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Eden-Margaret Hall
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by EDEN-MARGARET HALL a thesis subrnitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of York University in parrial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree 01 MASTER OF ARTS
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The authot reserves other put31ication rignts. and netther the thesis rlor extensive extracts from il may be printed or olherwise reproauced without the author's wrttten permission Due to the arrival, particularly within the last two decades, of intemationally diverse French-speaking immigrants to Toronto, Ontario, the pre-existing, primarily
Canadian, francophone community has undergone significant change. Alterations in the ethnic make-up have resulted in the need for and development of new services, both governmental and within the pnvate sector, and new cdhual events that reflect an emergent
Franco-Torontonian culture. This thesis reports on the changes within Toronto's hcophone community with a view to developing Merunderstanding of how and why culture cari function and thrive within a minority situation. The role of language in developing a collective identity is central to this thesis.
A central theme has been how and by whom culture is developed and maintained in Toronto and by whom discourse is defmed. New arenas where French is spoken publicly are king established by a smdl segment of the francophone population in concefi with the govemment agencies that provide support and hinding for such enterprises.
The aim of many of these initiatives is to increase lines of communication for dl hcophones, despite the lack of geopphicd community. The development of new cul- events represents rnovement toward the creation of (an integrative entity, akin to) an imagined community that benefits al1 French speakers by providing visibility and opportunity. 1 extend my thanks to the membea of Toronto's francophone community who shared their expenences of big city life with me. 1 would also like to sincerely thank
Professoa Judith Nagata and Geraid GoId for their assistance and direction throughout this project. TitlePage ...... i .. Copyrightpage ...... il CertificatePage ...... 111 Abstract ...... iv Acknowledgements ...... v Table of Contents ...... vi List of Schedules ...... vii
Chapter 1 .Torontois .An Emergent Culture ...... 1
Chapter 2 .Research Aims And Methods ...... 19 Fieldwork ...... 26
Chapter 3 .Francophones In Toronto And The Rise Of Franco-Ontarian Identity .....39 Brief History of the French in Toronto ...... 43 Franco-Ontarian History ...... 46 Changing Demographics ...... 57
Chapter 4 .French Language Issues in Canada ...... 64 Language = Ethnicity = Identity ...... 66 Constitutionality ...... 72 Diglossia ...... 75
Chapter 5 .The Creation Of Culture .Events And Identifiability ...... 80 Introduction ...... 80 Annual Festivals ...... 91 OtherEvents ...... 95
Chapter 6 .ACFO. AMFO. MF0 and Others: The Significance Of Association .... 104 Introduction ...... 104 COFTM ...... 106 Toronto French Cornmittee ...... 113 ACFO-CUT ...... 118 Conclusion ...... 124
Chapter 7 .Conclusion ...... 126
Schedules ...... 135
Bibliography ...... 142
Doc d: 4641 12. I Schedule A - Pays d'origine des francophones Schedule B - Langues avant d'arriver au Canada Schedule C - Map Schedule D - List of Interviewees and Events Schedule E - Listing of 1997 Toronto French Cornmittee
vii Introduction
Few people know that Toronto, Ontario, tuban centre of almost 3,000,000 and
Canada's largest city, has a francophone comrnunity. Fewer still realize that Toronto's francophones belong to an evolving comrnunity, unique due to the largely ethnically diversified composition of its population. ' A mirror to the city itself, Franco-Torontonians are fiom Canada, Europe and a host of Asian and Afncan countnes that speak French due to colonial histories, an experience that is also a distant part of Canada's past. As Toronto has become the "interculturai axis" (CliffordA5) for immigration into Canada, having become so as Montreai's statu as port of entry has declined, this cornrnunity could not be the sarne anywhere else, its uniqueness derived fiom the metropolitan nature of Toronto.
Historicaily, "[tlhe ciîy has everywhere been a gathering point for foreign residents"
(Fishman 1972a: 18). The border of Toronto's francophone community is the Greater
Toronto Area, shaping its inhabitants by a "metaphor of landscape as the inscape of national
I For the purposes of this thesis, the tenn "francophone" will be applied broadly to designate French speakers other than hncophiles (fluently French-speaking anglophones), including individuals fiom countries when French is the Ianguage of majoricy or of instruction, such as many African corncries where a nurnber of languages may be part of daily use and French becornes the chosen language upon arrivai in Canada due IargeIy to an inability to speak English. identity" (Bhabha: 143).' The experience of living in Toronto itself shapes and mouids a distinctive identity for its inhabitants and forces Canadians to reconsider the construction of identity and boundaries as an evolving field of enquiry. This thesis considers how the profound effect of the emergent and evolving forces of ethnicity and identity, within the present-day transformations in global politics and culture, have transformed the Franco-
Torontonian community. The issue of commonality of descent is secondary to the importance of language in this interpretation of ethnicity. Stuart Hall captures the complex processes of change that affect the constmction of identity when refemng to grand-scale forces that cause "the hgmentation and erosion of collective social identity" (1 997:44) such as "the relative decline, or erosion, the instability of the nation-state, of the self-sufficiency of national economies, consequently, of national identities as points of reference" (1 997:44).'
i Constitutional law expert Patrick Monahan pointed out in conversation that Toronto's success as a port of entry for fÎancophones who are aware of the Franco-Torontonian comrnunity may be due to the lack of choices in schooling options for immigrants to Quebec. One of the more serious ramifications of Bill 101 is that it has made it impossible for children of immigrants to obtain English Uistruction. The importance of schooling and the implications of Section 23 of Canada's Charter of Rights will be discussed in more depth in Chapter 3.
I The February 18, 1998 Globe & Mail presented a brief analysis of the 1996 census data, released on February 17, 1998. The appearance for the fmt tirne on a census form of Question 19, lacking an official name but rcfcrred to as the "race" question, was intendrd to determine the ethnic make-up of the population to ensure equal access of visible minorities to employment. Anaiysis shows that 42% of the country's visible minorities live in Toronto, attributable to a 30-year trend in immigration and an active refùgee program. 32%, or 1.3 million Toronto residents are members of a visible minority (an increase hm1/4 to 1/3 between 199 1 and 1 996), compared to 3 1%, or 1.8 million in Vancouver, 15.8% of Ontario and 17.9% of British Columbia residents, of whom 1 in 3 was bom in Canada. Of interest is the fact that more Qudkois stated their ethnic origin as Canadian rather than French (2.7 miHion to 2.1 million).
The Globe presented the visible minority breakdown in Toronto as follows: Chinese 25% South Asian - 24.7% Black - 20.5 Filipino 7.4 AsabWest Asian - 5.4 Latin American - 4.6 Southeas Asian 3 -5 Korean - 2.1 A nation such as Canada, with legislated policies of multiculturaiism, creates a space For the emergence of ethnicities,' yet Francophone immigrants are not aniving to create an ethnic community but to join a pre-existent rninority community that has a reality constnicted over almost four hundred years. Despite its flawed ideology, multiculturalism is redefining Canadian history and Franco-Toronto does reflect life within these multicuItural borden.' According to Charles Taylor, multiculturalism is viewed by the Québécois as "a means to deny French-speaking rninorities their full recognition, or even to reduce the importance of the French fact in Canada to that of an outsized ethnic rninority" ( 1993 : 162).
However, the state of the French language in Canada outside of Quebec is paradoxical,
Japanese 1.3 Other 3.4 More than one origin - 2.1.
The population figures and breakdown ofcounmes are different but these census data are not unlike the numbers collected by the French Cornmittee and Centre Francophone to establish the ethnic diversity of the Franco-Torontonian community. See Schedule "A" for the breakdown within the community.
4 "Community" is used in this thesis in the Barthian sense that "...boundaries penist despite a flow of personnel across them. ... In other words, ethnic distinctions do not depend on an absence of social interaction and acceptance, but are quite to the contrary often the very foundations on which ernbracing social systems are built. interaction in such a social system does not Iead to its liquidation through change and acculturation; cultural differences can persist despite inter-ethnic contact and interdependence" (1969:9-10). It is also important to draw on Benedict Anderson's themes outlined in lmagined Cornmmiries, through which a nationalistic sense of belonging can aid in the constniction of community and idcntity despite the lack of a tenitonal imperative.
5 The results of Jeffi-ey Reitz and Raymond Breton's 1994 study The Illusion ofDlference, which looks at the differencc between the concept of the Canadian rnosaic and Arnerican melting pot, may shed 1ight on where problcrnatic areas lie for disparate groups within the fiancophonc community. nie findings state that, although the sense that Canadian multiculturalism is part of our nationaiist ideology, Amencans are more likely to favour cultural retention. Surprisingly, the results of a Decima Research meyin 1989 of 1,000 Canadians and 1,000 Amencans as to whether they favour cultural retention for new immigrants showed that, though in both counaies less than a majority were in favour, 47% of Amencans, compared to only 34% of Canadians were in favour. This was due to the low degree of support partialIy artnibutable to "strong linguistic and cultural initiatives of the Quebec govemment in recent decades - in particular, those aimed at integrating immigrants - into the francophone community" (1994:29). purporting to be an inclusionary identity solely based on language affiliation, yet at the sarne time exclusionary, differentiating between Canadian francophones and others.6 Quebec separatism has overshadowed the complex language issues that are becoming increasingly sensitive in cities throughout Canada, outside of Quebec, yet little has been winen, aside from research conducted within the French language schools in Toronto and outiying areas, of how Francophone communities are changing.' The metamorphosis of French-speaking areas outside of Quebec has not had an identifiable effect on French national identity which ha, to date, ken solely dictated by Quebec. From a demographic perspective, in culture and forms of political organization, francophones outside of Quebec are in a period of intense change that is not king adequately docurnented. The amival of French speaking immigrants from al1 over the world is making Toronto, and to a lesser extent Vancouver and Ottawa, ethnogenetic centres for francophone culture.'
b Fishrnan proposes a reason for this attitude as follows:
"Econornically advantaged groups are always relatively more conscious of and protective of their groupness. Disadvantaged groups becorne similariy conscious only as a result of partial changes in their circumstances which, more than anything else, merely serve to heighten their sense of relative deprivation and the fact that it is enforced on the basis of group membership. There is thus a strong contrastive element in nationalism, which, like broader unity and messeci authenticity, is likely to have language planning consequences as well." (1972a: 12)
7 Although ais thesis Ieaves the study of institutionalized French-language education to the experts, the importance of the educational system to language maintenance camot be ovemated. According to Heller, "[s]chools arc thefore a key site in which to explore the nature of the Canadian francophone minority perspective on pluralism and temtoriali~as alternative arrangements for Iiving in a multi- ethnic state. Schools are an important window on the role that educational institutions play in consmcting relations of power between majority angIophones and rninority francophones, and between Quebdcois and hcophones elsewhere in Canada" ( 1995a:375).
I It is important to note that, although this thesis looks solely at the phenornenon of ethnogenesis in Toronto, the sarne palarization of the comrnunity is occurring in Quebec, particulatly in Montreal, due to the stresses that immigration puts on the social system. While there are fat more pre-existent forums The evolving Franco-Torontonian cornmunity is in the process of creating its own unique space within both the narrative of the nation and the pre-existent Canadian fmncophone narrative. The ethnogenesis of francophone communities outside of Quebec and the role that new francophones will play in altering the idea of Canadian national culture presents a fresh axa for research. Not nearly enough is written on the major changes that are occurring due to immigration which impact on questions of what it means to be francophone and, ultimately, the bais of the idea of what it rneans :O be Canadian. This thesis is an attempt to commit to paper the continuous process of cultural evolution; interpreting the changes noted through this research has allo~vedthe anthropologist to view the development of identity as process. The implications of the numbers of new francophones for language planning and for issues of unity are, within Canadian politics and policy, presently being overlooked.
The conditions for the rise of Franco-Torontonian identity are the conditions of modemity, the impact of globalization as ernbodied in a clash between the infiuence of the "hexagon"? of the City of Toronto and an crosion of the usual means of recognition, b y distance, by city life coupled with the unique sociological experiences of speaking French in Canada, in Europe, in Afnca and in Asia. As well. Canadian francophones outside of
for language maintenance in Montreal, the questtons of how the fiamophone comrnunity is constituted and who will have access to the system are the same as those telt within the Torontois.
O L'hexagone is ''the rnctaphorical term that refen to the geopphical shape of France, a country with roughly six sides. French children learn early chat 'ta civilisatron' radiated outward hmthe Hexagon duhg the colonial period" (Grren:xx). References to l'hexasone were not broadly found throughout the literaturc, but wen located primarily in tèminist postcolonial literary critique. Quebec display an increased level of tolerance due to their own history of oppression. As
Hobsbawm states," ... it is no accident that discourse about identity seems in some important sense distinctively modem - seems, indeed, intrinsic to and partially defining of the modem era" (Clifford: 193). Contextualized in this manner, an appropriate subtitle for this study could be "how difference is maintained within the global community". Although there are many areas of weakness, such as developing a broader reach rhmughout the community and stemming the effects of linguicide, francophones have been quite successful in Toronto in the sense that a strong voice is developing, with institutionai assistance, in the midst of a large multi-ethnic city.I0 Such mobilization cari be viewed as a nationaiist movement whereby smaller minority groups are developing as parts of a politically constnicted emergent identity, not as a singular, monolithic. ethnic group but as a number of ethnicities, with a commonality of language that places them in a position whereby exining resources can be attained and cornmunity affiliation recognized yet the particularity of identity denved from place of birth still rnaintained. An individual can successfully be, for instance, a
Haitian and a francophone - one ethnicity does not preclude the other, but adds a Mer
IO Fisbman points out the significance of the city in the development ofa nationaikt tendency: "[tlhe city has long been pointed to as the vortex of social change in general and of the khds of change related to the entire gamut of modernization-anddevelopmentprocesses in particular." Furthet, "[flrom the point of view of mial history, it is convùicingly evident that the city not only grew as a resuIt of the very same changes thaî disrupted primordial localism. but that it also (a) attracted those whom it had uprooted and (b) put them in touch with the elites who had congregated in urban areas even earlier, and (c) as a resuit, frnaiiy put the uprooted in touch with each other and converted them into a new force in social, political, and culturai affairs" ( 197%: 18). Fishman's words, although written over two decades ago, rnïrror the phenomenon occurring within the Franco-Torontonian community. dimension to persond identity and an increased sense of belonging to a comrnunity.
Transnational, by def~tion,implies rnulti-levelled identity.' '
According to Joan Scott, divenity "refers to a plurality of identities, and it is seen as a condition of human existence rather than as the effect of an enunciation of difference that constitutes hierarchies and asymmetries of power" (1992: 14). This is the
intent of mernbership within Toronto's francophone cornmunitie(s),'* yet there are historical and contemporary assumptions that make the experience of rnulticulhiralism different in practice than theory .I3 Areas of contention such as the old vs. the new, minonty vs. majority,
French vs. English, newly arrived vs. entrenched are problernatized by the question of how language is valued in Canada in cornparison to other areas of the world. Primarily, the
II Stuart Hall refers to this as the politics of living identity through difierence, and explains it as follows: "It is the politics of recognizing that al1 of us are composed of multiple social identities, not of one. That we are al1 cornpletely constnicted through different categones, of different antagonisms, and these may have the effect of locating us socially in muItiple positions of marginality and subordination, but which do not yet operate on us in exactly the sarne way. It is also to recognize that any counter- politics of the local which attempts to organize people through their diversity of identifications has to be a stniggle which is conducted positionally." (1 997: 57).
