TOURISM recently caught up with Société du 400e anniversaire de Québec president and CEO Pierre Boulanger, who had been invited to bring Canadian Capital Cities Organization (CCCO) members up to date on plans for the celebration at the annual CCCO conference held this year in Regina.
Boulanger took the opportunity to invite influencers representing other capital cities like Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Victoria, Fredericton, Ottawa, Charlottetown, Iqaluit and Edmonton to impart a pan-Canadian flavour to the commemoration. “We must remember that this will not only be a celebration of the French presence on the American continent; it also celebrates Canada’s beginnings. There is a place for each one of us,” Boulanger explains.
One of the initiatives he hopes will remind Canadians of that is the bell ringing initiative he is actively promoting. “We hope that in all cities and towns, in as many Canadian communities as possible, on July 3rd 2008 at 11:00 a.m. (exactly 400 years after the arrival of Samuel de Champlain at what is now Québec), bells will ring across Canada to celebrate this milestone event and the fact that we are all together in this country.”
Boulanger has his sights set on an even greater reach. He is calling on specific American markets like New England (where many Franco-Americans of Quebec descent eventually made their home) to retrace the journey back to Québec; he is inviting Americans of Irish descent, whose forebears arrived at Québec as part the original wave of 500,000 Irish immigrants who have evolved into today’s 40 million American citizens of Irish ancestry, to commemorate with Canadians.
“This is an opportunity for these people to re-appropriate their roots. Across the Atlantic,” he goes on, “in France and other European countries, events will also take place to commemorate Québec’s 400th anniversary.”
As the countdown to the event gets closer, organizers are shifting gears for the final sprint to December 31, 2007. “The program is more or less finalized and the major contracts are signed. From the moment this is all in place, it becomes easier for us to be more active on the communications front.
“On December 31, 2007, we are entering the event production mode. Our 10-month long show starts then. From that moment on, participants in Québec city and everywhere will be in the midst of celebrations. Instead of saying ‘Come to Québec in 2008,’ we will say ‘next week there is this event taking place… come and see the show.’”
The Québec Convention Centre is recording 60% more conventions for 2008 than in 2007 which in itself was a banner year, and Québec City Tourism expects 2.5 million more visitors for 2008.
As the momentum builds, Boulanger has the following words of advice for other destinations wishing to take a commemorative opportunity like this to its fullest potential:
“It is all about partnerships. It is absolutely essential that the other partners - funding providers, organizations like Québec City Tourism with which we work on a daily basis, the Chamber of Commerce, and so on - work collectively on the project . It is everybody’s business. This may be an old cliché, but it is still valid in this context: it is not so much what the 400th can do for you that matters, but rather, what you can do to ensure its success.”
Boulanger took the opportunity to invite influencers representing other capital cities like Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Victoria, Fredericton, Ottawa, Charlottetown, Iqaluit and Edmonton to impart a pan-Canadian flavour to the commemoration. “We must remember that this will not only be a celebration of the French presence on the American continent; it also celebrates Canada’s beginnings. There is a place for each one of us,” Boulanger explains.
One of the initiatives he hopes will remind Canadians of that is the bell ringing initiative he is actively promoting. “We hope that in all cities and towns, in as many Canadian communities as possible, on July 3rd 2008 at 11:00 a.m. (exactly 400 years after the arrival of Samuel de Champlain at what is now Québec), bells will ring across Canada to celebrate this milestone event and the fact that we are all together in this country.”
Boulanger has his sights set on an even greater reach. He is calling on specific American markets like New England (where many Franco-Americans of Quebec descent eventually made their home) to retrace the journey back to Québec; he is inviting Americans of Irish descent, whose forebears arrived at Québec as part the original wave of 500,000 Irish immigrants who have evolved into today’s 40 million American citizens of Irish ancestry, to commemorate with Canadians.
“This is an opportunity for these people to re-appropriate their roots. Across the Atlantic,” he goes on, “in France and other European countries, events will also take place to commemorate Québec’s 400th anniversary.”
As the countdown to the event gets closer, organizers are shifting gears for the final sprint to December 31, 2007. “The program is more or less finalized and the major contracts are signed. From the moment this is all in place, it becomes easier for us to be more active on the communications front.
“On December 31, 2007, we are entering the event production mode. Our 10-month long show starts then. From that moment on, participants in Québec city and everywhere will be in the midst of celebrations. Instead of saying ‘Come to Québec in 2008,’ we will say ‘next week there is this event taking place… come and see the show.’”
The Québec Convention Centre is recording 60% more conventions for 2008 than in 2007 which in itself was a banner year, and Québec City Tourism expects 2.5 million more visitors for 2008.
As the momentum builds, Boulanger has the following words of advice for other destinations wishing to take a commemorative opportunity like this to its fullest potential:
“It is all about partnerships. It is absolutely essential that the other partners - funding providers, organizations like Québec City Tourism with which we work on a daily basis, the Chamber of Commerce, and so on - work collectively on the project . It is everybody’s business. This may be an old cliché, but it is still valid in this context: it is not so much what the 400th can do for you that matters, but rather, what you can do to ensure its success.”
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