HEC Montréal Hosts the Grand Finale of La Dictée P.G.L. de la Francophonie
March 27, 2023
The grand finale of La Dictée P.G.L. de la Francophonie was held on March 22 at HEC Montréal, which is a partner and host of this event. Finalists from nearly thirty Quebec companies attempted to face the challenge of delivering a flawless performance in this second edition of the competition component for adults, which took place at the School's Amphithéâtre Banque Nationale. HEC Montréal was represented by David Boisclair, Executive Director, Retirement and Savings Institute, and Méghan Lafond, Student, MSc en gestion de l’innovation sociale.
The finale, which coincided with HEC Montréal’s Semaine du français (French week) and the Francofête festivities of the Office québécois de la langue française, was moderated by François-Étienne Paré (Théâtre de la LNI), and took place under the honorary presidency of Pierre Karl Péladeau (Québecor). Dignitaries and invited guests included Pierre-Olivier Zappa (TVA 22H) who read out the dictation, MP Louis Lemieux, former MP Louise Harel, François Gérin-Lajoie (Fondation Paul Gérin-Lajoie), Karl Blackburn (Conseil du patronat du Québec), Vanessa Léger (author), Alexis Normand (performer) as well as representatives from Druide informatique (Antidote), the Office québécois de la langue française, and the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada.
Jacques Robert, Louis Lemieux, Karl Blackburn, Federico Pasin, Vanessa Léger, François Gérin-Lajoie, Pierre-Olivier Zappa, Olivier Bertin-Mahieux, Louise Harel and Pierre Karl Péladeau.
HEC Montréal bags 3rd place in the competition
The dictation for the finale, entitled “Une mosaïque polychrome”, and prepared by Acadian author Vanessa Léger, highlighted the Francophonie and the richness of the French language. Three people, including a finalist from HEC Montréal, demonstrated an outstanding quality of writing through lexical prowess, homonyms, and complexities in spelling. The winners are:
| Gold Award | Esther Paul | EY Canada |
| Silver Award | Laurence Vergniol | Desjardins Caisse du Réseau municipal |
| Bronze Award | David Boisclair | HEC Montréal |
Michel Robitaille (Centre de la francophonie des Amériques), David Boisclair (HEC Montréal finalist and 3rd place winner) and Liane Roy (Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada).
In order to reach the grand finale, a selection process took place on March 15 with the release of a virtual dictation, where each company picked a winner from among all the participants. This preliminary dictation was prepared by two staff members of HEC Montréal, Nadia Karina Ponce Morales, Sustainable Development Coordinator, in collaboration with Valérie Patenaude, Coordinator, Business Language Training Centre.
The importance of French in education and in business
La Dictée P.G.L. is an educational project launched in 1991 for the purpose of raising young people’s awareness of the world’s most pressing issues and enhancing their use of the French language, and it enjoys a well-established reputation. The high degree of credibility of the Fondation Paul Gérin-Lajoie, both in Quebec and elsewhere in the world, makes it a key player in the Francophonie. The competitive component for adults (Dictée P.G.L. de la Francophonie) was created in 2022 with the aim of promoting French in businesses and raising economic players’ awareness of the relevance of this issue in Quebec. HEC Montréal has therefore joined this initiative as a partner of the 2023 edition.
"HEC Montréal is very proud to be associated with the Fondation P.G.L. and the values it represents. This partnership is in addition to the concrete steps taken by the School in terms of raising awareness, training, and linguistic support in French, both for its Francophone community and for those from other linguistic communities. We have a duty as a Francophone academic institution to implement all the necessary tools to ensure the success of our students and help them to flourish professionally and in French."
Through the involvement of companies, the Fondation P.G.L. has raised donations that will help support the education of young people. Half the funds raised will be given to underprivileged schools in Quebec to finance a project of their choice, and the other half will be used to develop educational tools.
About the Fondation Paul Gérin-Lajoie
The Fondation Paul Gérin-Lajoie is a non-profit organization whose mission is to contribute to the improvement of living conditions of communities through quality education in Africa and Haiti. The Fondation is also well known for its projects in socio-economic empowerment, health and food security, sustainable development, and gender equality. In Canada, it undertakes activities to increase awareness of international cooperation and solidarity.