12 Some community members have argued that it would be more appropriate, closer to reality, to refer to Toronto's ftancophone communities in the plural, as within the greater group are a number of subgroups based on area of origin. It may, however, be closer to reality to use the tenu "network", rather han "community". Reference is often made to the arts community or the business community, but these are more easily conceived of as networks, comrnunity being designated by a sense of beloaging based either on proximity or on ethnicity. The significance of language to ethnicity willhe explored in Chapter 4.
13 The final conclusion of Breton and Reitz's study was that the resuIts "do not support the notion that Canada is a society that values and encourages culnual diversity more than does the United States" (I994:40). the low tolerance of the French in Quebec found in this study may have some impact on the cornplaints of new francophones of theu treatment by Franco-Ontarians. This information, however, contests the notion of Canada as a country with generous immigration policies. difierence in experience of being French itself dictates a hierarchical sense of belonging to the francophone community . Franco-Ontarians are granted the most powemtl voice, followed by European hcophones and the newly arrive4 many of whom are fiom Africa.
A century of French language oppression in Canada differs fkom, but in no way diminishes, the colonial experiences of hcophone cornmunities throughout the world.'' Of benefit to a community of this nature is that, bounded by language, this commonality has produced intercultural dialogue, one of the goals of rnulticulniraiism and an offshoot of modernity.lS
Engaged in a "smiggle to form a culturaily distinct friture" (Green:@, association within this fluid community provides an antidote, or at least a temporary balustrade against, as expressed by Appadurai, "for polities of smdler scale ... a fear of cultural absorption by polities of larger scope, especially those that are near by" (1990:295), in this case, the overwhelming majority of anglophones in Toronto and throughout Canada Efforts within the hcophone community in Toronto to include al1 French speakers and develop a stronger identity provides, in a sense, a means of developing a new transcultural hi~tory.'~
14 Given the history of language oppression in Canada, Stephane Dion's December 13, 1996 address to the Institut bco-ontarien in Sudbury concerning the strength of francophone communities is somewhat ironic: "The cohabitation of our two linguistic communities has heIped us to welcome with greater tolerance and openness our fellow citizens Lkom al1 continents. In that respect, Canada's bilingualism and muiticulturaiism, rather than conflicting with each other, compfement and mutually strengthen each other. That is why it would be so regrettable for Canada to break up because of its linguistic whm it is that very aspect that has helped it so much to becorne a mode1 of opemess celebrated throughout the world" (Dion: 2).
15 Judith Nagata ha pointed out that language commonality is, in essence, an example of whaî Marshall McLuhan rneant when he spoke of "the medium is the message", that the important aspect is how the message is delivered, as rnuch as what the message is.
16 Transculturation is defmed in Postcolonial Subjects, a feminist critique of la flancophonie, as "a process of cuItural intercourse and exchange, a circulation of practices that mates a constant In concert with the demographic changes of the cornmunity is the development or reconstitution of organizations and associations to assist new francophones, and of both new culhual events and events that have been part of the French community calendar for years that are evolving to reflect these changes. The foci of this thesis are these changes which document the ethnogenesis of culture and how they form the begiming of a unique cultural history. Though little matenal is available detailing Franco-Toronto as an emergent, vibrant amalgam of cultures touched by France, the idea behind these events and organizations is clear. Toronto's francophones represent a globaily diverse community, affiliated solely by their ability to speak French. For most, the essence of being French, the tie that binds individuais to a nationdistic sense of belonging, is embodied in the concept of la francophonie, a term that did not enter the lexicon until 1959 (Hobsbawrn 1990: 190),17 a concept that works well with the potential of Canadian ideas of multiculturalism. S.P.
Mohanty's view that the best way to deal with multiculturalisrn is to replace the centrai point
intmeaving of syrnbolic forms and ernpirical activities among the different cultures that interact with one anothn" (Lionnext325). Tramculturation does not irnpIy a replacement culture, but an ability to work together to build something new and redefme the pre-existent. This, according to my fmdings, is the phenornenon occurring in Toronto.
17 Ager provides a generai defmition of Francophonie: "it seems that contemporary organised Francophonie has agreed thaî it is a volunrary cornrnunity Iinked by a common wish to co-operate, and that its values involve dialogue, CO-operationand partnership, particularly directed towards the development of les developed nations: (a somewhat recentiy discovered) respect for linguistic divmity, but welI-establisheâ respect for cultural and religious diversity; and widesprcad acceptance of the comctness and universal appticability of the traditional dedaration of the Rights of Man and of the fundamentai libertics" (1996:60). While this defmition refers to the international, institutionalizcd concept of francophonie, more significant to this thesis is the understanding that francophonie is "'not exclusiveiy a geographic, nor even linguistic. but also cuInuai' approach - an attitude, a belief in a spirit, an ideology and a way of doing hings, inspired by French history, language and culture but not necessarily using French, aware of and responsive to the nature of the modem world." (Agetï 1). of pluralism with an emphasis on difference and conflict as the centre of a shared history
(Scott: 16) provides a starting point to understand the Canadian context, as the perception of
willingness to embrace the spirit of francophonie and accept difference allows for easier
definition and maintenance when there is more difference. Mohanty's view is similar to
Taylor's belief that "[tlo build a country for everyone, Canada would have to allow for
second-level or "deep" divenity, in which a plurality of ways of belonging would be
acknowledged and accepter (1993: 183). A strategy of social isolation to maintain language
is not feasible in Toronto, but increased eduiicity, dehed prirnarily through language choice,
potentially provides new forms of resistance to an anglophone majority. According to
Hannerr. "the world systern, rather than crertting massive cultural homogeneity on a global
scale, is replacing one diversity with another: and the new diversity is based relatively more
on interrelations and less on autonomy" (Liomert328). The construction of Torontois
identity is rooted in an acceptance and tolemce of the new as a means of bolste~gthe pre-
existent, in itself a very Torontonian approach to modem life, as the willingness to embrace
new arrivals as part of the fabnc of daily life defines, for many, the experience of living in
Toronto. Having sketched a glorious, tolerant picture of life for francophones in Toronto,
many French-speakmg immigrants believe that they are king treated UIlfairly. Only
Canadian-bom fkncophones are rmly part of the community. the rest being peripheralized
as powerless and inconsequential, despite the mandates. goals and aims of the newly
developing are- fomed for edgal1 Francophone rights. There are, as always, two sides to every story and this thesis aims for sensitivity to both sides. Though francophones have been part of Canada for over three centuries, they
have never been in a position to not stntggle. never been able to relax and enjoy the
knowledge that their language and cultural nghts are constitutionally assured. Quebec's
situation and dernands rnay appear to be extreme, but they are responses based on how
French language has been viewed in Canada over time. Sirnilarly. the Franco-Torontonian
community has not relaxed in its endeavour to ensure language and educational availability
and now an emergent culture benefits fÏom battles for language and education that have been
fought over decades. The effort to strengthen networks that hind members together to a
sense of cornrnunity bene fits, ironically, from the diversity of ethnic backgrounds because
being a francophone in Canada does not mean succumbing to one monolithic identity. In
such diversity can be found a unified voice. Franco-Torontonians are developing as a
relatively new mixture of identities, comprised of farnilies with ancestors in Toronto since
the 18th century, from Quebec, and from immigrants, many of whom are victims of voluntary and involuntary diasporas who have their own, in many cases lengthy, histories to draw upon.18 From this nch pool of culhuai experience and conflicting modes of oppression cornes an evolving mode of cultural expression. as complex as the task of analysing the history of identity construction itself.
II Franco-Ontarian history itself has been anything but uninteresting, with the outiawing of French education early this century and an unwillingness to be assirnilated despite an increasingfy rninoritized position. The numbers may not be growing as much as changing but the voice is becoming louder and stronger. This rnay partially be due to the increased interest generally in questions of ethnicity in Canada and globally. Individu& are dealing with modem feelings of rootlessness by searching for, and in some cases creating, their own roots. Capturing moments in a constantly changing culture proves a complicated task. James Clifford, in his 1997 senes of essays "Routes", eloquently presents a framework applicable to a snidy of Toronto's francophones. Refemng to the global movement of individuals for a variety of reasons, he states that these "instances of crossing reflect complex regional and transregional histones, which, since 1900, have been powerfully reflected by three comected global forces: the continuing iegacies of empire, the effects of unprecedented world wars, and the global consequences of industrial capitalism's disruptive, resmicturing activity" ( 1997:7). Within this anal ytical idbstmcnire, the community can be viewed as a heterogeneous whole forged from a multitude of different life experiences. One of the most signifiant areas of concem in current anthropology is the study of how identity becomes redefined through immigration by reason of diaspora, modernity or cnsis, the trick being to maintain one's own hinorical identity determined by the place of origin, and at the same time maintain the centrai aspect of identity, which in a Canadian context is language, thus constnicting multi-layered ethnicities guided by history and necessity. Not only are francophones in a position where they are protecting their language and cuitural rights against the majority, but there is a counterproductive suggestion that the gains made over the past decades need to be protected fiom newly migrated hcophones and &om francophiles.
The clash of codicting interests, of the strong Franco-Ontarian voice opposed by an increasing number of immigrant francophones whose very presence suggests that the fundarnentally monolithic ideology of Franco-Ontarian identity is wrong, provides a serious obstacle to culnual survival, and if it is not dealt with, will sound the death knell for al1 French cornmunities outside of Quebec. If global francophones and francophiles are important to the cornrnunity for no other reason than to stem the effects of assimilation and language shift, this is in itself worth the price of admission. But for real acceptance, the dichotomy between the old and the new mut be purged and a new, inclusive consciousness realized by Canadian francophone^.'^
A fùrther theme that arises fiom the material is detemiinhg who is in charge of creating and maintainhg French culture in Ontario, or as Joan Scott presents the question,
"[wlho gets to define what counts as knowledge?" (WU:14). There appears to be a relatively smail mtwork of people and organizations defiant in their endeavours to maintain language rights at the forekont of determining policy and action for a larger group of people.
Aside from governrnent organizations specifically designed for cultural determination, many of these people are part of the school system, at Glendon College, York University's bilingual campus, at University of Toronto and in pre-univenity education at al1 levels, many as part of the French school board. A question presents itself - is francophone culture in Toronto a construct of the intelle~tuals,'~or do the individuals involved in cultural maintenance
IP Law professor Leslie Green believes that "[aln important feature of Canadian history is the fact that the French rninority never had a real likelihood of being wholly assimilated, not even when English repression was at its apogee" (1987:664). The perceived stmggle against absorption has been beneficial in the sense that it fosten the construction of the two founding nations concept.
20 The word "elite"has rnost oflen been used before to denote the well-educated, privileged seaor of the population that has the targest power base and is in control of determining culturai policy, but the word "intellectual"is used here because much of the culture chat is devetoping is, in fact, extremely hi& quality and is tes class-based than the notion of elites suggests. represent Toronto's francophone cornmunity, a well-educated group of people sincere in their
efforts to create new arenas for language use? There are parallels to Montreal's Quiet
Revolution of the 1960s occurrhg in Toronto today, albeit on a much smaller scale. In itself
this is not a bad thing, as the political and cultural developments are for use by the general
public, but does it indicate that the picture drawn by this research is merely a fraction of
francophone reaiity in Toronto? How close is this picture to what is really going on? This
is important because what has become clear is that, in Toronto an intense network of
individuals regulate debates of culture and the language, including teachers at al1 levels and
members of Ontario's culture industry and government.
It may appear to the cynical that the maintenance of French language has a
purely economic motive, thai it is important to maintain a French infrastncture in Ontario
to ensure jobs, but this is clearly not the case due to the increasing importance of French to
the workplace as political issues of unity determine the fûture of anad da.^' The ability to
speak French within the anglophone provinces has become a more significant cornmodity due to Quebec's strongly nationdi% position, but does the use of French by non-Canadians
in some way mitigate the effects of Quebec mobilization, in future presenting a buf5er to anti-
French sentiment, insofar as French speakers in Canada do not of necessity mean card-
:I There has, however, ben some difference of opinion in this respect. Some material, although unsubstantiated, is presented in Chapter 6. carrying Québécois, but in fact mean Aficans, Asians or Europeans, each with their own stories of oppression?
The material described in this thesis establishes an incipient movement. for which much more work must be accomplished. To suggest that Franco-Torontonian mobilization is a pan-hcophone movement is incorrect because this obscures the diverse cultural experiences of immigrants and the unique expenence of being Canadian - the temperament, the political idiosyncrasies - of being French Canadian, and of residing in
Toronto.
A possible theoretical framework through which to view this material draws on a mixture of the linguistic and the posunodem. with a dash of how identity is constructed, the issue most centrai to the discussion but at the same tirne the most difficult to explain.
References appear throughout this thesis to Joshua Fishman's two 1972 studies "Language and Nationalism" and "The Sociology of Language", for grounding in the significance of language to identity and to ethnicity. The work of Charies Taylor and Stuart Hall are also called upon for this purpose. Posmiodemism is embraced in an effort to deal with a world of globalizhg changes. Straddling the theoretical boundaries of postmodernism and linguistics is McLuhan's theory of communication. One of his well-received adages, "the medium is the message", acknowledges Fishrnan's investigation of "laoguage frorn the standpoint of social function" (1972:v-i). "Language itself is content, a referent for Ioyalties and animosities, an indicator of social statuses and persona1 relationships, a marker of situations and topics as well as of the societai goals and the large-scaie value-laden arenas of interaction that typiQ every speech comrnunity" (1972b:4). Fishman's approach to linguistics is relevant to this study because "he presents it as an ideology designed to uni@ a group and to promote its interests by organizing that group around a more inclusive ethno- culturai identity and elaborating its unique beliefs, values and behaviours. The push toward an independent political state is a possible and in fact rather frequent outcome of nationalist ideology but it is not, in Dr. Fishman's usage, a defining characteristic of that ideology"
(1 972b:x). In other words, Fishrnan's approach can be used to dehe a cuitural nationalistic movement, rather than sole1y a political nat i onalistic movement. Fishman, quoting Baron, sees nationalism "to be essentidly conscious or organized ethnoculturai solidarity which rnay or may not then be directed outside of its initial sphere toward political, economic, and religious goals" ( 1972a:4). In effect, the Franco-Ontarian movement, following in the wake of Quebec nationalism, is a politically-powered movement based on the importance of language to identity that presents unity and authenticity. This, however, does not define redity for many newly immigrated Franco-Torontonians. The movement for Franco-
Ontarian identity is of a different nature than the Québécois movement, demanding and lobbying for powers of a social and political nature. Conflict stems fiom the nationalistic development of Franco-Ontarian identity and the needs of francophone immigrants. Eric
Hobsbawm's 1990 volume Nations and Nationalisrn Since 1780 introduces the concept of proto-natiodism, which helps to quaiify the significance of both the imagined community and the centrality of language to issues of identity in a postmodem context. Referring to the imagined cornrnunity as a concept used "to fil1 the emotional void left by the retreat or disintegration, or the unavailability of real human communities and networks" (Hobsbawm
1990: 46). Hobsbawm's work touches on the problems central to how and why the Franco-
Torontonian community is constmcted. Proto-nationalism enlists the idea of imagined comrnunity as a means of mngthening collective belonging to a political end (Hobsbawm
1990: 47). Language is significant to the establishment of community, a phenornenon he refers to as proto-national cohesion (Hobsbawm 1990: 59).
Many contemporary questions have arisen during the course of developing this materid, questions involving the political constitution of identity, framed by issues of multiculturalism and national unity, of ethnogenesis as an effort to maintain language and education rights, and of üansnationalism and how culture and identity reflect an increasing globalization of culture. Toronto's francophone community is unique, complex and, save for the exemplary matenal produced by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education on the significance of schools in the construction of identity, poorly documented. The community that Thomas Maxwell reported on in his 1977 ethnography The Invisible French - The
French in Toronto, bars little resemblance to the comrnunity detailed in this report.
