Embassy of France kicks off New Year

After 100 years, the Summer Olympic Games return to Paris in 2024

Embassy of France
Victoria Lehman, general manager of Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa, French Ambassador Michel Miraillet, and Lehman's husband, Ottawa lawyer and Rockcliffe Park Residents Association president Russell Gibson at a New Year reception hosted by the French Embassy on Friday, January 12, 2024. Photo by Caroline Phillips
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The Embassy of France invited crowds of guests to a New Year’s reception it hosted on Friday night for its Canadian friends and partners from a wide range of industries — including economic growth, arts and culture, hospitality, education, and foreign diplomacy.

Ambassador Michel Miraillet kept his remarks in the Grand Salon very brief as he welcomed a “melting pot” of people to the party. He light-heartedly expressed his hope that they would all get along. Of course, cultivating camaraderie comes naturally when you’re literally rubbing elbows with one another.

French Ambassador Michel Miraillet welcomed guests to a New Year reception hosted at the embassy on Friday, January 12, 2024. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Guests included Sébastien Carrière, new chief of protocol of Canada for Global Affairs, and senior protocol advisor Vicken Koundakjian; French-born Sylvie Bragard, president of UFE (Union des Français de l’Étranger) Ottawa-Gatineau; and Laurence Schaller, director of government and diplomatic sales at the Fairmont Château Laurier. The historic hotel is owned by Paris-based Accor — one of the largest global hotel chains in the world.

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Also spotted was Invest Ottawa’s Inês Gomes, market director of global expansion into Europe and Brazil. She was there with her husband, Stan Razavi, who scored his own invitation through his work with Global Affairs. 

Vincent Bonnefille, headmaster of Ottawa-based French-language private school Lycée Claudel, was at the reception with some of his colleagues. With nearly 1,000 students, it’s the only school in Ontario with full accreditation from the AEFE, a public agency that assures the quality of schools teaching the French national curriculum outside of France.

Ottawa Film Commissioner Sandrine Pechels de Saint Sardos, who was born and raised in Paris, works closely with the French embassy and its media and creative industries attaché, Frédéric Chambon. The embassy is a partner in Prime Time, she said of the upcoming industry conference for leaders in media production, broadcasting, television, feature film and media policy, taking place at The Westin hotel.

Jason St-Laurent praised the embassy for playing a role in boosting the arts scene. He’s the curator at SAW Gallery, a non-profit artist-run space located at Arts Court. “The cultural attachés associated with this embassy are the best in the country, they really are,” said St-Laurent. “They take cultural diplomacy seriously.”

Added Pechels de Saint Sardos: “We really are lucky to have their support for the arts and cultural community.”

From left, Vicken Koundakjian, senior protocol advisor at Global Affairs Canada, and Sébastien Carrière, chief protocol officer of Canada, at a New Year reception hosted by the Embassy of France on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. Photo by Caroline Phillips
From left, Stefan St-Laurent from SAW Gallery alongside the French embassy’s media and creative industries attaché, Frédéric Chambon, Ottawa Film Commissioner Sandrine Pechels de Saint Sardos, and Jason St-Laurent, also with SAW Gallery, at the New Year reception hosted by  Ambassador Michel Miraillet at the Embassy of France on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Representing Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa Culinary Arts Institute was its general manager, Victoria Lehman. The embassy hosted a ceremony last June for the training school’s graduating chefs and has offered to do so again this year, said Lehman.

Le Cordon Bleu, an iconic hospitality institution, is deeply intertwined with French culinary heritage. It was founded in Paris, in 1895, and is owned by André Cointreau of the French liquor dynasty. To have the ceremony at the embassy was “phenomenal,” she said. “It was such a nice experience for all of our students.”

For francophones, Francophiles, and everyone in between, the embassy’s Bastille Day celebration is one of the best summer parties in town. This year, the event is scheduled for Sunday, July 14. It will be the perfect prelude to France’s 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games — the largest event ever organized in the country. The last time the Summer Olympics were held in Paris was 100 years ago. Ottawa residents now have the option of hopping on a direct Air France flight from Ottawa to Paris to be a spectator (or, in an even better scenario, a competing athlete).

Looking further ahead, France has officially submitted a bid to hold the 2030 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in the French Alps. It’s hosted the winter games three times — at Chamonix in 1924, Grenoble in 1968 and Albertville in 1992.

Frank Marchetti, deputy head of mission at the Embassy of France, with Laurence Schaller, director of government and diplomatic sales at the Fairmont Château Laurier, at a New Year reception hosted by the embassy on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. Photo by Caroline Phillips
From left, Jean-Toussaint Battestini, economic and financial affairs officer in the economic department of the Embassy of France, alongside Sam Razavi, who works for Global Affairs, and his wife Inês Gomes, market director of global expansion into the European market for Invest Ottawa. Photo by Caroline Phillips
From left, Sylvie Bragard, president of UFE (Union des Français de l’Étranger) Ottawa-Gatineau, at the French embassy’s New Year reception, and Anick Tremblay, who works for Franco-Ontarian politician Marie-France Lalonde, the Liberal MP for the Ottawa riding of Orléans. Photo by Caroline Phillips
Aïcha El Azrak, educational mission officer for the Embassy of France, and Vincent Bonnefille, headmaster of Ottawa-based French-language private school Lycée Claudel, at a New Year reception hosted by the embassy on Friday, January 12, 2024. Photo by Caroline Phillips
From left, Sophia Conradie, operations manager of Muséoparc Vanier, with Aurélie Marié from Réseau Ontario — a networking organization for Ontario’s Francophone performing arts community — and Ottawa Film Commissioner Sandrine Pechels de Saint Sardos at a New Year reception hosted by the Embassy of France. Photo by Caroline Phillips
caroline@obj.ca

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