OCOL - 2. Overview of the Sudbury Francophone Community

2. Overview of the Sudbury Francophone Community

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2.1.1. History

The Sudbury Francophone community is, in large part, the result of the migration of French Canadian quarrymen and their families since Sudbury was founded in 1882–1883³. The construction of the railway to Western Canada, followed by the developing lumber and mining industries, made Sudbury a metropolitan region in Northern Ontario. Many parishes that are now a part of Greater Sudbury, such as Chelmsford, Azilda and Blezzard Valley, were established by French Canadians and played an agricultural role. Within its former city boundaries, Sudbury contained a few French neighbourhoods in the parishes of Sainte-Anne-des-Pins and Moulin-à-fleur. Today, Francophones have seven parishes dispersed throughout the metropolitan region. The Sudbury Francophone community has deep historical roots and is rightly described as a founding community.

2.1.2. Demographics

In 2001, Sudbury had a population of 43,245 people with French as the first official language spoken, a drop of 3,130 since 1996⁴. This official language community makes up 28.2% of the total population of Sudbury of 153,560. It also represents 8.1% of the entire Ontario Francophone community.5

2.1.3. Language

As with other official language communities, maintaining the language is a challenge for Sudbury Francophones. The Language Continuity Index that compares persons speaking French at home (30,498) with those for whom French is their mother tongue (47,290) was 0.64 for Sudbury in 2001. The vast majority of Sudbury Francophones are bilingual (94.7%).

2.1.4. Age

The Sudbury Francophone population renewal rate is very low: youth (0 to 14) make up 15.2% of the community, while seniors (65 years and older) account for 14.6%. This is an unfavourable situation when compared to the Anglophone majority in the region.

2.1.5. Origins

A total of 11.8% of the Sudbury Francophone population was born outside Ontario and 1% outside Canada. In comparison with the Anglophone majority of Sudbury, the Francophone community has more residents born in other provinces and territories, but much fewer immigrants.

2.1.6. Socioeconomic Conditions

The city of Sudbury is presently in a less favourable economic situation than that of Ontario as a whole. For example, the unemployment rate at the time of the 2001 census was 8.7%, against 6.1% for the whole province.6 Compared to the Anglophone majority, Sudbury Francophones are over-represented in the “low level of education” category and under-represented in the “high level of education” category. However, they are at almost the same level in terms of income. It should be noted that there have been several changes in the socioeconomic context since 2001, including the improvement of the nickel market. This shift in the mining industry has clearly had a positive impact on the socioeconomic indicators of the region.

2.2. Organizational Capacity

With a long history and a strong minority in its urban setting, Sudbury Francophones have set up a vast and varied organizational infrastructure. The few directories of Francophone organizations do not agree on the exact number. The francoSudbury.com directory lists close to 75 organizations, and the Annuaire franco-ontarien of Ontario’s Office of Francophone Affairs lists 114. Their diversity is so great that we are not able to draw up a detailed list in this study.

Most sectors have an association, organization or business under Francophone management, or at least offer services in French. For example, there are two French language school boards, Laurentian University and the University of Sudbury, Collège Boréal, the Centre franco-ontarien de ressources en analphabétisation (literacy resources), credit unions, the Réseau de développement économique et d’employabilité, the Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario, the weekly newspaper Le Voyageur and the francoSudbury.com Web site. Many key organizations and institutions will be examined later under the four target sectors in this study.

Even with such great organizational density, many challenges are encountered in community coordination. There is no federative or umbrella organization that clearly brings together all the Sudbury Francophone community organizations. The Association canadienne-française de l’Ontario du Grand Sudbury has been well established for many years, but its main role consists of disseminating information on Francophone organizations and activities. As for the Carrefour francophone, even though it is a rallying point for the Francophones of Sudbury, it only has influence in the sociocultural sector. Concerted efforts would go a long way toward improving their vitality.

Finally, we note that the Ontario French Language Services Act adopted in 1986 designates the District of Sudbury as a bilingual region. Although the City of Sudbury does not have official bilingual status, it is a member of the Association française des municipalités de l’Ontario. Since December 2006, the Franco-Ontarian flag has continuously flown at City Hall.

2.3. Best Practices by Target Sectors

In the course of the study, the task force attempted to identify some best practices that help enhance the vitality of the Sudbury Francophone community in the four sectors selected. This section completes the overview of the Sudbury francophone community with a list of outstanding best practices.