ïhe material in this thesis presents different aspects of the francophone experience in Toronto fkom the perspective of an anglophone anthropologist (burdened by a rudimentary, but not debilitating grasp of the French language) with an interest in
discovering how identity is constituted. The dificulty of this task is that each individual's
experience is different and any notions formed need to be regarded as relative. The
anthropologist's aim is to get as close to the cmof the issue as possible within the pnsm of
persona1 experience. There are many ways to interpret the matenal presented and this is only
one. Differences of interpretation are a fact of life; the only appropriate response can be that
the material is based on events perceived and material analysed through what memben of
the community were willing to share.
The following chapten build on thernes presented in this introduction.
Chapter 2 expands on the research aims and methods of the thesis. Chapter 3 hesthe
history of francophones in Toronto with a bnef sumrnary of the rise of Franco-Ontaian
identity and Quebec's curent situation. Chapter 4 explores Canadian language issues.
Chapters 5 and 6 draw upon matenal collected through fieldwork that details developing
culturai and institutional changes. The final chapter draws the materiai together in a coherent
restatement of the thesis. The sole most important notion for interpreting this thesis is not j ust the Canadianness of the situation, but the global character of Toronto's francophone
population. Whiie the development of the Franco-Ontarian identity, particularly in Nonhem
Ontario has been well documented, this has not been the case in Toronto. The Torontois are
a population unique primarily due to the role immigration has played in its development.
Without that point of re ference, the matenal lacks meaning . CHAPTER2
RESEARCHAIMS AND METHODS
Examination of how ethnic political mobilization is occming and a centrai group of concepts that allow for and assist the emergence of a multicultural francophone cornmunity in Toronto is the aim of this thesis. Although some statistics of assimilation will be related in the next chapter, they do not provide a decisive theme, due to the fact that research was conducted in arts and rights organizations, areas where tremendous cultural pride and voluntary participation exists. If research had been conducted in schools, assimilation statistics would have had a far greater significance. Questioning people about whether they were aware that Toronto has a hcophone community helped the author formulate the research concept. How few people responded afErmatively to this simple question was surprising, but the number of francophones who had Iittle knowledge about fellow French speakers in Toronto was particularly shocking, fdyestablishing the sense of how disparate the cornmunity really can be to those without specific knowledge of its existence. Many hcophones are unaware that two weekly French newspapers exist in
Toronto. When asked questions concerning maintenance of cornrnunity affiliation and knowledge, the reply most often indicated discomection.
The term métissage provides an applicable description of the ethnogenesis occuning in Toronto, defined in Postcolonial Subjectecrs as " [i]n the Francophone world, the concept of métissage extends beyond these primary rneanings to include the blending of cultures, ethnicities, language, and so forth" (1 996:xxii). Reflected in its anistic endeavour, at a poiitical level, and particuiarly within the school system, this is an integral aspect of the current experience in Toronto.
This thesis will focus a nurnber of themes alluded to in the introduction on two issues that manifest themselves in the increasing ethnic diversity of francophones in
Toronto. These issues are, the point at which (il1 francophones, despite their country of birth, developed sufficient numbers to warrant the çreation of new organizations or to necessitate changes to the pre-existent infrastnicture. This point is suggestod to be that at which
Association Canadienne-française de l'Ontario ("ACFO") (up until very recently, Ontario's strongest French rights lobbying organization) could no longer deal with the special needs of al1 French speakers, the point at which francophones in Toronto had developed a new ethno-cultural dimension and earned the right to cal1 themselves Franco-Torontonians. The possibility that a new culture is emerging develops fiom the birth in 1986, due to lack of representation by ACFO, of Association Multiculturelle Française de l'Ontario ("AMFO") as a means of recognizing and dealing wilh the speci fic needs of immigrant francophones.'
This does not imply that change has not been occurring over decades, merely that it had reached a point of recognition by 1986 where action had to be iaken to ensure the language and individual rights of al1 hcophones, not just those from Canada, thus acknowledging
I ACFO and AEO are affiliated agencies but AMFO was a scpmre. and in some ways rival, entity. an emergent identity. The creation of AMFO was followed in 1991 by the birth of
Association Interculhirelle Française de l'Ontario ("AiFO"), an off-shoot of ACFO designed to promote and educate francophone ethnic minonties, but perceived by AMFO as a tepid anernpt to undermine their successes. Chapter 6 fleshes out these signifiant developments towards recognition of change in a little more depth, although Bnding informants willing to discuss their experiences of ACFO, AMFO and MF0 proved extremely difficult.
If the notion of ernergent culture proves palatable, certain questions have to be considered. Do French-Canadians and French speakers fiom other countries constitute conflicting cultures and if so, in what sense? According to Ager this is true on two levels:
"in different ways, French is also a language symbolising contlict. In Belgium and Canada it is a symbol of resistance to other groups. while in many Afiican States its use symbolises continuing elitist exclusion of local cultures. Ianguages and ways of life" (1996:2).
Differences between French speakers based on country of origin are also a factor in Franco-
Torontonian life: "the diversity of geographical setting and of ec~nomies,and the range of social structures and problems of bncophone countries mean that French language reflects differing realities, and the universal values and approaches of the espacefiancophone may conflict with both the reaiity of difference and the need for it to be expressed" (Ager:3).
Does the discourse king developed by certain Toronto-based agencies represent hcophone attitudes toward its changing demographic or it is merely rhetoric? Diffe~gattitudes by
French-speakers hminside and outside of Canada towards the concept of hcophonie are creating dissension within the community, resdting in a polarization between Canadian and non-Canadian bom francophones, as is found in the confiict between AMFO and ACFO, two organizations mandated to safeguard francophone rights, and the growing resistance of many immigrant groups to a perceived powerlessness. Given the fact that Afncan francophones represent the fastest growing sector of the community, their self-perception as disenfranchised is significant to the overall heaith of the cornmunit).. Some possible responses to the question of how and where conflict develops will be presented in the following chapters which involve briefly looking at the history of francophones in Toronto, including how immigration policies have changed the community, the significance of French to identity and the developing idkastructure in place for francophones outside Quebec. Al1 these are components of Toronto's francophone community and also suggest that there is significance to the term Franco-Torontonians due to the Iocalized nature of the phenomena.
"Torontois" is also a term of self-reference used interchangeably with Franco-Torontonians within the community. The term Franco-Torontonian has been dismissed by certain acadernics as a meaningless label used by politicians and media, but the significance of
Toronto as locale to this unique comrnunity cannot be overemphasized. Reference to a
Franco-Torontonian identity is not meant to essentialize, or homogenize a diversity of cultures, but merely to find common ground to impart a strong identity and the possibility of an enhanced political purpose. As an inclusive ten, Franco-Torontonian designates a newly politicized, emerging voice and, if used successfully, can add both strength to the political position of ~cophonesand advantage from Toronto's position as a major economic power. Toronto provides an extreme scenario, but the same phenornenon is occurring in lesser numben in Ottawa2 and in Vancouver where the majonty of French- speakers are from Asia, particularly Cambodia and Vietnam (Hood:19) - a similar phenornena, wholly dependent on location.
The second issue for consideration is how successfully the needs of new and old francophones are being met, involving questions that build on the different expenence of being a French speaker fiom inside or outside of Canada. The Ofice of Francophone
Affairs ("OFA1') 1996 series of studies of Franco-Ontarians created controveny by statistically illustrating how Franco-Ontarians have risen in the ranks of economic and educational ability to the sarne level as, and in some instances surpassing, anglophones.
Many comrnunity memben, particuiarly newly arrived immigrants, were offended by this material because it was not indicative of their own expenence. The study did not refiect the numbers of francophones that are under the poverty line and have not yet developed the educational and employment opportunities of the more settled. To these francophones, the
OFA studies suggest that they are not part of the comrnunity. Overlooked by the OFA study is the fact that many of the newly-amived are African, implying that the division of hcophone "haves" and "have no&" has a subethnic basis. Does this irnply mereiy symbolic treatment as part of Toronto's francophone community, or does this minor the experiences
t The 1996 OFA Report presents racial minority francophones figures for Toronto of 20.2% of total bcophone population and in the ûttawa-Carleton Regional Municipality as 7,ZO or 6.5% (OFA:8). of what Franco-Ontarians have gone through in the last two decades? Does conflict exist between the old and the new, between the authentic and the other, and how cm concepts such as multicdturalism and Crancophonie neutralize any cleavages? On what, if any bais are daims for identity formation constructed and how is the differentiation between perceptions of "Frenchness" accomrnodated. The basis of this thesis is to question these impressions, to account for the experiences of the newly arrived and to show that they are having a profound effect on culture and inhtnicture.
Examining these entwined issues shows how much Toronto's francophone cornmunity has changed in the recent decades and how and in what areas, change is still necessary. Do immigrants who join the Franco-Torontonian community, many of whom are suffenng from historical traumas, have unrealistic expectations of what Canada cm do for hem, or is this part of the process, the "growing pains" that other minority groups have gone through before feeling settled? Are new amvals in fact having the same expenence that
French Canadians have had until quite recently, of not having access to higher economic and educational opportunities, and as the new francophone population mobilizes, will the same increase in prosperity happen. Or is Toronto's francophone community weakened by a racism overlooked due to the position of French as a rninority language in Canada That they cmvoice these concerns indicates the existence of a strong pre-existent social infi-éutructure of which al1 French speakers are aware. But is access equally available to dl?"
Cultural events that reflect the changing demographic of the Franco-
Torontonian community provide a vehicle for visibility and a potential for mobilization.'
The conditions that allow for cultural development to occur are uniquely Canadian, based on a mixture of the constitutionality of languaye rights, rnulticulhiralism, immigration, the
1 Rosanna Brabar, director of Centre Francophone stated the following when questioned on her opinion of why there is a discrepancy in the OFA's report: "Again, if you consider that Canada is the country that has welcomed so many immigrants fiom heaven knows how many countries. 1 would Say that yes, this fits into that procedure of coming to a country and adapting to a new culture, of understanding what the employrnent market is and knowing how to sel1 youneif to an employer. There are cultural differences, culturai values in other countries that have to be changed, not completely, but when you are looking for a job, you are meeting with an employer and you have to have a tim handshake and look your employer in the eyes. In some countries it is mde to look someone in the eyes, so that has to change entirely. 1 would say that this fits into the whole process of immigration. Other populations have immigrated to Canada and maybe severai years ago this wouldn't be anj-thing new. The differcnce may be, would be, that many of these countries are politically unstable and people have gone through a tremendous amount of suffering before they came here. People originating hmother countries rnay have corne sirnply for economicai reasons, which are good reasons, but many people have come for reasons of safety. "
4 For instance, immigrant francophones can leam about the social services provided by Centre Francophone througb the extensive network of immigrant services. Upon arrivai, they cm, theoretically, find this information at Pearson Airport. Mort on ihis in Chapter 6.
5 A review of a joint 1985 OISE and University of Toronto report cornments that "Franco-Ontarians are invisible until they express themselves" (Orbit 1986:1 8) infraçmicture in place in Toronto and the energy of a small group of people with intense
pride in their culture.. The fieldwork presented throughout this essay evidences these themes.
The material for this thesis was collected by attendance at an assortment of cultuml events, many of which displayed a distinctly political flavour, and interviews with individuals involved in the maintenance of French language and culture in Toronto."t is widely recognized that francophone culture in Ontario is institutionally maintained through a complex network of governrnent institutions (federai, provincial and municipal) and educational facilities (through schools at al1 levels and by organizations studying the significance of schools for language maintenance such as OISE), but there has been little emphasis on the number of cultural and social organizations that benefit from the rninistrations of govemment and education. Through fieldwork conducted between October
1996 and November 1997, essentially within a window provided by one of the major annual cultural and literary events of the hsincophone calendar, the author's def~tionof the
"francophone comrnunity in Toronto" was dramatically altered from one of a group of
French-speakers hmCanada and France to an ethnically diffuse number of French-speaking sub-groups.' Various sources on hcophonie relate that French is spoken in 49 countries
O See Schedule D for a list of interviews conducted.
7 A somewhat autobiographical choice of field, given that l am from Sudbury, an area of Northern Ontario witfi a high percentage of hcophones (approximately 309'0). Everyone was expected to take French in public school and for one year in high school. but very few midents ever became proficient enough to cany on a conversation, a problem to be attnbuted ro lack of practice. Despite the number worldwide. and although not al1 of hem are represented in Toronto, the existing global diversity of francophones is able to function with reasonable levels of success within both the insti tutionalized and gras roots avenues of language maintenance in Toronto. Some new arrivals are aware that they cmuse their language skills to their advantage in Toronto. but still more individuals arrive in Toronto without the knowledge that a French community, with enhanced access to resources for employment and settlement, awaits them.
A nurnber of unusual, yet srnountable problems arose with the decision to research Toronto's francophones. This community is atypicai for its lack of geographical locus yet its existence within and around us, thus problematizhg issues sumunding how the
"field" is constituted and creating persona1 dificulties associated with defining a research project. This chosen field of enquiry caused problems for movement in and out of the field due, in part, to overlap. When the field is home, it becomes somewhat confusing to separate the two realities. An associated issue is the difficulty in separating fieldwork from everyday life and the ensuing problems of defïning thneframes and boundaries; it was also difficult to define the end of the fieldwork because as a different dimension is added to everyday
of French speakers, I do not recail havhg any interaction with hcophones until aîtending Cambrian College, Sudbury's community college which provides bilïngual services. Two solitudes were distinctly in action in the 1960s and 1970s. Daily interaction with francophones lead not to an increased ability to speak French, but merely provided an opportunity for francophones to become bilingual and to speak French arnong themselves. At that time it was not of importance to me to lem another language, given the low value placed on being bilingual or a hcophone in Sudbury. This has recently changed dramatically. French is to be found everywhere in Sudbury, not just in the "French towns" of the outlinhg areas (for example, Hanmer, Capreol, Chelmsford, BIezard Valley), but within the core, and ernployment is difficulty to procure without bilingualism. existence, it became increasingly dificult to discontinue the research.' The author's aims initially involved looking at how cultural events provide a means of mobilization and a face to Franco-Torontonian activities and rapidly developed into an interest in the increasing ethnic divenity of the last decade and how Francophone mobilization has transformed to meet new demands.
This fieldwork involved a two step process, the first step being the location of culture, and the second step reaiizing the uniqueness of the comrnunity. Without an area in some way bounded (as in Toronto's Little Italy, Chinatown, etc.), the whole city of
Toronto is the francophone comrnunity, among us yet invisible without pre-existent information about locale. After the initial difficulty of situating existing francophone associations and organizations. followed by leaming which businesses are owned and operated by francophones, the pieces of a small, intricate network began to fa11 into place.
