Franco-Ontarians

I think that people sometimes dismiss Orleans and think, oh, it's this small French enclave in the East.

And it is a bilingual community, which I think is beautiful, that really celebrates Franco-Ontarian culture.

while at the same time being so diverse with great local businesses and a lot of economic activity.

And, you know, we've got, I think we've got more green space than any other suburb.

Two permanent murals are taking shape this week at St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School in Sturgeon Falls.

Officials with the local French Catholic board say it's a collaborative effort involving students in grades 5 to 8 and Franco-Ontarian graffiti artist Mick Michel, who's originally from Field.

Inspired by students' ideas and personal stories, the board says the two murals will celebrate Franco-Ontarian cultures, roots from near and far, the richness of Northern Ontario, local wildlife, traditions connected to the land, and more.

And so we need to always take our temperature on how quickly we get swept up in the spirit of that sort of belonging.

And as academics, we learn famously that nationalism is d- been described by a well-known academic as an imagined community because we have to think, "What do I have in common with someone in rural Manitoba or in downtown Vancouver, places that I haven't lived?" And so you have to figure out what is the imagined community that ties Newfoundlanders and, and Anglo Quebecers and Franco Ontarians and Franco Manitobans and Chinese Canadians in, in Vancouver and other cities, what ties us all together? And so we look to the flag as a symbol of those things.

The key to nationalism is to be able to fill those symbols with your own values.

So the political values that I might hold, which may be broadly cosmopolitan, fairly social democratic progressive, uh, I would impose that on my image of Canadian patriotism and my sense of belonging, even though I know perfectly well that maybe forty, fifty percent of Canadians don't share those values exactly.

it's weird because i don't really have a single person to point out um in particular like I felt like Bathurston was a little invisible, but he got that little bit extra on the power play time.

But as much as I hate to do it because he's probably my favorite player because he's my fellow Franco-Ontarian, I'm going to point out Claude Giroux.

Because he didn't have a bad game for any sense of the imagination.

But again, when he was on that third line, when that third line was finding ice time, it just...

We need, we need to be able to, to die in French.

Uh, so that's, that's the big challenge that the Franco-Ontarians are facing every day.

You know, at some point in time, people throw in the towel and say, "It's just easier for me to, you know, get the service in English." It's, it's like, it's like, imagine if every time you, you picked up the phone, you wanted some service, as a, as an English person, if you had the choice between English and, for example, Farsi- But you know that you're gonna get m- you know, services faster in Farsi.

Well, then, you know, guess what choice you're gonna be making?

Mm-hmm.

So the Franco-Ontarians are, are faced in that reality every day.

Mm-hmm.

You know? Um, so that's-

Everybody has a culture, right? And I just asked a couple of questions.

And of course, one of the two boys, his family is Franco-Ontarian, right? So,

you

know, well, I mean, like, you know, even if you're Anglo or like your family came from England or, you know, other parts of Europe, like everybody has a culture, right? So I just asked him, like, you know, but it's funny, like we do immediately associate like being Franco as like a separate culture, right? Yeah.

Le vingt-cinq septembre, qui est aujourd'hui, c'est une très bonne opportunité pour que t'apprennes à me connaître un peu mieux.

Si tu le savais pas, je suis Franco-ontarienne.

Et j'ai vraiment envie de parler, avoir quelque chose qui me tient très proche à cœur.

Donc aujourd'hui, l'épisode va être complètement en français.

Mais si t'es francophone, j'espère que tu pourrais connecter un peu avec ce que je vais dire, puis de une partie de notre identité que je vais parler d'eux.

Mais le point principal que je veux apporter, c'est le fait d'être fiers de nos racines, de notre culture et de notre communauté.

La culture d'être Franco-ontarienne n'est pas la plus forte puisque elle est petite.

Comme on est, c'est pas beaucoup, c'est pas connu, c'est pas quelque chose que j'aimais show it off.