User:Mathieugp/drafts/Council on French life in America

The Council on French life in America (French: Conseil de la vie française en Amérique) was a Quebec City-based non-profit organization active from 1937 to 2007. The Council officially ceased its operations on September 7, 2007. Its last president was Jean-Louis Desrochers and last honorary president the singer–songwriter Zachary Richard. Since March 15, 1998, its offices were located in Quebec City's Maison de la francophonie. At the time of its closing, the organization had 22 lifetime members, 6 honorary members, 63 corporate members and 240 individual members.

History
On June 27, 1937, the Second Congress on the French Language in Canada organized by the Société du parler français reactivated the Permanent Committee of the Congresses on the French Language created in 1912 during the First Congress on the French Language in Canada. The Committee was incorporated on July 8 under the name of Comité permanent de la Survivance française en Amérique (Permanent Committee on French Survival in America). In 1956, the organization took the definitive name of Conseil de la vie française en Amérique.

When it was founded in 1937, the institution was given the mission to "promote the development and blooming of communities of French origin, language and culture in America". Its founders gave it the motto "Conservons notre héritage français" (Let's Preserve our French Heritage) and fixed its headquarters in Quebec City.

The first task of the Council was to publish the acts of the Second Congress on the French Language in Canada, that is to say the account of the sittings and the memoirs presented by congress members. This was done in 1937 and 1938. The Council then on endeavoured to accomplish its main mission of realizing the "vows" formulated by the Second Congress.

The Council strived to maintain the cultural ties uniting all French speakers in America and during 70 years played the role of a meeting ground for the various associations that supported the minorities of the Quebec diaspora and Acadian diaspora scattered across North America.

Concretely, the Council offered financial support to various projects aiming for the development of cultural and educational institutions located in Ontario, Western Canada, New England and Louisiana. The Council is at the origin of several foundations (Jean-Talon, Entraide canadienne-française, Liaison française), student bursaries, and subscription campaigns (Le sous de la survivance, Fraternité française). It organized conferences, congresses, colloquiums, competitions, and travels, ordered studies and enquiries, and attributed awards, all of which was intended to increase mutual awareness and understanding among francophones wherever they be in North America.

In 1947, the Council participated to the foundation of the Association canadienne d'éducation de langue française (ACELF), which was created in response to a call sent by the Canadian episcopacy in 1944 for the organization of a pan-Canadian association of francophone and catholic educators.

In 1954, the Council founded the Liaison française, a non-profit travel agency used to regularize visits of Acadians to Quebec, Quebecers to Acadia and the other francophone enclaves on the continent.

In 1957, the Prix Champlain was created to encourage literary production among francophones outside Quebec.

The Council founded the Institut Camille-Roy, incorporated in 1965.

Members of the Council took an active part in the public consultation of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism set up by the federal government of Canada in the 1960s.

In 1987, the Council received the Prix du 3 juillet 1608 attributed by Quebec's Superior Council of the French language for "its exceptional contribution to the radiation of French-language culture in North America".

In March 2001, the Council submitted a memoir to the Commission of the Estates-General on the Situation and Future of the French Language in Quebec.

Presidents
The following persons held the presidency of the Council:

Members
The Council's regulations recognize three types of members: individual members, corporate members and honorary members.

At its closing in 2007, the Council had among its corporate members the Association pour le soutien et l'usage de la langue française (ASULF), the Chaire pour le développement de la recherche sur la culture d'expression française en Amérique du Nord (CEFAN), the Conseil québécois du patrimoine vivant (CQPV), the Mouvement estrien pour le français (MEF), the Office franco-québécois pour la jeunesse, Impératif français, the Salon international du livre de Québec, several Saint-Jean-Baptiste societies, the Société de développement des périodiques culturels québécois (SODEP), the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario (AFO), the Institut d'études pédagogiques de l'Ontario, the Université Laurentienne, TFO, the Association des écrivains francophones de la Colombie-Britannique, the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface, the Faculté Saint-Jean, the Centre franco-américain, the Institut des femmes franco-américaines, the Conseil pour le développement du français en Louisiane (CODOFIL), etc. Most of these organizations are remained active after the Council's closing.

Awards

 * Prix Champlain (1957-2007)
 * Ordre du Conseil de la vie française en Amérique (2000-2007)

Publications
In addition to the accounts and memoirs of the Congresses on the French Language in Canada, the Council published several periodicals, memoirs, folk songs collections, speech transcripts, conferences, etc. It also collaborated to the publication of historical works by Bona Arsenault and Antoine Bernard.


 * Periodicals
 * Vie française (1946-1989)
 * La Vie franco-américaine (1938-1953)
 * Le Calendrier de la Survivance française
 * Le Bottin des sociétés patriotiques 1963-?
 * Le répertoire de la vie française en Amérique (1978-2007)
 * Échos du Conseil de la vie française en Amérique (1982-1984)
 * Le Franc-Contact (1983-1987 et 1993-2001)