Monica Heller deals with this when describing how different francophone buildings, organizations, arts and cultural events occur in Toronto, yet without pnor knowledge of their existence dorcornmunity membenhip, these areas and events do not exist as fhcophone for most people:
I Although rny definitive "deadline" for completion of research was the 1997 Salon du Livre, 1 was fortunate enough to interview Patrick Monahan and two individuals from AMFO in November, excellent opportunities that could not be passed over. The matenal from AMFO provides a different dimension to what 1 was able to frnd out so far concerning how francophone identity in Toronto is consaucted. "Walking the streets of Toronto now, ten years after 1 arrived, 1 can hear and see the difference. Much of that has to do with knowing where to go; if 1 go into that church, this school, that theatre, 1 will find people who not only can speak French, but will achially do so in public. Much has to do with the sociai neh~orks1 have developed both through work and through my children; I know who to cal1 if 1 need a refend to a doctor, a travel agent, a daycare centre. But much has to do with what has happened to Franco-Ontarian mobilization over these ten years, and the attitudes of individuais towards it" (1 994:221)
Certain keys, such as the Annuaire Francophone, Annuaire Franco-Ontarien and the new mual Toronto French Committee Catalogue of Francophone Cornrnunity
Organizations in Toronto (each a publication that list resources available to francophones),
TF0 and Radio-Canada are available to those who wish to learn about French culture in
Ontario and L'Express and Le Metropolitan. weekly newspapers, are helpful for discovenng
Franco-Torontonian culture in particular. Without these elementary keys, the dooa to the community remah shut and the dynamic, divenified francophone community in Toronto remains invisible. It is, however, not as unusual in 1997 to hear French being spoken on the
Street, in the subway, or in the workplace as it was even a decade ago.
A merresearch issue in comection with the lack of geographical focus is the existence of a number of sub-groups wi thin the comrnunity, groups in whic h &liation is based on country of origin and whose members socialize together and look to one another for support. The comrnunity at large provides its own dificulties of access but locating the less visible aspects of Franco-Torontonian society is extremely dificult given that there are activities staged by each sub-group that are dificult to 10cate.~nie choice of looking at culrural events was based on visibility and availability, providing a place to begin research, meet interviewees, and develop a generalized perspective. It goes without saying that locating aspects of the cultural community was much easier than locating individuals
involved in less public activities such as political functions, yet many of the cultural events were in some way co~ectedto government organizations involved in cultural policy developrnent and maintenance, or directly benefitted fiom financial support, and provided a means to extending the network of possible informants. Attending cultural activities
(music, dance, theatre, film, writing) also provided an opportunity to see what was new and important in the community, providing a visage. whereas institutions (government, school, church) provided the wherewithal for cultural maintenance, support fYom the private sector still being minimal. It was not clear until after much introspection that the development of culturai arenas is extremely important to the mobilization of disparate goups of francophones and is central to the emergence of a new culture. The suggestion was presented that a good place to locate "ordinary francophones" (those not directly involved in cultural creation or maintenance) would be through Toronto's French parishes, either Sacre-Coeur at Carlton and Sherbourne, St. Louis de France in Don Mills, or Sainte-Famille in Brampton, yet they too provide a social and cultural web and as such involve people in activities
9 At no point have 1 ken bamd access to any events. The only dificulty has ken fmding things. 1 have, however, been unsuccessful acquiring information from ACFO, AIFO and fiom Heritage Canada Ail three demandeci messages left on an answering machme and in each case, my repeated requests went unanswered. designed to promote language." This factor, however, reintroduces the question of who is
in charge of creating-andmaintaining culturai policy, the visible, energetic secton of culture
and government, represented to a large extent by the intellectual segment of the community.
or the more pnvate side of community life. The conclusion based on this research appears
to be that the public segment plays a more signifiant role in the emergence of culture." An
important factor is that as less French is spoken in the home for reasons of intermarriage, or
for economic reasons such as job availability. more public opportunities to speak French
have arisen. So the inforrnants. memben of cultural, educational and political organizations,
are probably representative of the francophone cornmunity in Toronto.I2 The suitability of
certain infamants over others is not realiy questionable because there are dways people who are more visible, who take charge and exert more energy to ensure that the needs of a larger group are fulfilled. In essence, there will always be leaders.
I O A difficulty lies in attempting to meet "ordinary hcophones" because it is evident that hcophones in Toronto are extremeiy socially conscious and active. Networking is a huge part of being French in Toronto. It is dificult to know whether this is how individuals were raiseci, with an ernphasis on the importance of group community events or as a means of dealing with life as a minority. As the role of the church is king redefked, other venues are gaining significance for ~rea~ga livable existence. The ordinary hcophone is a politically consmicted king who does not seem to exist in a reality of his own. This need to create methods for group affiIiation forces cultural events into a Far greater significance than ifeveryâay social avenues were availabie. Otganized culture provides a bridge for francophones who are not part of a less formal nework.
II Is there in fact a "private side" to king hcophone in Toronto? Although some families 1 spoke with attempt to maintain a soIely francophone home. statistics show that the use of French at home is dirninishing. It is likely tbat if francophones choose to maintain their language in Toronto, the private side becomes the public side outside of the home.
12 1 tried to cover a variety of experiences, but in the end am bound by what 1 could locate. It is inevitable that much will be unrepresented. The material for this thesis was collected from a variety of sources, both pnmary and secondary, the prirnary sources consisting of fieldwork involvhg interviews and participant observation - albeit more observation than parh'cipation. An extended time period for research was needed to cover the major cultural events in the francophone community calendar, framed by the 1996 and 1997 Salon du Livre in October, punchiated by Franco-Fête in My, considered by many to be the year's pnmary francophone activity ("Make sure you corne, it's a party!! "). Formal interviews were conducted with a nurnber of individuals involved with the maintenance and presentation of culture. Yet aside fiom the more easily identifiable francophones in positions designed to develop and strengthen identity, almost everyone spoken to, in casuai conversation or by formal, taped interview, from students of
Glendon College to membea of the Toronto French Cornmittee, fimly believe that there is a francophone community in Toronto, and in airnost al1 cases, that it is possible to Iive entirely in French." Franco-Toronto is an imagined community in the sense that it is easy to join if you are hcophone or francophile, by pnmary or by secondary language.
13 The one exception is that some interviewees cornmented that you can't shop in Toronto. But, according to National Fihn Board producer Jean Marais, shopping should be the least of a Franco- Torontonian's womes:
"But what's French shopping? For example, 1 fmd totally irrclevant and useless al1 the symbolisrn as it applies to *vers licences, trafic tickets. The amount of time and energy that hcophoncs and other groups would spend - well francophones here and English in Quebec - would spend on making sure that a traffic ticket is entrenched. 1 don? me! Take al1 the time and energy you spend on that and put it in music and theaire. It sounds rnaybe a little subjective but I'm not going to wake up tomomw and say "Gad I'm francophone - look, my t&ïc ticket is". mat means nothing to me. People tell us that it is symbolic. Yes 1 realize chat but so much time is spent on it. I how there's a big thing about king able to shop but I don7 care. They're after my money. If they say "vente" or 'sale" its the same. But it is different when it cornes to fihs and books." Language fluency is integral to admission, but even those who are not bilingual are able to participate and enjoy the events.14
Secondary sources posed a major difficulty for study because of the dedof available information. 'Thomas Maxwell's 1977 ethnography, The Invisible French - The
French in Toronto, could have been written about another city given the amount of change within the community since Maxwell did his research, and as such is of value primarily as a base-line to cunent research. An exception to this lack of material is found through the work of OISE'S (Ontario Studies in Education) Centre de Recherches en Éducation Franco-
Ontarienne. This large body of materiai, focused on French language education, displays a rnovement towards issues of identity amongst minority francophones in Toronto.'' For
LJ My experience speaks volumes for the willingness of Franco-Torontonians to share their ideas and culture. This, however, only occumd after I was able to locate what was going on and find key people to provide me with means of admission.
15 HelItx believes that education îs "now the main arena where French social networks are fonned, and where the meaning of French identity is defmed" because it is the main arena where assimilation is slowed down (1984~2-3). I concur with this assertion because, although 1 did not do fieldwotk in schools, mmy members of political and cultural organizations, commiaees and boards I had some contact with were members of the school board, high school or elementary teachers or university profison. A number of the culturai events 1 atîended were initiatives developcd through Toronto's network of educationai profession*. example, two studies of the minority make-up in schools are currently under way by Monica
Heller and Diane Gerin-Lajoie? Each of these studies, when available, will help understand
the subtleties of Toronto's francophone community not reflected by Statistics Canada. The
studies also confirm that existent ways of studying Francophones have io be dramatically
altered. No longer strictly a Canadian language issue, francophone studies have to be
approached through the lens of multiculhiralism. The position in Franco-Ontarian studies
whereby "an ideology which envisions a homogeneous Franco-Ontarian society defending
itself against the dominant English-speaking minority" (Heller 1992:3), has ken eroded and
replaced with an acceptance of change and how it focuses on the greater picture. With the
cornrnunity becoming less homogeneous in terms of ethnic divenity, it is building numbers of people who have the key element that will bolster against the majority, the use of French
language. Much of OISE'S work is geared towards understanding hcophone education but the themes developed through its research are applicable throughout al1 aspects of French life
in Toronto. The secondary sources used that pertain specifically to Toronto were, to a great extent, material drawn fiom Heller's case studies. Having spent more than a decade working in and publishing extensively on language and ethnicity in Toronto's French language
16 nie 1996 annual report of OISE refers to two ongoing studies that impact on questions of who Toronto's francophones are and how problems of assimilation be countered. Identité et milieu minoritaire: conceptuaikation et mise ir l'essai d'un inrhument de recherche, by Rof. Diane Gerin- Lajoie has as its goal " A recueillir de l'information sur les habitudes linguistiques des dièves dans leurs activités quotidiennes. tequestionnaire sera conçu de façon A obtenir de l'information sur les activités prenant place dans les quatre secteurs suivants: 1) la vie familiale, 2) la vie B l'école, 3) ta vie sociale h l'extérieur de l'école et 4) le milieu de travail dans le cas des jeunes qui occupent des emplois & temps partiel et il temps plein (si le cas se présente). Monica Heller's smdy, Un profü démographique des kcolcs de longue frrurçalsc de Toronto, wilI "analyse des questio~airesdémographiques envoyés dans les écoles de langue hçaise deToronto (CEFCUTet CECGT) en 1994-95. Ces questionnaires visaient B obtenir des renseignements sur la population de ces kcoles." schools, Heller's work on the significance of language to identity is of particular importance to the study of Franco-Toronto. At the cote of the relationship of language and identity is how individuals define, present and interpret themselves in society (Heller 1987b:90).I7
Communication being a central facet of postmodem Iife, the issue of the pivotai role of language to identity can be looked at by considenng why people would want to be part of
Toronto's hcophone community, a minonty group, lacking a geographic focus, and with the unfortunate stigma of speaking a "second rank" language to most Canadians."
According to Heller, whose work within francophone schools tests the resiliency of the identityllanguage relationship, "identity is viewed as a constmct which arises out of social interaction and which is moa clearly undersrood by examlliing how individuals enact social roles in specific social situations" (1987x781).approaching an answer to the question of why immigrants wodd want to ally themselves with Toronto's French comrnunity. One possible answer is if identity is socially constructed, then people have opportunities to constnict or reconstruct their identity as they wish. This is particularly true in the case of immigrants, who may wish to become rnernbers of their new society, or join a new
17 One woman 1 interviewcd has lived in, and spoken French in Toronto for 25 years. 1 aimed during the course of the intewiew to get an idea of how Toronto's francophone community has change4 but 1 was more successfiil with fhding out how she has changed to reflect the Iifestyle of French intellectuals in Toronto. Well educateà and very tuned into the an scene, she recounted a story, devastating to her sense of identity, about king turned down in the early 70's for a job as a French teacher in favour of someone who was not an indigenous speaker. but was university trained and willing to teach strictly by a curricuIum tbat didn't make sense CO rn y in forrnan t. My in formant felt this to be prejudicial and somewhat racist, expcriences that are shared today when francophiles are given governent jobs that francophones feel should be allotted to them.
18 This, once again, points to the different values placed on lanyuagc in Canadian society. ïhe concept of diglossia is explorcd below. cornmunity. Language, however, may also act as a control device, creating hierarchies and barring access to the imermost circles. Simply, many immigrants do not speak English but do speak French, so they ally themselves with the minority community while acquinng ancillary language skills, it king true that how people ally themselves in reality has a lot to do with economic reality. In a country such as Canada, the opportunity to reconstnict identity over time exists for new amivals.
Due to the lack of applicabie anthropological sources, material can be drawn from a nurnber of related fields to expand the research on Franco-Toronto. Multiculturaiism, transnationalism and the developing global cconomy contribute to this new community, yet none have been specifically applied to the case in Toronto, or in any event, there is no available published matenal. This is slowly changing, as cm be seen through some recently cornrnissioned materiai by organizations directly involved in language and culnual maintenance and recent Ph.D. projects on the French (fiom France) community and on the
Moroccan Jewish community in Toronto. For example, reports from the Toronto French
Cornmittee and Centre Francophone, entitled. respectively, Des services en français, S. v.p.! and Un Aperçu des Nouveaux Arrivants, ded specifically with the needs of organizations to assist Franco-Torontonians, but this materiai is not widely available. The mode of anaiysis required to look at the hcophone community as a whole demands a creative concepnial effort. Routine analyses of ethnic groups fa11 short due to the fact that researchea are not looking at an ethnic group, but a number of ethnic groups conjoined by a simiiar language - sirnilar in the sense that the style of French spoken by Canadians and the value placed
thereon is different fiom that of other countries. While questions of primordiality are still
important, they are not suficient to understand how Toronto's Francophone cornmunity is
constituted.
A telling factor with attempting to do French fieldwork was that as soon as any language dificulties arose, as soon as language broke down, francophones are immediately able to shift to English.19 It is clear that most francophones prefer to do so because they find it more of a nuisance to converse with someone who is not fluent. Many interviewees related stones about the poor quality of French available through government services that have a bilingual mandate.
Most francophone studies focus on language issues, of assimilation and language shift, or of institutional support. Surprisingly, none have taken this matenal on institutionai support Merin describing the thriving francophone cultural community in
Toronto. The choice to begin with culture provides an opporninity to see what is new and important in the community and to provide a face to a culturai rno~ement.~'With the different worlds of music, visual art, theatre and film as points of entry, the opportunity to
19 The Toronto French Cornmittee reports a figure of 95% of hcophones who are able to function in English. Many are not only bilingual, but rnultilingual ( 1996:12).
20 A certain amount of empathy is invohed with the decision to look at hcophone culture. My background is in the artE and 1 fiel most cornfortable and able to understand the experiences of people involved in cultural endeavours. branch out and locate other sectors became less complicated. From this vantage point it was possible to meld culture with innitutional support with the result of the creation of political culture. If territory previously covered, such as issues of assimilation or responses to national unity issues had been the focus of this study, the view of Franco-Torontonian identity as emergent would not have been so clear and the conscious efforts to create new outlets for Ianguage maintenance overlooked.
