The Diplomat
The director of the Instituto Cervantes, Luis García Montero, begins today a trip to Canada that will conclude on June 3 and in which, among other issues, will address the possible opening of a Cervantes centre in this country.
Canada is home to 1.2 million people of Hispanic origin, out of a population of 38 million. Currently, Spanish is the first foreign language in formal education at the secondary and university levels in Canada, with more than 92,000 students. More than 730,000 people speak Spanish in Canada. Toronto and Montreal, the two most populated cities in the country, account for more than half of the country’s native Spanish speakers. Montreal is the city with the largest Spanish-speaking population.
Since 2006 there has been a Cervantes Aula associated with the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Calgary, which is administratively dependent on the Chicago center. In the region of Alberta, where the Aula is located, agreements with the government of the province have favored the creation of bilingual schools in English and Spanish. According to a press release issued yesterday by the Institute, one of the objectives of García Montero’s trip, which is part of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and Spain, is to study possible ways to open a Cervantes center in this country in the future.
García Montero’s work agenda will begin today in Toronto with a meeting with Michael Ford, Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism of Ontario, the region in which the federal capital, Ottawa, is also located. He will also meet with Yolanda Iglesias, professor of Spanish at the University of Toronto and vice president of the Association of Hispanists in Canada, followed by a working meeting with the head of the Spanish, Portuguese and Medieval Studies department, Ana Teresa Pérez Leroux, and several professors.
Afterwards, the director of the Instituto Cervantes will inaugurate the exhibition Joyas Bibliográficas en español (Bibliographic jewels in Spanish) at the Thomas Fisher Library and will hold a meeting with Spanish professors from the Department of Language, Literature and Linguistics at the University of York.
Tomorrow, Thursday, June 1, García Montero will meet with the Acting Mayor of Toronto, Jennifer McKelvie. During all meetings and events, the Director of the Instituto Cervantes will be accompanied by the Spanish Ambassador to Canada, Alfredo Martínez.
On Saturday, García Montero will deliver the lecture The situation of Spanish in the world during the opening of the Annual Congress of Hispanists of Canada, to be held in Ottawa. The symposium, organized by the Canadian Association of Hispanists, will be held until June 5 and will be attended by more than 120 specialists. The director of Cervantes will conclude his agenda in Canada by participating in the closing of the Picasso exhibition on La Celestina at the Library of Canada.