2.3.1. Community Governance

Laurentian University created a bicameral governance model, which established the following: i) a Francophone Vice Chancellor position with the same powers as the Anglophone counterpart; ii) the French Program Council, which approves changes to existing programs and makes recommendations to the Academic Planning Committee and the Senate regarding the creation of programs; iii) relatively autonomous separate linguistic sections in many departments.
Established in 1994, Collège Boréal is a French language community college of applied arts. Its main campus is in Sudbury, but it has satellite campuses in the major urban centres of North-Eastern Ontario and in Toronto.
French language school boards, established at the end of the 1990s, manage public and separate school systems at elementary, intermediate and secondary school levels.
There is a fully Francophone network of credit unions and cooperatives that was created in the 1940s in the Greater Sudbury region.
Carrefour francophone is the main gathering point for the Francophone organizations of Sudbury. It has an artistic and cultural mandate, in addition to providing social and educational services.
The Association canadienne-française de l’Ontario du Grand Sudbury holds monthly Francophone luncheons that allow Francophone activists to meet and discuss their projects and activities.

2.3.2. Health Care

Laurentian University and Collège Boréal offer health care programs in French that today receive support from the Consortium national de formation en santé, specifically for their distance education programs. These programs cover various disciplines, such as nursing, midwifery training, physical education, social work, psychology and other social sciences, as well as some disciplines in the natural sciences. The programs were developed within each institution, but also in cooperation, as is the case for the B.A. in Health Sciences.
The Centre de santé communautaire de Sudbury was established over 10 years ago, and offers primary care, health promotion and prevention programs entirely in French. A Francophone Board of Directors manages the Centre. In addition to its main office in Sudbury, it has two satellite offices in the Francophone communities of Chelmsford and Hanmer. It offers an array of exemplary programs such as the Clinique du coin, which targets hard-toreach clients; Main dans la main, a day centre for seniors and people with disabilities; and Gargouille et Barbouille, a French-only daycare centre.
Many health institutions and organizations, such as the Regional Hospital, the Sudbury & District Health Unit, the Child and Family Centre and the Community Care Access Centre are mandated to provide services in French or were designated as such. Many of them established an advisory committee on French services, which is one of the requirements for a bilingual designation in Ontario.
The health network – Réseau de santé en français du Moyen Nord de l’Ontario – brings together health care professionals, health institution and community organization managers, post-secondary institution officials, community members and government representatives. The network does not offer health care services, but provides leadership support for the development of health care services in French. Sudbury is part of that regional network.
The Centre Victoria pour femmes is a non-profit charitable organization serving Francophone women who are facing all forms of violence. Its services cover Northern Ontario through a telephone support line.
The Public Health Research, Education and Development Program (PHRED) of the Sudbury and District Public Health Unit worked in partnership with the Institut franco-ontarien in developing the Second Report on the Health of Francophones in Ontario.7

2.3.3. Immigration

Contact interculturel francophone de Sudbury offers reception and integration services to Francophone newcomers to the Sudbury region, new immigrants or migrants from other provinces alike. As part of reception services, it provides orientation kits to newcomers to help them find the primary services they need most. At the integration level, it organizes activities (e.g., a women’s club) and events (e.g., the annual African Cabaret) to facilitate the integration of these newcomers (for the most part students) in their new community. The Contact interculturel francophone de Sudbury is the only organization designated and recognized by the Sudbury Francophone community as a provider of services to Francophone immigrants. The organization works closely with Immigration Canada to establish onestop services for newcomers.

2.3.4. Access to Government Services

The Greater Sudbury region is designated bilingual pursuant to the French Language Services Act, and is therefore responsible for offering an array of services in both languages.
The Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines is decentralized in Sudbury and is more attentive to the needs of the Francophone community than the central organizations in the capital.
The City of Sudbury, even though not officially a bilingual city, offers a range of services in French to its citizens.
The Réseau de développement économique et d’employabilité created a roundtable that brings together community and government organizations for the economic development of the Northern Ontario Region.
The Northern Ontario Region is designated bilingual under the Official Languages Act of Canada.
FedNor recently created the position of Official Languages Coordinator.
Public servants improve their French in various ways, particularly with the Toastmaster Club, which brings together regional individuals from the majority group.

Notes

3 Sudbury: une communauté fragile malgré le dynamisme de ses institutions.

⁴ The following data covers Census Division 53 (Greater Sudbury) in Ontario and are published in Highlights: Profiles of Official Language Minority Communities.

⁵ A complete updated profile of the Sudbury Francophone community aggregated in the North-East Region can be found in the Second Report on the Health of Francophones in Ontario, by Louise Picard and Gratien Allaire

⁶ Sudbury: une communauté fragile malgré le dynamisme de ses institutions, 2005, p. 11.

⁷ Louise Picard and Gratien Allaire, Second Report on the Health of Francophones in Ontario, 2005.

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