Drawing inspiration fiom a variety of theoretical views, the following material aims to provide a picture of a developing cornmunity of communities, as unique for its differences as for its similarities. Franco-Toronto is an amalgam of French-speaking cultures within which discrete groups maintain their unique cultural amibutes bounded by existence within a sophisticated society. This material merely scratches the surface of a complex network of issues widely engaging the field of anthmpology, that is, how identity is constmcted in postmodem society. The seeds for the emergence of Franco-Torontonian ethnicity are dependent on the gains made by Franco-Ontarians over the past century which are, to a great extent, dependant on gains made by the Québécois. The onginal plan for this chapter was to provide a brief narrative of Canadian francophone history, in Quebec, in Ontario and in
Toronto. However, trying to grasp the scope of Quebec's situation and its potentid impact on the ROC (the "Rest of Canada")' involves questions of such complexity that the effort taken to present a coherent statement of signiticance far outweighs the necessity. Sufice it to make two broad statements: francophone mobilization outside of Quebec could not develop without the series of events occurring in Quebec since the Quiet Revolution of the
1960s;' and in an effort to becorne, according to Abbé Lionel Groulx, maître chez nous
(Cook:207), the Québécois have becorne increasingly involved in issues of separation, thus isolating themselves fiom the numerous other fmncophone communities throughout Canada
I Although the author has no difficulty using the term "ROC",Charles TayIor prefers the designation "COQ",rneaning Canada outside Quebec for the folIowing reason: "In Quekc we speak blithety of "Engiish Canada," but the people who live there do not identifL with this label. We need a handy way of refening to the rcst of the country as an entity, even if it lacks for the moment political expression .... t hope the nader wiIl not take this as a sign of encroaching barbarism or of Québécois self-absorption (although it might partake in no small measure of both)" (1 993: 184, fn2). t Very briefly, the Quiet Revolution refers to the 20-year movement by francophones in Quebec, beginniag in the 1960s with the election of the Liberal government of Jean Lesage, to regain control of the power structures in Quebec that had, since the Conquest, been predominantly in the hands of the English-speaking business community. Along with this change in the business sector, control of educaîion and social care were removed fkom the Church and handled by the government. These two factors led to a modemization and re- francization of Quebec. that could, and probably would, develop a stronger relationship with ~uebec.' Quebec's
histoiy of the past thirty years has ken a history of growing independence sentiment white
questions of separation have been found on Quebec's public opinion poils dating back to
1962 (Cook: 209).' It is also important to note that the Québécois take their politics very
seriously. Of the 94% of voter turn-out for the October 1995 referendum and of 7.5m voters,
the margin of victory for the No forces was only 53,000. With each successive generation, separatist interest has grown, at a curent level of 63%, up fiom 50% at the theof the 1980 referendurn. That is why incentives such as Guy Bertrand's public interest action filed on
October 6, 1997 against Lucien Bouchard. Serge Menard (Attorney General of Quebec) and
Anne McLellan (Attorney General of Cmûds) are important for al1 Canadian francophones.
Constitutional law professor and practicing lawyer Patrick Monahan is working with Guy
Bertrand to develop a viable method of ensuring the illegality of unilateral secessionism of
Quebec from codederation. Bertrand is seeking authorization fiom the courts to pay his federal taxes to the Government of Canada and forward ail income taxes otherwise owing to Quebec to a court-appointed administntor should the Govemment of Quebec declare unilateral sovereignty. The public interest action. filed October 6, 1997 follows Bertrand's
I Including Quebec, appmximately 30% of Canadians are French speaking. Francophones can be found in each province and territory of Canada as follows: Alberta - 394, British Columbia, 2. I%, Manitoba - 5%, New Brunswick - 32.8%. Newfoundland - 1.796. Northwest Territories - 2.4%, Nova Scotia - 6.3%.Ontario - 5.3%, Rince Edward Island - 9.2O6;Quebec - 74.6%, Saskatchewan - 3.1% and Yukon - 32Y0. The average per province including Quebec is 22%. and excluding Quebec is 4% per province (Burgess & Ke tly: 1 10).
4 Bouchard dici, in 1994, make the oblique statement that francophone rights would be adversely affected if Quebec separates fiom Canada but reiterated that Quebec would honour its historical obligations to Ontario's fiancophones. What exactly does rh is mean? Historical obligations could have any, or no rneaning to fiancophones outside of Queùcc 1995 declaration received from the Quebec Supenor Court that the 1995 referendurn was illegal and in violation of his rights under the Charter. Bouchard and his government, in stating that they will de& the Supreme Court of Canada in a unilateral declaration of independence by Quebec, questions and defies the basic premises of the Canadian legal system.
The question of the secession of Quebec has recently reappeared. The
Supreme Court of Canada delivered a decision August 20, 1998 for case [1998] S.C.J.No.
61 File No. 25506. The Court was requested to decide on three questions: (1) Under the
Constitution of Canada, can the National Assembly, legislature or government of Quebec effect the secession of Quebec from Canada unilatemlly?; (2) Does intemational law give the
National Assembly, legislature or govemment of Quebec the right to effect the secession of
Quebec kom Canada unilaterally? In this regard, is there a right to self-detemination under international law that would give the National Assembly, legislatue or govemment of
Quebec the right to effect the secession of Quebec fiom Canada unilaterally?; and (3) In the event of a conflict between domestic and international law on the right of the National
Assembly, legislature or govemment of Quebec to effect the secession of Quebec from
Canada unilaterally, which would take precedence in Canada? Briefly, the Court found the
Constitution to be more than a written text. embracing the entire global system of rules and principles which govem the exercise of constitutional authority. Delivering a ruling based on the principles of democracy within the existing constitutional framework, a unilateral decision of Quebecen in favour of secession would put the relationships that have been formed since Confederation at risk. A democratic vote by Quebec on its own would have no legality and for the rest of Canada to respect a decision of secessionism, Quebec has to respect the rights of the ROC. Negotiations would have to take into consideration the nghts of al1 other provinces.
The Court also found that the right to unilateral secession does not exist under international law. Quebec is not protected by the importance of a recognized right to self- determination for ail "peoples", because it does not constitute a "people'' govemed as part of a colonial empire, subject to alien subjugation, domination or exploitation, nor in the context of king denied the right to self-determination in the context of Canada However, the lack of a legal right to unilateral secession does not rule out the possibility of an unconstitutional declaration of secession, the success of which would be dependent on the international community. Finally, no conflict between domestic and international law was found in Question 3.'
This unudpoliticai situation -es current batties for hcophone rights throughout Canada Brief histories of Franco-Toronto and of Franco-Ontarian presence and the rise of identity follow.
5 This material was summarized fkom a Quicklaw version of case found on internet, nie actual judgrnent in full rus to many pages, but this material has been presented purely to contextuaiize cmnt language debates ia Canada. Brief HrStory of the French in Toronto
The Société d'Histoire lecture was entitled "la construction du premier fort
français en 1720 marque la naissance de T~ronto".~The talk was sparsely attended, yet the
presentation, replete with slides of woodcuts, maps and old and new photographs, detailed
and well organized. The lecturer began his discussion with a description of the climate of
racism in Europe during the 18th century, how the "scientific" proof of the supenority of
whites affected the colonizing power's thirst for new contact. Yet the French, upon amval
in Canada, cultivated a fairly healthy working relationship with the natives.' The lecturer,
a univenity professor, proceeded to describe the initial migration of the French to Canada,
rnarked by names such as Bmlé, Lasalle and Frontenac, and through the use of slides of
contemporary sites, illustrated where the sites of forts dong the Humber River were located.
The point of his lecture was that the history of Toronto begins in 1720 when the French built
b Societé d'Histoire is an organization established in 1986 by the Toronto French Cornmittee with an airn to "study and prornote the history of Ontarians and Franc~ûntarians,in particular the history of the Toronto area; to raise the interest of researchers and the generat public in regional history and geneaiogy; and to ensure the preservation of al1 written and non-written documentation" (Sassa and Levesque:4 1). The Societé holds occasional evenings such as the one detailed above, maintains an archive of printed materials and on a montMy bais has a dropui ''working session" where hterested parties rnay learn about upcoming activities and help design a plan for merstudy. Much of the historical material conceming Franco-Toronto is drawn from materials developed by and avaiiable through Societt d'Histoire.
7 Morisonneau sheds additional light on this relationship as follows: "[r]elations ktween the American pioneers and the indians were mainly adversarial. An opposition or antagonism between two cultural worids-virtually absent in French Canada-distinguishes the American fiontiersman from the Qudbécois forester. We have already glimpsed this fundamental fact, but it is al1 the more appropriate to rernind ourselves of it in view of the way Québécois culture was marked by a life slzared with the indian and by hquent intermaniagen(Cook:20). This matenai rnay represent an invented tradition for Franco-Torontonians. the first of three forts on the site that was to become Toronto. History as presented in school tells us that York, on the current site of the city of Toronto, was founded by the English and that there was very littie here until the founding by the British in 1793, a somewhat different view than presented by the lecturer. The lecturer was, in a sense, intending to create a space for francophones within a pre-existent narrative by inventing tradition.
The material presented in this lecture is, like much subaltem history, not taught in schools, nor are there any plaques to indicate the existence of homes owned by the first French immigrants, nor monuments to denote the sites of forts, none of which remain to date. Ali that is leA is the knowledge of where things were, and some place and Street names in remembrance of the fust French migrants, names such as D'Youville St. and Baby
Point.
Generally though, interested parties realize that the French were the first colonizers of Canada in the 17th century, with the fïrst agricdtural colony set up in Ontario around 1700. The site that would become Toronto was probably fkst gazed upon by French explorer and interpreter to Samuel de Champlain, Etieme Brulé in 1615. There was some discussion of setting up a fur trading post in Toronto as early as 1686, but three forts did not appear until between 1720 and 1750, at the mouth of the Humber River, the present site of Toronto8. The forts were ordered by Marquis Philippe de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, Govemor of Canada in 1720 to prevent the sale of fun to the English at Albany, across Lake Ontario.
Designated the "Royal Store of Toronto", the exact location in present day Toronto is
"slightly north of Bloor Street and north West of the Old Mill Restaurant" (Brignoli5). This
fort marks the official birthplace of Toronto in 1720 and was abandoned 10 years later to an unknown fate.
The second fort, on the north shore of Lake Ontario near the Humber River, and successfully in operation by May 1750. tvas constructed for military and commercial purposes (fur trading). This fort proved too srnall and a third fort, Fon Rouille (named for the Minister of the Navy and Colonies. Antoine-Louis Rouille) (Brignoli:6), was commissioned the following year. Despire the immense success of the location and the military presence at the site, the fort was ordered bumed and the men returned to Montreal in 1759. Archaeological excavations were prformed at this site in 1979,1980 and 1982, but linle remallis after the 1878 levelling to develop the area for the Canadian National
Exhibition" (Brignok9).
Following de Champlain's arriva1 in 1608, a nurnber of French communities appeared dong the St. Lawrence fiom Quebrc to Manitoba (Cornmissioner of Official
8 The word Toronto is indian, but was fmt used by Rene-Roben de La Salle in 1680 to describe the Humber River Portage as the Toronto ponage. and the word rcferred to the Humber River before it was used to designate the royal fort (Brignoli:4). Languages 1993:7). English victories fiom 1750 on established the existence of two
languages and the 1867 British North America Act codified the statu of both languages
federally. Although New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province, there are
approximately 1,000,000 Canadian francophones living outside Quebe~.~
Franco-on tariun Hislory
A discussion of the history of francophones in Ontario and the relatively
recent development of a significantly polit icized Franco-Ontarian identity sheds more light on how and why Torontois identity is emerging. A hiaory of redefined ethnicity, the official
Franco-Ontarian green and white flag, tirst flown on September 25, 1975. in Sudbury
Ontario, combines the French fleur de lis and the trillium, Ontario's provincial flower
(Amopoulos: 186), establishing Ontario's francophone communities as a mixture of both
French and English.
Roughiy 25% of the total francophone population of Canada lives outside
Quebec and 50% of this ~IOUPresides in Ontario, predominantly in urban centres such as
Toronto, Sudbuty and Ottawa (Gilbert & Langieys:ï). From the 1960s on, francophones
9 243,000 in New Brunswick and 5 10,000 in Ontario (Commissioner of Officia1 Languages 19933). According to the 199 1 census, 73% of Canadians speak English, 25% speak French and 1.4% are unable to speak either ofTicial language. Despite Canada's increasing cultural diversity, 98.6% of Canada's population speak either English or French (Commissioner of Official Languages 1993:8). 2 million Anglophones arc studying French, 292.000 in immersion programs; and in Quebec 600,000 students take EngLish as a second language (Commissioner of Officiai Languages 1993: 15). 16% of Canadians can cany on a conversation in either English or French (Commissioner of Official Languages 1993: 17). have maintained a fairly high profile, but this has not dways been the case. A bief history of the expansion of francophone rights would begin with Regulation 17, passed in 19 12, which forbade the teaching and usage of French in Ontario schools, arnended in 1927, but not taken off the records until 1944. In 1965, the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and
Biculturalism resulted in the passage of the Oflcial Laquages Act in 1969 which provided that both English and French were to be used in the govemment, civil senice and court systems. Expo '67, the Olympic Games and the 1976 win by Rene Levesque's Parti
Québécois focwd attention on Quebec and by default on the large percentage of francophones throughout Canada. However, even as late as 1980, following studies by the
Multiculturai Commission, the movement towards established linguistic rights was stated by the Commission of Official Languages as of "signifiant progress" in the implementation of language choice in certain court services, a toll-kee French-language information service, increased govemment advertising in French and increased staffing of govemment departments with French-speakers" (Kimpton:24). Effectively, though French language rights were in place, very littie had, up to this point, been implemented.
Ontario's hcophone community, of which very few senlements established during the French regime did not emanate fiom Quebec, has emerged primarily since the mid- 19th century and throughout the 20th cenhïry. In 187 1, francophones numbered 10% of Ontario's population and by 191 1 this number had grown to 20% (Vallieres: 186). From early in the 19th century the first immigrants fkom the Saint Lawrence Valley began arriving in an effort to locate either d or industriai employment. Vallière states that emigration from Quebec occurred as "over-fming mixed with poor agncultural methods and crop diseases, over-division of land and a high birth rate combined to produce a relative ruraI overpopuiation. ... Rural out-migration followed, seasonal at first, as seen by the growing number of French who spent the winter in logging and timber operations usually up the
Ottawa Valley." (1 85) Emigration reached a peak in 1880s.
Kimpton, who has detailed the history of francophones in Ontario, has suggested that
"[ait the moment of their migration, they thus belonged to the same community of origin and culture as those remaining in Quebec and considered themselves very much a part of the French Canadian nation. With the help and encouragement of the religious elites, French Canadians of Ontario maintained their own distinctly French Canadian culture and established their own familiar socio-culturai institutions and organizations such as schools, parishes and cooperatives. In fact, the majority of them assumed that they had sirnply relocated within their own country" (1984:6).
The particular spatial distribution of francophones in Ontario was due to the fact that agxiculhiral settlement in eastem Ontario between 1840 and 1940 was often a collective endeavour in which French Canadians arrived in groups with religious leaders, merchants and professionals and that they brought Quebec with them to Ontario. Since 1940, more interna1 and external migration has moved Franco-Ontarians towards industrial and urban centres. This, coupled with the decreasing role of the clergy in French Canadian society, is the most important factor in the breakdown of self-enclosed Franco-Ontarian comrnunities and has resulted in a greater potential for assimilation, but has also resdted in a stronger push for identity and a political voice.
A history of French Canadians is incomplete without a discussion of the role of the Catholic church as the controlling apparatus in maintenance of hcophone identity.
Religious historian Robert Choquette maintains that "the Catholic church has been the most important social institution in nineteenth-century French Ontario" ( 1982: 165). The political difficulties Quebec has suffered have sternmed fiom the overall societai secularization due to an erosion of importance of the Catholic Church. Kimpton states that within Quebec,
"the role of the Church and its institutions was not resîicted to religious practices but was predominant at al1 levels of the community's life. The French Canadian cornrnunities spoke through the Church, thus legitimizing the power of this institution which consequently consolidated the unity and cohesiveness of the French Canadian nation as a whole" (1984:8).
Although the Catholic church did maintain a fairly strong presence, it did not have as much politicai authority in Ontario as in Quebec. The trilogy of Family-Church-School, the ciriving force behind Quebec society in the 19th century witil mid-20th century was never allowed to gain a foothold. Power politics in Ontario never meshed with clencal power, but remained within the dominant "WASP" cornmunity. A Merdificulty stemmed nom interpretation of the BNA Act of 1867 which guaranteed individual religious nghts at the provincial level, but did not recognize linguistic rights of French Canadians outside Quebec" (Kimpton:9).
