French Culture in Ontario

The French-speaking multicultural population along with the many associations, cultural groups and provincial organizations (in French) are a testimony of the fertile French culture in Ontario.

French television, radio stations along with the French press keep Franco-Ontarians informed and entertained in their language. There are also many festivals and other cultural events in French in Ontario. Ask your local community centre about the French organizations and cultural activities in your community.

Cultural Events

There are many Francophone cultural events such as:

• Franco-Ontarian Festival in Ottawa
• Franco-Fête in Toronto
• La Nuit sur l’Étang (in French) in Sudbury
• Jeux franco-ontariens (in French) for high-school students
• Ontario POP (in French)
• Gala des prix Trille Or (in French)
• French book fairs of Greater Sudbury and Toronto (in French)
• Festival du Loup in Lafontaine

Community gatherings are in great numbers in Ontario but spontaneous activities are not always broadly advertised. Ask your local cultural group to find out when they take place.

Franco-Ontarians artists have long made their mark in Ontario. They are represented and supported by professional organizations (all links are in French):

• Association des auteures et auteurs de l’Ontario français (AAOF)
• Théâtre Action
• Association des professionnels de la chanson et de la musique (APCM)
• Bureau du regroupement des artistes visuels de l’Ontario (BRAVO)
• Réseau Ontario, a network for the promotion and distribution of Francophone events

In 1994, the government of Ontario added the PrixTrillium to the prestigious Trillium Book Award, a separate award that recognizes the contribution of Ontario’s francophone writers and their publishers.

HANDS-ON

 

 

What’s going on in French in my community?
Use Francoservice (in French) to link to 17 municipal sites that promote all aspects of French culture (see "services régionaux d’information") in a regional context. Each site has news, events and jobs as well as a directory of French organizations.

Get information about the community you live in from your public library. Public libraries give you free access to reference material, newspapers, computers and Internet service as well as offering training and workshops on settlement, job search, computer literacy and other topics.

Find a library near you by searching the Public Libraries of Ontario Directory. Find out about their French services and programs such as the ones offered by the City of Toronto.

Some municipalities have bilingual websites for their library system, such as:

• Ottawa
• Cornwall
• Alfred-Plantagenet County
• Hawkesbury
• Sudbury

Tip: The municipal immigration portals featured on OntarioImmigration.ca in the Cities & Towns section, provide a great source of information for the newcomer. Also note that the websites for the cities of Kingston, Ottawa, Sudbury and Timmins are in both English and French.

Additional resources:

• French Youth Organization - Fédération de la jeunesse franco-ontarienne (FESFO) (in French)
• French-speaking community radios of Ontario - MICRO
• French-Canadian Culture Federation - Fédération culturelle canadienne-française (in French)
• Cultural Alliance of Ontario - Alliance culturelle de l’Ontario (in French)
• Franco-Ontarian Directory - Bottin franco-ontarien (in French)