Justice Minister Attends U.N. Women’s Conference

Justice Minister Linda Goupil

Minister of Justice Linda Goupil spearheaded Québec’s participation in the United Nations General Assembly Special Session “Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st Century”. The meeting, also called Beijing+5 after the major U.N. women’s conference held in that capital in 1995, took place in New York City June 5-9. (See “Quebecers in the News,” page 8.)

Québec’s experience at the Beijing conference led the government, through the Secrétariat à la Condition Féminine, to put forward a program of action on improving women’s rights and opportunities. The minister said she hoped the New York meetings would lead to action at “regional, national and international levels so that the principles of social justice, equality and equity between women and men are clearly recognized and respected.” Ms. Goupil took advantage of her visit to meet with senior representatives of a number of Francophone countries at a reception offered in her honor by Quebec’s Delegate General in New York, Diane Wilhelmy.

AL CULTURHTS G HIGHLI

Lara Fabian: Not a Diva, but a “Songwriter With a Voice” century Italian melody). While there is little evidence of a rock influence, Fabian says the 1970’s band Queen had a big impact. “I bow to Freddie Mercury,” she told the Daily News of New York. Fabian, who spent her childhood years in Belgium and Italy, says she knew she

Laurence Galud/Sony Music

With her first album in English spawning a surprise hit in the exceedingly danceable “I Will Love Again”, Lara Fabian is being hailed as “the new Céline Dion”—a mantle the Québec-Belgian singer both seeks and shuns. Just don’t call Fabian a diva—she is, as she puts it, “a songwriter with a voice.” That voice has taken France and Québec by storm, and with three studio albums and one live collection to her credit, Fabian has emerged as one of the biggest artists of the French-speaking music scene. Yet while she has charmed and captivated millions of listeners, Fabian has been unheard in much of the world. Until now. This spring Sony Records released Fabian’s first, self-titled English-language album, the starting point for an American invasion. The success of “I Will Love Again,” which sets Fabian’s powerhouse voice over a commanding beat, has brought the inevitable comparisons with Céline Dion. And that’s just fine with Fabian. “A comparison to Céline is not a problem for me,” she says. “Comparisons are normal and healthy. When Mariah Carey came out, everyone compared her to Whitney Houston. It’s a compliment.” Ballads dominate the new album, with the clear influence of Euro-pop as well as classical music (the song “Adagio” is based on the famous Albioni Adagio, an 18th-

wanted to be a professional singer from age 5. Growing up, she longed to meld classical influences with the approach of a star like Barbra Streisand. But at 19, Fabian found European record companies reluctant to let her write her own material. “When you’re 17, 18 and you’re just starting to write your own songs and 5

explore your potential, you want to be able to do that the way you feel you should,” she recalls. “And in Europe, I kept meeting people who wanted to tell me what I should do, their own version of the truth. I wouldn’t compromise, so I left and went somewhere I felt I could be myself.” Fabian packed her bags for Québec. “I found a country where I could be myself,” she says. “They were open to a young mind.” Her first album, in French, was released in 1991 and became a hit. She released three more albums, which turned her into a star in Québec and other Frenchspeaking countries. But all the while, she longed to sing in English. “I always wanted to do this on an international level. And English is the most-understood language in the world.” Fabian comes by her international appeal quite naturally. Her father is from Brussels and her mother is from Sicily. She grew up speaking Italian and, in quick succession, picked up French and then English. And she has also recorded in Spanish. “I’m more of a Latin kind of person,” she offers, in explanation of why she has such an affinity for Romance languages. “The flow of the language is much closer to my personality.” Fabian is scheduled to play New York’s Carnegie Hall in mid-September. Québec Update – July-August 2000