The weakened power of the Catholic Church in Ontario resdted in language- based conflict in the schools. Before 1885, English, French and German was used in Ontario schools (Kimpton:9), but after 1885 French language use in schools was restricted. In 19 12,
Regulation 17, still considered to be the worst thing that ever happened to Franco-Ontarians, prohibited the use of French language (both For instruction and communication) in Ontario schools'~ .s conflict led to the institution of ACFEO (Association canadienne-française de I'education en Ontario) and a daily newspaper, Le Droit (Kimpton:9). The clergy still maintained relative importance at this point. and assisted in the dispute over language rights.
Many of the strongest opposing voices to Regulation 17, and the ones wlio fought hardest to have it repealed were clergy (Choquene: 165). Only French schools up to Grade 10 received government hdingand anythng beyond Grade 10 was underwritten by the clergy.
Although Cathoiicism maintained a presence in Ontario fiom the Jesuit missions of 1626, the dominating presence, what Choquene refers to as "a clear case of French Canadian ecclesiasticai imperialism" did not occur until the appearance within Ontario through the agency of Montreal Bishop Ignace Bourget of the French Oblates of Mary Immaculate in
1844 and the Sisters of Charity of Montreal General Hospital (known as the Grey Nuns) in
1845 (1 982: 163). In 1847, a new diocese was ot'ficially constituted in Bytown (Ottawa), and
10 Regulation 17 closed French schools in Ontario fiom 19 1 2 to 1927 (Arnopaulos:2).
50 Joseph Eugène Bruno Guiges, provincial superior of the Oblates, became the first bishop of
~ytown''. By the rnid- 19th century, the Catholic clergy in Ontario were either francophone or fluent in French. under the influence of Bishop Bourget of Montreal, and the legal head of the Canadian church was unofficially the archbishop of Quebec (Choquette: 164). Clencal power within Canada was concemed with the interests of francophones. This ecclesiastical dominancy instituted a struggle between French Catholic clergy, and WASP political and
English Catholic elite, what Amopoulos refers to as a "historical battle against Protestant
Orangemen and Irish-Catholics (1 982: 10). The difficulties culminating in the Regulation
17 crisis stemmed fiom the influx of Quebec French-Catholics from Quebec and Irish-
Catholics fiom Ireland. The Irish-Catholics shifted their allegiance to where they thought the power lay, with the English against Qurbec. Early this century, the Toronto paper ne
Mail wrote that "Russell and Prescon schools are nurseries not merely of an aiien tongue, but of alien customs, of alien sentiments and ... of a wholly alien people" (Amopoulos:59), a good indication of regional sentiment but a condernnation of one of Canada's charter groups.
Though the Catholic Church maintained its dominance through the nineteenth century and early 20th century, developing dong with the increasing population of Ontario which grew fiom 120,000 in 1 819 to 950,000 in 1850 and to over 2,000,000 in 1900, ecclesiastical power
1 I Guiges founded St. Joseph's College in Bytown, now the University of Ottawa (Choquene: 163). eroded due primaril y to the industrialization and urbanization of francophone cornmunities
(Choquette: 164)".
This glance at Franco-Ontarian history is necessary to grasp the historical
nature of the political rnovement towards ethnicity based on language rights. However, the
growth of Franco-Ontarian identity as a political movement gained momentum with the
Oflia! Languages Act of 1969, with the 1980 referendum and with the French Languages
Services Act, and continues to grow with the 1995 referendum.
The development of francophone national self-consciousness has depended
upon the acknowledgement and support of provincial govemments who have been slow to
realize the importance to Canadian society of the growing population of citizens of French origin. This is particularly significant at this historical point because the citizens of francophone ongin no longer emanate solely from diffe~gparts of Canada, but fiom al1
11 The power of the Catholic church grew exponentially in Ontario between 1850 and 1950. C hoquette dctaiis the rise, in time with the increase of population throughout Ontario, as follows:
"three diocese existed in 1850, narnely, Kingston (1 826), Toronto (1841) and Bytom (1 847); the dioceses of Hamilton and London were established in 1856, following by the eievation of Toronto to archdiocese in 1870, the creation of the apostolic vicariate of northem Canada in 1873 and the apostolic vicariate of Pontiac in 1882; Ottawa was made an archdiocese in 1886, and in 1890 the tiny diocese of Alexandna was formed, and the vichate of northem Canada becarne the diocese of Peterborough in 1882; Kingston became an archdioccse in 1890, while the vicariate of Pontiac became the diocese of Pembroke in 1898; the Sault Sainte Marie diocese dates fiom 1904 and the apostolic vicariate of Temiscaming firom 1908...; the apostolic prefecture of Hearst, created in 1919, was made a vicariate in 1920 and a diocese in 1938 (the same year as James Bay); and Thunder Bay and St. Catharines fomed diocese in 1952 and 1958 respectively" ( 1982: 164). over the world. The decisive factor in strengthening ethnic identity is how that group
conceives of itself. The Franco-Ontarian sense of belonging to an ethnic group is somewhat
problernatic given that the movement espouses. by and large. a Canadian francophone
identity, at odds with current immigration trends. A network of agencies and individuals
exists to maintain the shvggle for French language nghts - FFHQ (Fédération des
Francophones hors Québec), ACFO (although ACFO's role has changed), the Comité de
Planification des Services de Langue Française en Ontario. the Commissariat aux Langues
Officielles and members of Parliament (Juteau-Lee:176). ACFO and Conseil des
Organismes Francophones du Toronto Metropolitain (COFTM)are woactive examples of groups that lobby to ensure language rights, ACFO in a more political context and COFTM in a culniral context. In particular, ACFO. up until quite recently has played a major role in maintaining and redefining francophone nghts in Ontario. Beginning in 1910 as the
Association Canadienne-française de I'education en Ontario (ACFEO),ACFO adopted its new broder mandate and name in 1969 and has reinforced its position as an advocate of the best interests of Ontario's 500,000 francophones by strategies involving creating a st~oong
Franco-Ontarian voice to ensure legislated rights with services available to any French speaker. Heller has also pointed out changes to the Franco-Ontarian esprit:
"Over the course of the 1960s. 1970s, and 1980s' severai things happened to Franco-Ontarians in general, and to their education in particuiar. Fim, Franco-Ontarians - in particular, the educated middle class - learned fiom Quebec how to re-orient their goals; they abandoned a strategy of isolation and acceptance of subordination, and adopted a strategy of rnobilization in order to gain access to the francophone identity. This king a chapter of histories, the evolution of terminology begins with the use of the tenn Canadien, to distinguish between French fiom France and from
Canada. Canadien français becarne the term of designation when the British conquered
Canada, and this designation remained in use until the 1960s when a movement to display tenitoriality and poli ticization arose. "French nationalism, beginning in Quebec, caused the
French to begin to consider themselves as nations within existing provincial boundaries"
(Heller 1984:2), thus giving rise to narnes such as Franco-Ontarien, Québécois and more recently, Torontois. The need for a politically neutral term led to the use of francophone, meaning "French speaker", but the problrm is that to different peaons, it will have a different meaning, political or politically nctutral. '' According to Heller, hcophones are
"those who speak French better than they speak any other language, whether or not they consider themselves or are considered to have French identity" (1987b: 183) and in terms of the Canada census reports, hcophones are "defined by the rnother tongue census question,
"what was the language first leamed in childhood and still understood?" (OFA l996:î 1).
This is very significant when reviewing the statistics of who affiliate with the francophone community, there king many French-speaking individuals who are not fiom countries which have, in some way, been touched by French colonialism. Heller also refen to two other designations, one of which is particularly signiticant in Toronto. Francogene means someone
14 It is difficult to enurnerate the designations people had for themsclves because they varicd almost to the person. Quebecker, for someone who left Quebec in the 1970s. Québécois for people who have migrated recently, FranCO-Otltarian for those who have ken born in Ontario, and Franc0-ontaria.n for some who live in Ontario but were not bom here, Ontarois. Saskois. Ouatoais, depending on people's interest in the political rneaning of identity and collective goals with a French background but does not speak French, while francophile refers to someone who is bilingual, a meaning that stretches to include those even passably able to conduct a conversation in French. In Toronto, the nurnber of francophiles has been counted as approximately 10% of the population, a statistic that has begun to impact on the increasing amount of jobs and funding for projects available to the francophone ador bilingual publi~.'~
The final term to consider is Franco-Torontonian, referring, of course, to ail
Francophones, regardless of country of origin. residing in Toronto. This term is laden with meaning, as a means of inclusion, as a means of displaying the regionality of the phenornenon, and of the uniqueness of being part of Toronto's francophone community.
There has been much concem over the use of this term, whether it is too political, whether it is just a designation for ease of reference by the media whether it is too inclusive or too exclusive, but it may prove an effective designation for both political and economic purposes due to the fact that a community of this nature could only develop in a large urban centre like
Toronto, thus lending the designation some validity. Those who do not like the tenn Franco-
Torontonian probably do so for political reasons and prefer the use of francophone, a seemingiy politically-neutd term. According to Jenson, choice of name has great import,
"iduencing the range of strategies available for making daims to the state and in public
1s The issue of naming may appear to be Uiconsequential but has -mat meaning in areas where there are not enough students to warrant French education. (Heller: 1984 - 6) discourse more broadlyt', generating strategic resources, setting discursive boundaries,
locating it in relation to othen and has consequences for routing claims through state
institutions (1 993 :339). Toronto. as a major power centre, should add weight to claims by
Franco-Torontonians. Then again, during the research, some francophones expressed a
desire to not be "labelled", interpreting the use of the newer term as a means of
cornmodification (hence the resistance to the use of the rem in the media). Franco-
Torontonian as a designation may be unpalatable becaw it is too new, but with time the
narne will be granted resonance. Each of these arguments does not stem the importance of
the term as signifying how localized the phenornenon is, and the fact that the community is
evolving. The tem emphasizes the importance of locale and boundary definition to identity
formation, providing a subtle linkage of disparate ethnic groups within the community.
Franco-Torontonian or Torontois - terrns often used interchangeably - identity implies a
localized, hybndized, emergent identity, incorporating a large nurnber of post-colonial
identities.
Changing Denwgraphics
The French military presence in Toronto may have disappeared in 1759, but
French speakers continued to live in Toronto, fmding a place in the administration of the newly founded town of York,'' including some extremely successfùi merchants such as Jean-
16 The name was changed in 1834 to Toronto and at this tirne 30 French families resided in the area (undated TFC handout), Baptise Rousseau. considered the fint businessman of York and whose daughter manied
Joseph Brandt, Laurent Quetton Saint George, successhil merchant who built the first brick
house in York at the corner of King and Fredenck Street in 1807 and Jacques Baby, member
of the Farnily Compact and Inspector General of Upper Canada in 18 15 (Bngnoli: 1O- 12).
Similarly, marks were left on the tom of Toronto by George Theodore Berthon, an artist
who decorated Osgoode Hall Law School library in the rnid-nineteenth century and Mgr. de
Charbo~el,second bishop of Toronto, who was involved in the construction of St. Michael's
Cathedral, college and hospital (Brignoli: 1 3). By 1 887, there were 130 families in Toronto and the parish of "Sacreîoeur", at the juncture of Carlton and Sherbourne Streets was
formed".
Sources of immigration during the period 1850 to 1900 were prirnarily from
Quebec and Acadia Between 1940 and 1960, Toronto's francophone population dou bled to approx. 6 1,000 in 1960 (Bngnoli: 15). The figure for al1 types of French speakers in Toronto now has ken recorded as high as 300,000 (including hcophones and fkncophiles. people whose second language is French, including 10% francophiles and 91,000 in French
If In 1987, to celebrate a centenary of community involvement, Sacre-coeur published a book in the Toronto se Raconte series entitled la Paroisse du Sacre-Coeur, providing a nuniber of pictures, historiai detail and personal feelings about how Un portant Sacre-Coeur has been to Toronto's Acadian population for the last cenrury. Among the persona1 anecdotes is a tale about inviting hockey legend Maurice Richard to Toronto for a soiree in 1957 and Richard being surprised that there were francophones in Toronto and how he would play harder because of the knowlcdge (Trudelle:81). What is signiiïcant about this publication is that the parish was responsible for al1 aspects of everyday life - education and social activity (plays, music, dances, hockey team) as well as religious instruction. The parish really did provide, and to this day still has many programs in place for, a focal point for the Torontois. This may be why many of the associations, both in the govenunent and private sector have developed fiom members of Sacre-coeur. immersion programs) (se Schedule A for a listing of hcophone population by country of ongin)".
The office of the Commissioner of Official Languages19answers the question of why there are two official languages in Canada very simply - because of Canada's history
(~reen:664)."Canada as a histoncally and constitutionally bilinguai country has produced legislation that, although ideologically flawed, provides a fairly sound infrastmcture into which new arrivals can settle. How Toronto has become a hub is a result of changes to immigration policy. Canada's aging population pyramid and Iow replacement birth rates mate a dependence on immigrants to maintain population growth (Fleuras:61), a fact that is reflected within the francophone community. for as the factors noted above, coupled with assimilation and language shift, the Franco-Torontonian community is reproducing itself
The actual number of hcophones in Toronto is problematic for a number of reasons. According to the Toronto French Committee, Statistics Canada figures do not include the following groups of francophones: people with refiigee statu, those who fear or forget to declare French as fmt official language spoken, those who have migrated inter-regionally and complexly, meaning a French person coming hmFrance who does not know how to speak French. A Merfactor is the large number of people who go through the immersion programs, or who have becorne bilingual, but are not reflected as francophones for statistical purposes. It is aIso important to differentiate between the City of Toronto and Metropolitan Toronto, the number for the City of Toronto king much higher due to the larger numbers of ~cophonesin the suburbs (TFC l996:8-10).
According to Norman Labrie of OISE, the Commissioner is "responsible for taking the necessary memures to ensure the recognition of both officia1 languages; he must also see to it that the federal institutions fulfiI their obligations regarding the promotion of the two languages. Furthemore, he plays the role of ombudsman because hre receives cornplaints fiom citizens concerning the enforcernent of the lawn (1 9902 1).
As well as Canada, which has as its IWO officiai languages the two most prominent lingua franca, French and English are official languages in Cameroon, Vanuatu, Seychelles and Mauritius (Laponce:87) through the arrival of immigrants who reflect a mixture of charter languages and multicultural ethni~ities.~'By definition, multiculturalism as a valuable political tool is "a political doctrine that officially promotes cultural differences as an intrinsic component of the social, political, and moral order" (Flew:63). As such, "[iJndividuals are allowed the nght to voluntarily affiliate with the cultural tradition of their choice without fear of discrimination or exclusiont' (Fleuras:63). Essentially, immigration has not deconstmcted the fabric of Canadian society, but developed a new weave. The cornmunity may not be shrinking, but it is changing. According to Elliot and Fleuras, "[elthnic minorities continue to reside in large urban concentrations. Both in absolute nurnben and in percentage ternis,
Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver are more diverse than their respective provinces or the national average ... Just under 1.5 million of chose who reported ethnic ongins other than
French or English live in Toronto ...with Toronto's total standing at 48% its entire population"
(199059). Futher, "[rlegional and municipal variations in ethnic composition are noticeable. Ontario, with 4 million memben of ethnic minorities, is home for the largest number of people with non-British. non-French origins. It is followed by B.C. and Alberta with just over 1.5 million each, and Quebec with just under 1 million" (Elliot and
Fleuras: 59).
