[2023-09-25] Franco-Ontarian Day
Today is Franco-Ontarian Day, which celebrates the province's Francophone community and its history.
According to the Ontario government's webpage on Franco-Ontarian history, Franco-Ontarians can trace their roots back to French explorer Samuel de Champlain, who traveled and mapped parts of Ontario more than 400 years ago, beginning in 1613. The Wikipedia page on Franco-Ontarians credits Étienne Brûlé as being the first European explorer to journey beyond the St. Lawrence River into what is now Canada, arriving in the region in 1610. It notes that Brûlé became an interpreter and guide for Samuel de Champlain, preceding Champlain to the Great Lakes.
Peu importe, today, Ontario is home to more than 620,000 Francophones and 1.5 million people who can speak French. This is the largest Francophone community in Canada outside the province of Quebec.
On September 25, 1975, the Franco-Ontarian flag was flown at the University of Sudbury for the first time. It was created by history professor Gaétan Gervais and a group of students, including political science student Michel Dupuis. In 2001, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario recognized the symbol as the official flag of the Franco-Ontarian community. In 2010, the provincial legislature named September 25 as Franco-Ontarian Day, and in 2020, it voted unanimously to recognize the Franco-Ontarian flag as an official emblem of the province.
The Franco-Ontarian flag is made up of two sections: a green band with a white fleur-de-lys (the lily represents the French-speaking community worldwide) and a white band with a green trillium (the trillium is the provincial flower of Ontario). Green evokes summer, while white evokes winter.
I don't recall hearing the term Franco-Ontarian when I was young, which is not surprising given the timeline of the recognition of the Franco-Ontarian community. I identified more as half French Canadian than half Franco-Ontarian. And when my kids were born in the early 1990s (long before the Legislative Assembly of Ontario had recognized the Franco-Ontarian flag and designated September 25 as Franco-Ontarian Day), I thought of my children as three-quarters French Canadian: my half French ancestry mixed with my husband's full Québecois heritage.
As I get older, though, and reflect on my life and legacy, I'm more inclined to embrace my Franco-Ontarian background. I feel lucky to have the level of French I do, helped by my exposure to the language in childhood, my studies of French in university and during my Public Service career, my marriage to a francophone, my children's education in French immersion, my opportunities to use the language in my work, and my continued devotion to learning French in retirement.
My best wishes to everyone celebrating Franco-Ontarian Day.
