Madam Speaker, on Friday, March 20, 2009, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie will celebrate the 39th anniversary of its founding, in 1970. As one of the founding members, Canada will mark the International Day of La Francophonie by paying tribute to the contribution of Acadian communities and highlighting its support for the 4th Congrès mondial acadien to be held in August 2009.
To celebrate the International Day of La Francophonie, the Greater Sudbury ACFO is organizing La Nuit sur l'étang, a music festival promoting franco-ontarian artists, to be held on March 21, 2009, at 8 p.m., at the Sudbury campus of Collège Boréal.
Francophones around the world will celebrate this day by expressing their solidarity and desire to live together, with their differences and in their diversity, thus sharing the values of La Francophonie.
I wish all francophones and francophiles in Canada, and elsewhere, a good International Day of La Francophonie.