:I It is important to keep in mind that multiculturalist policies and the rise of a hcophone identity profile throughout Canada has occurred in the last 30 years. %lulticulturalistpolicy has developed as a "by pduaof the French-English conflict. Some ethnic minortttes saw the appointment in 1963 of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Bicu lniralism as a rtep toward the establishment of officiai cultures in Cuthe 'rnulticulnrralism' movement was rn etfort IO forestal1 this possibility".(Reitz and Breton: 10). As well as inmigration fkom Quebec and the Acadian regions, francophone immigration has occurred, particularly in the last two decades, from throughout the world, for a complex variety of reasons, causing Franco-Toronto to develop a diversity and richness related to the concept of la hcophonie. The Toronto French Cornmittee reports that within the City of Toronto, nearly one of two francophones are bom outside of Canada, this figure dropping to one out of three within Metro (1 9963). TFC figures from 1996 state that the largest numbers of francophone immigrants to the Toronto area corne fiom France (2,263),
Morocco (1,000), Italy (988), Lebanon (980) and Portugal (905) (TFC 1996:8)." In the
1970s, immigrants arrived fiom Vietnam and Lebanon, followed in the 1980s by immigrants from Quebec, many of whom were ~aitian." Within the last decade, particularly in the
1990s, Francophone immigrants have arriveci from a number of countries in Afnca, from
Djibuti, Zaire, Burundi, Algena, Cote-d'Ivoire and from Senegal to name but a few, and they constitute the fastest growing segment of ~rmco- oro ont o." It is clear that additions to the francophone community are allowed entrance solely on the bais of the fact that they are
3 Census figures are extremely problematic and are offered rnerely to illustrate the picture of global diversity; census figures do not inchde those w ith refugee status, inter-regional migration and those who, although they usc French services in the area do not designate themselves as hcophones (TC l996:9).
13 HelIer has raised the issue ofwho the Québtkots migrating to Toronto are. We only know that they are kom Quebec, not their country of origin.
:J Please see Schedule A for a chart of community members that appears in the Toronto French Cornmittee's 1996 report and the joint Centre Francophone-TFC report Un Apercu des Nouveata Arriwants, taken fiom the 199 1 census report. French speaking? To dev-lop this picture of change and inclusion more clearly, the 199 1 census report can be compared to a map of Francophonie and the client files of Centre
Francophone. Many individuals who are included in the census listing and client files are immigrants From countries that may not be known as francophone, for instance, from
Roumania, Poland or Iran. Numbers are very important to ensure and legitimate services and French-speaking members, despite their ethnic background, are welcomed to the
~0mmunity.~~
In light of the matenal presented in this chapter, it is clear that the Torontl are not an ethnic cornmunity in the classical sense of the term, that is a cornrnunity of people of like ongin bounded by cultural and physical similarities. Some flexibility is necessary in the definition of ethnicity when explaining a cornmunity such as the Torontois, who, situated in a major urban centre, have been affected by transnational phenornenon. However, the emphasis throughout this thesis and particularly in the following chapter is how significant language is to the formation and maintenance of ethnic identity and the political significance of being a hcophone in Canada Toronto's hcophone cornmunity is not just a language grouping. It is an ethnic group within which a sense of ethnicity is developed through a
3 PIease see Schedule B for a helpful listing =Inna: 2 - Langues avant d'arriver au Canaab, found in Un Apercu.
26 This pini, though evident in the material provided by govemment and Toronto based hcophone agencies, is considered contentious. The question of numbers is not a level playing field and it has been suggested that immigrants are only allowed into schools when numbers are réquired, not necessarily when francophone immigrants want to be allowed access to schools. This will be dealt with in Chapter 6. desire to belong, as in the imagined community, along with a belief in cornmon descent.
Keyes makes the point that descent cm be understood as cultural, rather than strictly genealogical and it can be argued that the critena of primordiality is met insofar as al1 francophones have cornmon descent because they are al1 histoncally subjected to colonization by France ( 1976: 206). In this sense, when language identifies a minority group, it has a higher value to an individual, treated as a more primordial commodity that ties disparate, Iike-speaking groups together to a sense of community. The dificulties faced by francophones in Toronto stem mainiy from the nurnber of countrîes of origin, resulting in a clash between Franco-Ontarian identity and the emergent transnational, Torontois identity.
Country of origin has become the aspect of ethnicity afforded too much weight, providing a means of exclusion, when far more emphasis should be placed on the cultural expenence of colonization as represented by language, the stronger aspect of ethnicity and a rnie cnteria of inclusion. The underlying question always remains. Why go to the trouble of maintaining minonty language nghts? Would it not just be easier to assimilate? Attempts to assimilate French speakers have been going on since 1791 and have by and large failed with francophone comrnunities in existence throughout Canada. Issues surrounding language policy are significant to Franco-Torontonians who have rnanaged to, with great energy and singleness of purpose, create avenues for speaking French within a large multicuIturai city.
Canadian language policies represent to immigrant francophones, "the right to exist as an ethno-cultural ethnicity with the protection of law and with governrnent authority and support" (Denis: 148). Language has undoubtedly ken a defining characteristic throughout history.' Does language provide an ethnic boundary of enough strength to withstand the pressures of rninoritization. The answer is yes, borne out by the whole of Canadian linguistic history .
I Fisiunan cites a nurnber of historical examples of the significance of language to ethnic identity: "The vemacular ahfigureci as a symbolic rallying cry (among several others of a religious nature) in most of the premodem European efforts at broader sociocultural integration beginning with the Arab invasion of the ManPeriinnila Thus, under theu military leader Jan Zizka, the Hussites went into battie in 1420 with the [Catholic] Holy Roman Emperor and his allies in order "to Iiberate the tmth of the Law of God and the Saints, and to protect the faithfui believers of the Church, and the Czech and Slavonic languagesn (cited by Kohn 1944, p. 1 1 1).
At similady early dates the Catholic Churches of various countries recognired language as a naturd indicator of nationality. ... Such examples cm be multiplied ahost without end both hmeven earlier pendas well as hmafter the Refomation, when language became an increasingiy common referent in conjunction with minority efforts to differentiate between recognized States and unrecognized nationalities" (1W2a: pg. 125- 126). The key to undestanding the persistence of language choice is rudimentary, yet the phenornenon is most cornplex. Language is central to an individual sense of being.'
This chapter explores several issues at the heart of language debate in Canada. The importance of language to identity and culture, the constitutionality of language rights and the significance of the diglossic relationship between French and English are keys that provide a backdrop to the confusing battleground of francophone language nghts and, to a certain extent, of heritage languages throughout Canada. Each issue intertwines with and is dependent upon the other. For instance, the constitutionality of language policy in Canada is contingent upon an understanding of the diglossic relationship, that is, the linguistic manner of describing language issues within an imbdanced power structure of French to
English, and on how fundamental languagr is perceived to be to identity. Diglossia has ken perceived to refer to the relationship betwecn forms of the same language (such as high and low German), but has been redefined and broadened to refer to both the syrnbiotic relationship between languages generally. in this case between English and French, and also ro refer to the relationship of different foms of French, for example Ahcan and Canadian
French, concepts extremely significant to understanding language within the Canadian contea. The concept of di and trigiossia will be treated in more detail below. Adversely,
During an interview with a member of Centre Francophone's cultural department, 1 enquired why my informant did not wok within the much larger English culture induse. rather than the French industry which is plagued by small budgets that are dependent u pon the sentiments of politicians, little funding hmthe public sector and a small but extremely divenified fan base that is virtuafly impossible to reach by advertisernent She made it cIear that she had t~.There was no question. This wornan felt she had to work in French despite setbacks. Rather than look for oppominities to speak French, she had her creatcd daily activity (both her job and social life) smctly in French and had to actively seek out opportunities to speak English. misunderstanding of these factors creates problematic policies ihat have historically ken part
of Canadian language policy.
Language = Ethnicity = Identity
1s it possible to express clearly the most central tenets of one's being? How
can questions conceming who we are be answered? One of the answers, at its most
sirnplistic, is through language, but even this answer implies a choice. How does, if at dl, expression in a specific language effect the way one sees the world, either on a material level or on a conceptual level and do different languages fùndamentally shape who individuals are? The Supreme Court in the 1985 case Reference re Manitoba Language Rights took a surprisingly enlightened and somewhat unusual as far as Canadian language decisions goes, approach to the rights of Franco-Manitobans to language choice:
"Language is so intimateiy related to the form and content of expression that there cannot be tme kedom of expression by means of language if one is prohibited fiom using the language of one's choice. Language is not merely a means or medium of expression; it colours the content and meaning of expression. It is, as the preamble of the Charter of the French Language indicates, a means hy which a people may express its cultural identity. It is also the means by which the individual expresses his or her personal identity and a sense of individuality." (Cook: 1 5 7)
Which language we choose to use is a composite of many factors, including family, where one is raiseci, residual effects of colonialism. and there may be a game plan involved as, for instance, when anglophones ensure that their children becorne fluently bilingual in order to increase social and economic potential. Further, that the above-stated decision relied on the
Charter illustrates the significant role the state has in defining the significance of language to identity. Mother tongue, the language spoken as a child custornarily marks a sense of identity.' The centrality of language to identity is unquestionable, and with increasing fiequency as a by-product of globalization, one of the ways of expressing a sense of self and of rootedness is through ethnicity, implied by choice of language. Language underlines the dictates of ethnicity and within Toronto's Francophone community, isolation of new arrivais would prove counterproductive. Modest phrases such as "1 am Canadian" or "1 am a
Francophone" involve layers of meaning that invoke a sense of how the self is understood in relationship to othen, Le. how you identify yourselt In a Canadian context, there is a good chance that a sense of identity stems from an imposed relationship between French and
English, a reference to the flawed concept of two founding nations that is force-fed to
Canadians through al1 avenues of communication, invoking a sense of boundaries.' The
1 This is not meof everyone. Some interviewees are bom anglophone but choose to identify witti the francophone community for a variety of reasons such as marriage, job potentiai or simply because they prefer French culture.
.I The concept of two founding nations has been criticized from an English perspective due to an acceptance that there arc many languages spoken in multicultural Canada, but it has not been attacked with such vigour kom a French point of view. The stand-off beween English and French has metamorphoseci into a stand-off between multicultures and French. Taylor believes that the problem with the two nations concept is that it is viewed as "an attempt by French Canadians to foist a symmeUicai identity on their partners. ... But there was a basic demand that could be separated from this presumptuous defmition of the other. This was the demand that la nation canadienne-fiançaise be recognized as a crucial component of the country, as an entity whose survival and flourishing was one of the main purposes of Canada as a political society" ( 1993: 170). Yet the material presented in Chapter 3 esmbhhes that this standpoint is incorrect. Canadian hcophones, within and without Quebec, are an ethnically diverse mix, a point that should, and probably will, have constitutional implications for language policy. Relatively recent proposed legislation such as the ill-fated Meech Lake Accord criticized the concept of two founding nations. primary marker of Canadian ethnicity is. and has been historically, language, aithough the referent of French with Catholicisrn and Engiish with Protestantism has ken undermined for the most part due to immigration. Other than First Nations, Québécois and French
Canadians, most Canadians do identiQ themselves as Canadians (Laponce:82), implying that languages other than English provide a more important means of establishing identity and ethnicity. Green States that "[wlith increased modernization and secularization little else divides, for example, French and English Canadians, so that language becomes more and not less important as an expression of identity" (1987:659) and it can be added that politics and the divisions created by how the state is perceived through census material has had no less impact on creating a broadening sense of difference. This introduces the possibility that when language identifies a rninority group, it has a higher value to an individual, treated as a more primordial commodity that ties disparate. like-speaking groups together to a sense of community.
How Franco-Torontonian society is changing is fundamental to the relationship of language, as the most significant aspect of ethnicity, to the construction of identity, given the large number of minonty peoples involved. Language provides, for al1
French speakers, a way of "establishing the social ties and the participation in social activities that underlie enûy to a social network. It is thus cenaai to any understanding of the processes of inclusion and exclusion that constitute the maintenance or change of the throughout the globe, drawing French-Canadians closer to the spirit of francophonie and to an accornpanying culhual florescence, thus redefhing what it means to be French in Toronto and in Ontario.
The importance of language to identity refers to both intercultural communication and intraculturai communication as a means of exclusion as weil as of inclusion. Consider, for example, the position of francophiles within the community. That the strength of language provides a cohesive element is reinforced by considering francophiles (anglophones with a high Ievel of bilingualism), who share languge that allows rnembership to the community, to educcttion and employment oppomuiities that are earmarked for hcophones, providing an obstacle where a srnail-scale resource base exists.
Francophiles are only as penpheral to francophone identity as their language ability makes them. Fluent members are included, those who struggle do not truiy reach past the invisible boundary. Identity is further complicated by the fact that approximately 95% of francophones are biiingual, but this does not advenely affect identity. Bilingualism creates bilingual hcophones, but as the ability to speak French increases in value in Canada, due to increased availability of jobs, it has created an expanded pool fiom which employment opprtunities cm be filled. Indeed, as noted in C hapter 3, at least 10% of the population of
Toronto is bilingual, with 9 1,000 in French immersion programs. niough New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province, these tigures imply that Ontario takes the ability to speak French quite seriously, a fact, however. that has not translated into a proliferation of French services and oppomuiities. The implementation of the French Lunguoge Services
Act has been slow and in part, unhelpful. Monica Heller has referred to the changing economic role of French in Canada, how in order to ensure greater opportunities in the workplace, families are enrolling their children in school and francophiles are filling some bilingual jobs. This is a controversial issue because, although there are more jobs being created, opportunities are not being created solely for francophones, a problem primarily because many positions are filled with French speakers who are much less than fl~ent.~
Many people interviewed related similar siories, particularly conceming government services, like the recurrent "I'm sony, the person to whom you should be speaking is away fiom her desk (never. of course, to remagain because he/she doesn't exist). May I help you?", or the equally engaging stones of supposedly bilingual governrnent employees that, when engaged in conversation with a "real" francophone, speak so poorly that it just is not worth the effort for the francophone to continue to converse. Both parties switch to English because francophones cm do that. This has been a continuous problem despite the legal nght under Bill C-8 of bilingual access to certain services. Faimess aside, most hcophones speak much better English than many francophiles speak French. ïhis
O 1 occasionally watch the Toronto-based tv senes Due South both for its quirky Canadianness and for its view of how we, as Canadians, look to those outside our culture. An episode this surnmer stnick a resonant chord within me, fïxmly ensconced in rny worm's eye view of hcophones in Toronto. The bnef scene, as 1 rernember iî, involved Constable Benton Fraser and his American sidekick Detective Vecchio who are searching for someone and enter what appears to be a Canadian Embassy (though shot in Toronto, the city is supposedly Chicago) and an attractive receptionisî, sitting nem to a Canadian flag, menthe phone "HelloAonjour". The voice on the other end supposedly asks her something in French because shc politely responds, "I'm soy. 1 don? speak French". I found this amusing because it was so aue to the experience of being French in Canada outside of Quebec. has been the story of the availability of French language services in Ontario, but, as will be descnbed more fully in the next chapter, there are organizatiow that are attempting to modih the situation. For instance, on severai occasions, the author has spoken with the extremely helpful French mslator at Toronto City Hall, to whom dl French speakers, requests for information and assorted francophone dealings are routed. City Hall appears to have been making some attempts to provide services for francophones in Toronto.
