MONTREAL – France’s Legion of Honour, the highest of that country’s national orders, is being conferred on Radio-Canada’s executive vice-president Sylvain Lafrance at a special ceremony in Ottawa on Friday.
Lafrance has been so named "in recognition of his outstanding efforts within the public service to develop and project French language and culture, and of his commitment to issues of diversity, cultural coexistence and protecting identities," says the CBC press release.
He joins a distinguished list of recipients that includes such folks as retired U.S. General Norman Schwartzkopf, singer Barbara Streisand, chemist Louis Pasteur, Canadian film director/producer Denys Arcand, author Normal Mailer, Canadian World War I flying ace Billy Bishop, telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, and actor Clint Eastwood.
Daniel Jouanneau, the French Ambassador to Canada, will award the insignia to Lafrance on behalf of the president of the French Republic.
Lafrance (pictured) has spent almost 30 years with Canada’s public broadcaster and was appointed vice-president of Radio de Radio-Canada in 1998. Under his vice-presidency, Radio de Radio-Canada launched Espace musique, the only nationwide French-language radio n
etwork devoted to musical diversity and the development of emerging talent. Also, Radio de Radio-Canada achieved some of its highest ratings ever: both Première Chaîne and Espace musique more than doubled their respective listenership since 1998, says the release.
Since October 2002, Sylvain Lafrance has been chairman of the board of arts and entertainment specialty channel ARTV, of which Radio-Canada is the primary owner. And, in fall 2005, CBC/Radio-Canada board asked Lafrance to integrate Radio-Canada’s radio, television and web services to create one of the world’s largest French-language public broadcasting groups and the only one of its kind in North America.
Internationally, he chaired Les Radios francophones publiques from 2002 to 2004. He is also vice-president of the Conseil international des radios-télévisions d’expression française (CIRTEF), an association of French-language media organizations in the North and South.
"With his passion for public broadcasting, Sylvain Lafrance has spent most of his career with Radio-Canada. He has developed an original and consistent vision of the public broadcaster’s role, which he expounds in all Canadian and international forums," says the release. "With his commitment to the international Francophonie and as an ardent promoter of cultural diversity, he is convinced that the media, and particularly public broadcasters, have a crucial role to play as instruments of culture and democracy with an eye to promoting cultural coexistence and protecting identities.
Created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Legion of Honour of the French Republic is only rarely bestowed on foreigners. Through this distinction, the French government recognizes not only outstanding professional achievement but also individuals’ personal commitment to public service.
