Sean Lough proudly represents CSJ at the 2026 finals of the “Délie ta langue!” public speaking contest in Montreal.

Rufin Ndonko Nzouda, Gabriela Barreiro, and Sean Lough at the CSJ final

Sean Lough, a student in the bilingual Bachelor of Business Administration program, brilliantly represented CSJ and the Francophone community of Western Canada at the finals of the “Délie ta langue” public speaking competition, held in Montreal on March 30.

This competition, in which CSJ participated for the second year, brings together some fifteen French-speaking universities for a French-language public speaking contest. The finalists, selected following training and a preliminary competition within the participating universities, have five minutes to analyze a French expression of their choice and use it to highlight a social issue.

Sean chose the expression “un mal nécessaire” (a necessary evil) to highlight the problems associated with cars in our modern societies. Although he had to speak on stage, Sean was remarkably relaxed and found the experience very enriching, particularly thanks to the wonderful camaraderie that quickly developed among the finalists. You can listen to his performance at the following YouTube link. Congratulations to Sean on this wonderful performance!

Congratulations also to Gabriela Barreiro (BBAA) and Rufin Ndonko Nzouda (BEd), who took part in the training workshops and the CSJ internal final. Gabriela denounced animal abuse using the expression “navel-gazing,” and Rufin used the expression “cutting the ground from under someone’s feet” to describe the limiting impact of AI on human creativity.

A big thank you to everyone who contributed to this wonderful adventure, especially Thao Tran-Minh and Bernard Salva, who supported our three candidates in their preparation, and the jury members, Maïté Snauwaert, Laurier Fagnan, Isabelle Jadoul, and Erica Norton.

The CSJ will participate in this competition again next year.