Comedian Boucar Diouf will headline the 20th edition of Toronto’s Francophonie Week
La Semaine de la francophonie de Toronto, Francophonie Week, will celebrate its 20th edition from March 20 to 27, 2020.
To mark the occasion, Greater Toronto area Francophones and Francophiles are invited to take part in dozens of artistic, cultural, literary and scientific events held across the city, many free of charge.
Headlining this 20th anniversary edition is the Quebecois-Senegalese comedian Boucar Diouf, who will give two performances of his show Magtogoek ou le chemin qui marche, Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28. Diouf is a comedian and a radio personality, and also a biologist by training and a former professor at the Université du Québec in Rimouski. With great depth and humanity, his performance evokes the realities of everyday life on the African continent that marked his childhood and discusses topics such as integration and cultural differences through the lens of his personal experiences, which are sure to interest Toronto’s Francophone and Francophile community.
Toronto’s Francophone community comes together to celebrate its culture and diversity
Held annually on or about March 20, International Francophonie Day, Toronto’s Francophonie Week is first and foremost a celebration of the French language and Francophone cultures in Toronto.
For the third consecutive year, Collège Boréal is coordinating the event. Under the leadership of president Lise Béland, the coordinating committee includes representatives of ten or so Francophone organizations who bring their contribution to the festivities.
The organizing committee encourages Francophone community partners to take part in the celebrations of this 20th edition by organizing their own events within the week’s programming and to promote them on the Semaine de la francophonie website.
Several events are already announced
The organizing committee has already confirmed these first three events:
- March 19, 2020 – Launch cocktail (by invitation)
- March 21, 2020 – Family Day at Collège Boréal
- March 27-28, 2020 –Boucar Diouf performs at the Alliance française de Toronto
The complete program of events will be officially announced in early 2020.
Members of the organizing committee:
- Collège Boréal (coordinator)
- Bureau du Québec à Toronto
- Ontario Ministry of Francophone Affairs
- Théâtre français de Toronto
- Centre francophone de Toronto
- Francophonie en fête
- Glendon University College
- Alliance Française de Toronto
- ACFO Toronto
- Oasis Centre des Femmes
Quick facts on La Francophonie
- French is the 5th language most spoken across the world: 300 million people in 102 countries (up by nearly 10% since 2014) speak French and by 2065, there will be more than 700 million French speakers throughout the world;
- 32 States and governments have French as an official language;
- In Ontario, there are approximately 622,000 Francophones and 1.5 million people with some knowledge of French, that is, 11.5% of province’s total population. Ontario has the largest number of Francophones in Canada outside of Quebec;
- Toronto is Ontario’s second Francophone city in Ontario after Ottawa, with more than 100,000 French-speaking persons.
About
La Semaine de la langue française et de la Francophonie (The French Language and La Francophonie Week) is a cultural event held annually in many countries and many Canadian provinces and cities, with the support of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, on or about March 20, International Francophonie Day.
Toronto’s Semaine de la Francophonie (Francophonie Week) in its current form was launched in 2001. Every year, under the leadership of an organizing committee made up of local Francophone institutions, the community is invited to develop a series of cultural, artistic, literary or scientific events aiming to celebrate and promote French language and culture in all its forms and all its diversity.
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