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Francophone students pack North Bay city hall for flag raising ceremony

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Franco-Ontarian Day in North Bay is a day of jubilation and celebration tinged with green and white.

Friday, about 1,500 students gathered outside of city hall to celebrate the raising of the Franco-Ontarian flag, an event held each year since it was officially named Franco-Ontarian Day in 2010.

"It's important to speak French,” said student Frederick Foisy.

“So you can speak to people who may not understand unless you speak French."

Dressed in green, waving flags and with stickers of the Franco-Ontarian flag on their cheeks, students sang together as the flag was going up the pole.

"You know if you look at your flag being raised after you won the gold medal at the Olympics, it's kind of that same feeling of pride," said student Maxime McDonald.

The flag has its roots in northern Ontario. It was created at the University of Sudbury by history professor Gaétan Gervais and political science student Michel Dupuis and flew for the first time on Sept. 25, 1975.

Green was chosen to evoke summer, while white brings to mind the winter season. Together the two colours represent the two poles of Ontario’s climate.

"We want to show that there's French people in Canada, too. I feel like we're being celebrated,” said student Ariane Belanger.

Officials with Les Compagnons des francs loisirs wanted the schools to come out and celebrate, so it chose Friday as its day of celebration.

"It's not something that is very visible in day-to-day life. So to have a day where we can be visible, it's something that helps us build our identity," said Les Compagnons programing agent Anne Brule.

A large portion of Ontario’s francophone population lives in northeastern Ontario. In North Bay, 15 per cent of citizens identify as francophone.

"Looking at the history, we've had with different issues with the governments and laws put against us,” said McDonald.

“There's been a lot of fighting to keep our culture and keep our language."

North Bay Mayor Al McDonald, Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli and Nipissing-Timiskaming MP Anthony Rota all attended the festivities.

"We are a bilingual country and in northern Ontario alone, the presence has been here for over 400 years and that's something to celebrate," Rota said.

Les Compagnons said Franco-Ontarian day is also for people to reconnect to the language they've lost or have forgotten about over the years.

"Today is the time to celebrate it,” Foisy said with a grin. 

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