Local Support

The Congress has received siginificant local support, including that of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during early preparatory phases, back in 2016!

The Congress can now also count on a number of personalities from Montreal, Quebec and elsewhere in Canada, who offer their moral support, ans share the ideals conveyed by the World Esperanto Association, the Congress and its participants.

World Esperanto Congresses can traditionally cound on a patron and an honorary committee.

Georges Sioui

The Congress takes place under the patronage of Georges Sioui.

Georges Sioui is a Huron-Wendat historian and philosopher. He received a classical education in Quebec and Nova Scotia, and then studied history at Laval University, where he received a doctorate in 1991. He was editor-in-chief of the magazines Kanatha and then Tawow, and has published four landmark books on Indigenous history and philosophy: Pour une autohistoire amérindienne (PUL, 1989; reprinted in 1999 and 2019), Les Huron-Wendat: une civilisation méconnue (PUL, 1994; reprinted in 1999 and 2019), Histoires de Kanatha (PUOttawa, 2009), and Eatenonha: Native Roots of Modern Democracy (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019). He has also published a poetry book: Seawi (Dialogos, New Orleans, 2013). Georges Sioui is also a polyglot, activist, poet, essayist and musical composer. He is an internationally recognized speaker on Indigenous history, philosophy, spirituality and education. He is a retired professor of Classics and Religious Studies in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ottawa.

Honorary Committee

The Honorary Committe is traditional in World Congresses made up of local personalities from the host country, who morally support the ideals of the Congress.

Bïa Krieger (Bïa) — Singer

Bïa is a Brazil-born singer active in France and Quebec, whi sings in Portuguese, French, Spanisha and Italian. She create several music albums and also wrote a novel. In 2021, she was awarded the title of Chevalier des arts et des lettres in France.

Hassane Amraoui (Chlag) — Visual artist

Originally from Aurès in Algeria, Chlag has been living in Montreal since 2055. He studied in Batna and Algiers. His work has been exhibited in seveal major art galleries in Tunisia and Algeria, as well as internationally. He is a member of the organization “Diversité artistique Montréal” and participates in various urban and cultural projects.

Yves Desrosiers — Musician

Yves Desrosiers is a Quebec musician, composer and singer with both a solo career and projects that are part of wider collaborations. Among major recent musical projects is his last album, “Nokta ŝoforo”, which features Esperanto.

André Dudemaine — Filmmaker, co-founder of Land in Sights

André Dudemaine is an award-winning Innu filmmaker and cultural activist with a mutifected career. He co-founded the important organization “Land in Sights”, which among other projects is responsible for organizing Montreal’s Présence autochtone Festival.

Claudia Larochelle — Journalist and author

Journalist and author, who has lead various TV and radio literary shows, at outlets such as ICI ARTV, Savoir Médias and ICI Radio-Canada. She also writes colums for the press. She also writes short stories, novels, a literary essay as well as children’s books. She lives in Montreal.

Claudia Larochelle is also the honorary president of the Intercultural Esperanto Short Story Contest (INK), proposed by the Esperanto literary group Bobelarto, in partnership with the Esperanto Literary Academy.

Jean-Benoît Nadeau — Journalist and author

Journalist and author, who contributes columns for various Quebec newspapers and magazines, including a language column at L’Actualité. He is also a colmnist at Avenues.ca and wrote regularly for Le Devoir. He also authored several books about culture and language, alone or together with his wife Julie Barlow. He has been about 20 literary or journalistic prizes during his career.

Matthew Rankin — Filmmaker

Originally from Winnipeg, Matthew Rankin is a Quebec-based filmmaker. His work has been featured in Berlin, the Toronto, the Sundance Festival and at Cannes. He also speaks Esperanto and has participated in the 98th World Esperanto Congress in Reykjavik (2013).