QUEBEC -- Quebec and France are joining forces to improve the discoverability of francophone cultural materials online.

Quebec’s minister of culture, Nathalie Roy, and her French counterpart, Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, unveiled a new cultural strategy on Monday, launched by French President Emmanuel Macron and Quebec Premier François Legault in January 2019 in Paris.

The minister of culture specified that the idea of discoverability refers to the availability of content online, and its capacity to be found amid a vast wealth of other content when one is not specifically looking for it.

The strategy aims to support the formation of a cultural environment and to accompany it, notably by putting in place an online formation for cultural professionals in both France and Quebec.

It then wants to emphasize the availability and promotion of francophone content online, continually evaluating the conditions for discoverability by observing how content is used, conducting targeted studies and adapting public policies to these new demands while evolving regulations in France and Quebec.

To further develop the strategy, a binational team has met more than 200 important members of institutions, both industrial and economic, who operate in various cultural sectors. Researchers have also been mandated to produce analyses in their respective fields.

“The unprecedented use of digital space for cultural means, accentuated by the health crisis, confirms the importance of our content’s discoverability in order to preserve our identity and our Quebecer cultural sovereignty,” declared Roy in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2020.