Francophone students pack North Bay city hall for flag raising ceremony
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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
Half of Canadians have negative opinion of latest Liberal budget: poll
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
opinion Why you should protect your investments by naming a trusted contact person
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
Teacher shortages see some Ontario high school students awarded perfect grades on midterm exams
Students at a high school in York Region have been awarded perfect marks on their midterm exams in three subjects – not because of their academic performances however, but because they had no teacher.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Doctors combine a pig kidney transplant and a heart device in a bid to extend woman's life
Doctors have transplanted a pig kidney into a New Jersey woman who was near death, part of a dramatic pair of surgeries that also stabilized her failing heart.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Ottawa injects another $36M into vaccine injury compensation fund
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
An Ontario senior thought he called Geek Squad for help with his printer. Instead, he got scammed out of $25,000
An Ontario senior’s attempt to get technical help online led him into a spoofing scam where he lost $25,000. Now, he’s sharing his story to warn others.