Canada-France relations

Bilateral relations

Canada and France maintain a rich and strong relationship, rooted in a shared history and common language. A permanent member of the UN Security Council, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the G7 and the G20, a founding member of the European Union and a key partner within the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, France is one of Canada’s closest allies.

Canada and France actively cooperate in support of multilateralism and a rules-based international order; international security; the promotion of democracy and good governance; human rights; gender equality; and a shared Francophone culture.

Various bilateral engagements and partnerships shape joint actions between Canada and France, particularly in the areas of culture, international mobility, environment and climate change mitigation, sustainable development, international aid, artificial intelligence, and security and defense. Canada and France reaffirmed their bilateral priorities through The Joint Statement issued in September 2024, during President Macron’s visit to Canada.

The strengthening of the Canada–France strategic partnership served as a platform for discussions aimed at deepening cooperation in security and defense, responding more effectively to geopolitical crises, promoting the responsible development of AI, and to ocean protection, and combating climate change.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Emmanuel Macron maintained regular contact on the war in Ukraine, and crises in Gaza and in Haiti. In addition to meetings during international summits, regular visits by elected officials, ministers and heads of government and state take place on both sides of the Atlantic, marking the continuity of the historical relationship between Canada and France. Furthermore, the Canada-France Interparliamentary Association gives Canadian and French parliamentarians the opportunity to discuss matters of mutual interest.

For his first official visit abroad, Prime Minister Mark Carney traveled to France in May 2025, where he met with President Emmanuel Macron—highlighting the importance placed on Franco-Canadian relations. Since then, Prime Minister Carney and President Macron have maintained a regular dialogue aimed at building stronger economies, deepening trade and defense ties, and addressing the war in Ukraine as well as crises in the Middle East, and across the globe.

A shared Francophone culture

Canada and France work closely together within the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie as its two largest donors. Working together in this significant multilateral space ensures ongoing engagement with French speaking populations—starting with youth, women and girls—in all their diversity and advances shared priorities in promoting the French language and education in and of French, peace, strengthening democracy and human rights, education, climate action, and cooperation in economic and digital fields at the service of sustainable development. Among the recent products of this collaboration, in 2020 TV5 Monde and TV5 Québec-Canada launched the digital platform TV5MONDEPlus with a mandate to broadcast French-language audiovisual productions around the world.

International mobility

Canadian and French academic institutions work closely together, and hundreds of student exchange agreements have been signed between higher education institutions. The latest agreement, in effect since 2015, allows Canadian and French youth aged 18 to 35 to work, travel and complete an internship in the other country for a period of up to 24 months.

Science, technology and innovation

France is a priority country for Canada in terms of scientific cooperation and technology partnerships. Canada and France are committed to strengthening their cooperation in the fields of science, technology and innovation. High value-added partnerships with a focus on innovation are being developed in strategic sectors: aerospace; medical technologies; biotechnology as applied to medicine and agro-industry; technologies for precision agriculture; green technologies; renewable energy; advanced materials; nanotechnologies; information and communication technology, including artificial intelligence (AI).

In April 2023, Canada and France launched and announced the first edition of the new joint committee on Science, Technology and Innovation.

Trade relations

France is a strategic and essential trading partner for Canada. France is Canada’s third largest merchandise export market in the European Union. In 2024, bilateral merchandise trade between the two countries totalled $14.2 billion, with Canadian merchandise exports to France valued at $4.4 billion, and merchandise imports at $9.8 billion. At the end of 2023, Canadian direct investment in France totalled $13.9 billion, while French direct investment in Canada amounted to $14.9 billion (UIC basis).

The commercial relationship between Canada and France is underpinned by the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which has been provisionally applied since 2017. CETA creates opportunities for French and Canadian businesses by eliminating tariffs and increasing the mobility of businesspeople, among other things.

Defence cooperation

Canada and France share extensive defence cooperation in a bilateral and multilateral context. Within the framework of the bilateral Franco-Canadian Defence Cooperation Council (FCDCC), the two countries share strategic analyses, discuss military cooperation, and conduct exchanges in the fields of research, development, and defence equipment, and reiterated in the Canada–France Declaration on Enhanced Defence and Security Partnership of September 26, 2024.

In addition to being NATO Allies, Canada and France work closely in multilateral fora to cooperate on defence and security matters. Canada and France are also Allies in the Global Coalition to Defeat Da’esh and work together closely in a number of hot spots around the world. Canada and France regularly highlight the deep ties of their bilateral relationship during the numerous ceremonies commemorating the First and Second World Wars.

Representation

In France, Canada is represented by the Embassy of Canada to France, located in Paris. Canada also has consulates headed by honorary consuls in Lyon, Nice, Toulouse, Sanit Pierre and Miquelon and Guadeloupe. France is represented in Canada by its embassy in Ottawa and has consulates in Vancouver, Toronto, Montréal, the city of Québec and Moncton.

Partnerships and organizations

To develop effective responses to today’s most pressing global challenges, Canada and France work closely in multilateral fora, such as:

Date modified:: 2025-11-10

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