebec
began
to
assert
its
right
to
represent
French
Canadians
internationally,
thereby
challenging
federal exclusivity
in
foreign
affairs
and,
in
the
federal view,
posing
a
threat
to
Canada's
national
unity.
Quebec's
aspirations
forced
the
federal
government
to
defend
its
own
interests,
touching
off
an intense
struggle
over
respon-
sibility for
foreign
affairs
that
lasted
throughout
the
1960s,
complicat-
ed
by
support
from
France
for
Quebec's
aspirations,
and
peaked
in the
years
after Charles
de
Gaulle,
president
of
France, made
his
famous
'Vive
le
Qudbec
fibre'
speech
in
July 1967.
This
article
was
awarded the
Marvin
Gelber
prize.
Established
in
recognition
of
the
abiding
interest
of
Marvin Gelber
in
international
affairs
and
of
his
many
years
of
service
to
the
Canadian
Institute
of
International
Affairs,
the
prize
is
awarded
annually to
a
superior
essay
by
a
junior
Canadian
scholar
on
a
subject
in
the
area
of
international
affairs
and
foreign
policy.
PhD
candidate,
Department
ofHistory,
University
of
Calgary.
An
earlier
version
of
this
article
was
presented
to
the
annual
conference
of
the
British
Association
fr
Canadian
Studies,
Edinburgh,
April2000.
The
author would
like
to
thank
the
participants and
David
Bercuson
for
helpful
comments.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
W'inter
2000-2001
Robin
S.
Gendron
The
literature
addressing Quebec's
attempts
to
foster an
interna-
tional
identity
for itself
in
the
1960s
focuses
overwhelmingly
on
rela-
tions
between
Quebec
and
France
and
the
effect
they
had
on
Canadian
foreign
policy
and
on
relations
between
the
federal
and
provincial
gov-
ernments.'
Little
importance
is
attached to
the competition
between
the
federal
government
and
Quebec
over
contacts
with
the
French-
speaking
countries
of
Africa in
this
early
period.
The
literature
over-
looks
the
fact
that
Quebec's
aggressiveness
in
pursuit
of
membership
in
la
francophonie
in
the
late
1960s
was
motivated
in
part
by
its
failed
attempts
to
establish
direct
relations
with
French
African
countries
ear-
lier in
the
decade.
2
In
April
1961,
the
federal
government
announced
funding
of
$300,000
for
a
programme
to provide
educational
assistance
to
the
countries
of
French
Africa.
For
most
of
the
1960s
the
programme
was
Canada's
principal form
of
contact
with
the
newly
independent
French
African
states.
It
was also
a
programme
that
the government
of
Quebec
felt
entitled
to
direct
and
for
which
it
was
willing
to
assume
large
responsibilities.
Because
education
is
the
preserve
of
the
provinces
under
the
Canadian
constitution,
officials
in
Quebec
thought
that
Quebec
should
bear
the
responsibility
and
take
the
credit
for
educa-
tional
assistance
to
French
Africa. Believing
that
the
government
of
Quebec
was
the
'national'
government
of
Canada's
French
Canadians,
these
officials
thought
Quebec
had
a
special
interest
in
relations
with
other
French-speaking
states,
and
the
educational
assistance
pro-
gramme
became
the
vehicle
through
which
to
establish
initial
interna-
i
See,
for
example,
Dale
C.
Thomson,
Vive
le
Quebeclibre
(Toronto:
Deneau
1988);
Claude
Morin,
L'Artde
l'impossible
(Montreal:
Bordal
Express
1987);
Andrd
Patry,
Le
Quebec
dans
le
monde
(Ottawa:
Lem6ac
198o);
and
John
English,
The
Worldly
Years:
The
Life
of
Lester
Pearson
1949-1972
(Toronto:
Alfred
A.
Knopf
1992),
ch
9.
2
Articles
examining
relations with
French
Africa focus
on
the
years
following
Quebec's
participation
in
the
Libreville
Conference
in
1968.
Dale
Thomson,
Louise
Beaudoin,
and
Andrd
Patry,
for
example,
note
only
that
nothing
ever
came
of
the
negotiations
between
the
federal
and
provincial
governments
on
this
issue.
Claude
Morin,
on
the
other
hand,
ignores the
programme
entirely
in
his
many
works tracing
the
development
of
Quebec's
international
identity
in
the
196os,
despite
his
central
role
as
Quebec's
deputy
minister
of
intergovernmental
affairs
in
the
mid-196os.
Of
course,
he
had
no
interest
in
exposing the
setbacks
experienced
by
Quebec.
Dale
Thomson,
Jean
Lesage
and
the
Quiet
Revolution
(Toronto:
Macmillan
1984);
Louise
Beaudoin,
'Origines
et
d(veloppement
du
r6le
international
du
Gouvernement
du
Quebec,'
in
Paul
Painchaud,
ed,
Le
Canada
et
le
Quebec
surla
scýne
internationale
(Quebec:
les Presses
de
l'Universit6
du
Qudbec
1977);
Patry,
Le
Quebec
dons
le
monde;
Claude
Morin,
L'Art
de
l'impossible;
and
Morin,
Quebec
versus
Ottawa:
the
struggle
forself-govemment,
196o-1972,
Richard Howard,
trans
(Toronto:
University
of
Toronto
Press
1976).
20
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JOURNAL Winter
2000-2001
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