Constirutionaliîy
Realization of Trudeau's vision of rights for al1 Canadian francophones is contingent upon language policy,' the profile of which is expanding due to the volatility of
Quebec politics and the perceived importance of language policy and linguistic homogeneity as significant to nation building (Cook: 152)' Canada has attempted, since 179 1, to regulate language policy and to preserve language rights with varying degrees of success. Ln fact, linguistic and religious minority rights "were the only ones entrenched in the British North herica Act that lefi the usual civil liberties to the protection of common law and party politics" (Green:639). As of the 179 1 constitution that established Lower and Upper Canada,
English was accepted as the sole language and French speakers were to be assimilated
7 In Canada language rights apply specifically to minority language rights. a There are some people who believe that francophones should not have any language rights at all. Comments such as "well, they lost the wu" are meant to imply that Canada should be unilingual. When 1 ask people which war they are teferring to, very few people know the name, or any of the specifics (FrenchEnglish conflict in 1759 - Bank of the Plains of Abraham during the War of Independence). (Cook: 151). A brief look at language policy involves oscillation back and forth fiom unilingualism, which was by and large ignored, to bilingualism, but language rights in
Canada, despite constitutionality, have provided an endless defensive struggle. Lord
Durham's report of 1839, which contains the famous remark that he "expected to find a contest between a government and a people: 1 found two nations warring in the bosom of a single state: Ifound a ~ggle.not of principle, but of races" (Craig: 22-23), is considered the "first systernatic statement of language policy in Canada, one that had no legitimate successor until the 1960s and 1970s produced the Report on the Royal Commission on
Bilingualism und Binrlrurolism ( 1965-7 1 ). the rapport de la Commission d 'enquêtesur la situation de la langue fiançaise et sur les droits linguistiques au Québec (1972) (the
Gendron Commission), the Quebec White Paper on language, and its feded counterpart,
To wards a National Understanding ( 19 77)" (Cook: 15 1). The 1867 British North America
Act constitutionally and officially recognized both French and English, but histoncal dichotomies between the English and French, rural and urban, Protestant and Catholic and oid and new have continued for over two hundred years. Language rights are enmnched and it should be part of govemment agenda to ensure that individuais are not discriminated against on the basis of their language (Green:660). Drawing on the matenal presented above, it is clear that Canadian language policy has been developed without consideration of how significant language is to culture and identity. The enforcement of language rights has, according to Green, been challenging because the right to language choice is fundamental, at the core of legal rights (1987:647). Language policy has, according to Ramsay Cook, "ken an attempt to answer the question: who has the nght to use what language, when, and where?" (1 995: 150). with little consideration of the sociologicai/psychological aspectr of language. Cook points out that:
"two distinct philosophies designed to achieve different goals have been implemented. There is a federal policy of official bilingualism foxmulated in the Official Languages Act and enshrined in sections 16-22 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It has been adopted by New Brunswick and to a Iesser extent Ontario and Manitoba Then there is the Quebec policy of modified unilingualism followed by or, more accurately, preceded by the other six provinces. To that mix is added a cornmitment, stated in both the Charter of Rights and the Charter of the French Language, to multiculturalism, a commiûnent that has a whole range of largely unexamineci implications for language policy, especially in education (1995:l58)."
One of the potential downsides of there being a strong govemmental infrastructure is that constitutional language rights are a way of the govemment regulating culture and defining ethnic identity; however, with ail this constitutionality in place, ii is still dificult for francophones to acquire enough services and avaiiability of education.
Laponce suggests that the problem of availability of sewices stems from the inability of the French to accept the fact that French language rights are equai to Engiish rights constitutionaily, but not sociologically (Laponce:85). This point does not answer the question, merely underscoring the notion that dthough iùndamentaî to identity, language rights in Canada, though historically and politically entrenched and strongiy constitutionalized, rernain problematic. The Charter of Rights reflects the importance of language ights. occupying sections 16-22 on official language rights, section 23 on minority language education nghts, section 14 (nght to an interpreter in triais) and section 27
(preservation of mdticulhiral heritage) (Green:639). According to Patrick Monahan, section
23. which ailows for the creation of francophone schools where numbers wmtand entitling both French Canadians and immigrants to schooling, provides an incentive to francophone immigrants who do not wish to settle in Quebec due to the lack of availability of English language schooling. This is having a profound affect on cornpanies, particuiarly in the high tech industxy, where engineers and technicians fiom the United States are refusing to immigrate to Quebec due to the lack of schooling for their children. The option to choose is significant and many French speakers end up in Toronto where educational policies are less sîrident. As language policies and state intervention become more significant, questions of how significant language is to identity are more significant as they have legal weight on how policy is developed.
Digfossia
The fihal aspect of this bnef discussion of Canadian linguistic culture, dehed by Schiffiman as the "set of behaviours. beliefs. attitudes, and histoncal circurnstances associated with a particular language" ( 1993: 120). is the significance of the concept of digiouia to, and how it effects, the ability to maintain language. Diglossia is the relationship of one language to another, defhed by Laponce ris fol lows : " [i ] f, ... it happens that the two languages specialize their fùnctions to the point that they are not able to act as substitutes to
one anothet, or at least not effective or desirable substitutes, then the relation between the
ONO becornes diglossic" (83). This has an effect on both language policy and how language
is rnaintained throughout the system and could provide a means of protecting language rights.
Diglossia refen to the relationship between H - high variety and L - low variety language -
translating into a relationship between French and English language and between French and
Canadian French (or, potentially French spoken by immigrants and French spoken by
Canadians) (also refemd to as genetic and non-genetic or classical and extended diglossia).
In fact, the relationship of English and French is not diglossic but triglossic, based on the fact that English and French are both H varieties and L varieties (Schifian:141). Diglossia is so important to understanding Canadian language and policy because it defines the relationship between French and English. "Diglossic situations tend to be unstable, ... and that their lack of stability is due to an irnbalance of power between the two (or more) varieties of a language that constitute the diglossic cornplex. Furthemore, ... this instability and imbaiance of power often lead to language shifi" (Schihan" 1 15). Representative of an irnbalance of power, diglossia in a Canadian context is marked by a complexity of relationships, rnirroring issues nirrounding minorityimajority power balances. Monica Heller presents an example of the triglossic relationship of French to French and to English in a discussion of Toronto fiench school, L'ecole Champlain:
"This was a smaller class made up (with one or two exceptions) of two distinct groups: (a) recently anived Somali-speaking students, usuall y referred to in the SChoo 1 as les Somaliens, placed there because it was felt that their mastery of (especially written) French was inadequate since French was their second or third language, and because they had not followed a curriculum sufficiently similar to that of Canadian schools; and (b) White working-class students of Canadian French ongin who nonetheless prefened English over French, and who had a history of poor grades. ... One day, while she was getting the class ready for some exposés oraux, she turned to one group of Somali-speaking students and said, Aujourd'hui vous pmler en fiancuis ... (to which one of the students replied simply O@, je vais parier en JS.ancais." (1 995:39 1).
Heller details the complex relationship within the classroom between the French students, who feel that the Somali students do not speak as well as they and who would rather speak
English Tay,and the young teacher who feels that the French-only nom does not reflect reality and provides a certain leeway for code switching, in an effort to focus on "putting language back into context-on linking it to students' lived experience" (1995: 393), preparing her students for the job world, not the unredistic monolingual world as fostered by Franco-Ontarian education.
Diglossia rnay provide a means of maintaining French language throughout
Canada, particularly outside of Quebec, by stemming assimilation through strategic implementation. Schiffman believes that al1 kinds of protection (legal, judicial or administrative) are doubly important when the minority language is itself in a diglossic relationship, as French is throughout Canada ( 1993: 1 1 8). "French in the Anglophone provinces can best survive in a diglossic relationship with English by giving the communities concerne& either at the provincial or at the federal level, control over separate schools and universities" (Laponce:87). To a certain extent, this control has been granted in Ontario through French school boards. For francophones outside Quebec, the acceptance of a diglossic relationship takes the form of development of a stronger infirastructue, yet Laponce believes francophones "psychoiogicaIly" unwilling to settle for a diglossic statu, hoping to opt for a mie, however untenable, two founding nations stance. If Laponce's understanding of the diglossic relationship is correct, developrnent of a strategy will benefit minority language communities throughout Canada. Accordingly,
"[a]ccepting a diglossic relationship has the advantage of orienting the sunival strategy to the areas of activity that can be operated successfblly in French alone. That excludes the field of business as envisaged at one time by the Association desfrnncophones hors Quebec; it excludes politics also; and increasingly religion as well. Remain the schools and the family. For what purpose? Here the Francophones outside Quebec have an advantage over the Aboriginal cornmunities since the maintenance of their language does not simply anchor an ethnic identity, it also links them to Quebec and to the world-wide Francophonie." (Laponce: 85).
This strategy seems to overlook the fact that the last two decades of prime ministers have been Québécois. It also overlooks the forward movement within the arts and academic networks and the strengthening of francophone identity throughout Ontario. Laponce's strategy does not take into consideration what may be the mon signüicant development within Toronto's kcophone community - the arriva1 of hcophone immigrants.
Realization of this fact, coupled with refmed infiastructural strategies, will emeFrench language rights in Canada. Although immigration nurnbers ebb and flow, due to histoncal global French presence, immigrants will dways be willing to join the existent francophone cornmunities,
The basis of successful language policy for hcophones relies on both a revised comprehension within Canadian legislation of the centrality of language to identity and a strategy developed to enhance the diglossie relationships of French and English. These factors are only significant if the changing demographic is realized and integrated. What better way to close this chapter than with another eioquent quotation fiom the Reference re
Manitoba Language Rights case of 1985 that underscores the significance of language to identity construction and to policy:
"the importance of language rights is grounded in the essential role that language plays in human existence, development and dignity. It is through language that we are able to form concepts; to structure and order the world around us. Language bridges the gap between isolation and community, ailowing humans to delineate the nghts and duties they hold in respect of one another, and thus to live in society" (Cook: 150). Introduction
How cultural events and organizations have been developed or redeveloped to reflect Toronto's changing Francophone milieu is the focus of this thesis. The evolution of Franco-Torontonian society cm be documented by the study of its culture within the last decade. Michel Vastel's January 26, 1989 comment in Le Devoir (Montreal) that Toronto is a "cultural desert", does an injustice to the many memben of the arts comrnunity stnving to develop social histoiy and memory (Denis: 168). Without significant population nurnbers and geographical concentration, there are limited avenues available to rninority groups to rnaintain their language. One of the ways Franco-Toronto has evolved to deai with the problem of cultural assimilation is to mobilize by creating new, unique modes of self- articulation. As less French is spoken at home, the new forums become doubly important in the struggle to maintain a language cornmunity. An off-shoot of language issues, cultural events are only part of an elaborate institutional structure for language maintenance.
The materid presented below, the buk of which was collected by attending events and inte~ewingparticipants and/or individuals involved in organization and administration (those involved in creating the oppominities), benef its From interpretation as pari of the creation of a cultural history within which people look forward to the brief moments of cultural activity where they cm Men, interact, shop, present new ideas and
belong to a community, the annualized parts of the calendar warranting consideration as
modem-day ntuals. ' It demands interpretation within the rather complex Eramework set out
in the previous chapters - of the influence of the city,' the unique linguistic relationship of
English and French in Canada, the centrality of language to culture and ethnicity, and the
lengthy and consistent1y evolving history of francophones in Toronto. The generaî approach
adopted is akin to Emest Gellner's belief as stated in the 1964 volume Thought and Change
and cited in Fishman's Languuge und Nufionalism, that "in simple societies culture is
important, but its importance resides in the fact that it reinforces structure. In modem
societies, culture does not so much underline structure; rather, it replaces it" (1972a:90).
This phrase means, in a francophone context, that as the basic societal structures such as
church and family are broken down and less French is being spoken at home, opportunities outside of the home to maintain and advance language are developing.' According to
Fishman, "[ilt is a characteristic of the newiy rich to supply their own ancestors" (1 972b:2 1).
1 During the interviews f attcmpted to look at various questions such as who francophone culture is being made by and for, how is it fundeci, and the centrality of culture to identity. The most elusive questions involveci irying to discover why these avenues are important to people. Most francophones interpret the "why speak Frenchn question as philosophical, defying a concrete answer. "There is no question, I just have to speak French", as an answer led me to believe 1 was questioning the centrai facets of king, lcading me to believe that within the highly politicizcd, conflictual relationship of French and Engiish in Canada, language has become, for many Francophones, the central focus of modern life. i Toronto as a culturai and financial centre is probably the most signifiant factor in the development of the evolving multicultural hcophone population.
1 Fishman's approach to language and ethnocultural nationalisrn. that nationalism can be ethnocultural as well as political but does not have to be both simultaneously, is extremely important to understanding the ethnogcnesis of francophone identity outside of Quebec. This is what cultural events are forging for the emerging Franco-Torontonian culture, providing both legitirnation and a sense of history and comrnunity to an othenvise disparate group of individuals.'
A significant aspect of this matend is the importance of networking, how different organizations work together to create and maintain culturai identity and to assist in fundraising.' It is, however, impossible to enurnerate al1 the networking going on due to the density and personal comrnitrnent of a core group of individuals. Conceiving of a
"francophone network" as a whole is akin to Appadurai's notion of culture as a fractaL6
4 1 have received some tesistance to my notion of the significance of cultu to language maintenance. The prevalent assumption is that politics and the governmental organizations are more important to maintainhg language rights. But after a pIatforrn has becn dtveloped hmwhich to make gains, then the significance of culture becomes more meaningful as it applies to people. After the playing field is created, people have to be attracted to corne and play. This is what culture does, it invites people to participate. A circular relationship does, cvidently, exist between events and organizations and it rnay be the case that Çancophones could not achieve their goals without the lobbying organizations, but the events create the identifiability and a sense of community. For only a small part of the population does being a francophone mean political involvement. Far more people take the opportunitics to go to a film, or theatre or one of the festivals as a means of networking with other francophones.
5 A reminder of how important a strong relationship with the governrnent is to associations in need of public funding, many of the organizations interviewed, such as ThCiitre Française and Centre Francophone, spend an enonous amount of time searching for ptmoney to develop prograrns. Many of Centre Francophone's ethnocultural programs have ken cancelled due to insufficient funding since the last change of govemment. The goodwill of the rnid- 1980s that resulted in an enhanced profile for hcophones has been replaced by grappling with numerous other organizations for scarce Fun&. The comment has ken made that. prr capta. francophone projects get much more funding than other groups, but this comment could not be substantiated.
5 Over the course of my fieldwork 1 spoke with man? people who have been involved in a nurnber of organizations as their part in maintainhg language oppominities. For exmple, one woman 1 spoke with was part of the Toronto French Cornmittee. helps with al1 of the major cultural events, is a member of the Filles d'Isabelle (the female version of the Knighis oîColurnbus) and is very active wiîh disabled groups. Another woman is active in Societe d'histoire. Femmes d'affaires Francophone and Club Richelieu. Many of the people 1 spoke with became in\ ohcd in the political or quasi-political While it is impossible to follow the entire system of networks, it is important to realize that it exists and that the sum of the nurnerous parts is a sense of community for Franco-
Torontonians. Within the grid of networks that represent Torontois culture, of institutions
(government, education, etc.) within which pockets of culture are discretely placed - can be found, to name only the most evident, an arts network, a business network, a woman's network - al1 intersecting at a point called cornrnunity. The aims of these newly created cultural initiatives are twofold - to help francophones maintain their culture and to create arenas through which they cm comrnunicate by providing opportunities for social mobilization.' There is no question about the significance of cultural expression to language maintenance. According to Taylor:
"languagesand cultures are going concerns only to the extent that they are continually re-created through expression, be it through works of art, public institutions, or just everyday exchange. Keeping a language healthy involves giving it scope for expression. So if we have a right that the conditions of ou. identity be respected. and if these conditions are primarily concemed with the health of our naWlanguage, and if these depend on its expressive power and hence also opportunity, then we have a right that our language be accorded scope for expression. This is what lies behind one of the most insistent demands o € our contemporary debate, for what are called collective language rights" ( 1993 : 49).
organizations as a result of being involved in the Francophone educationa1 system.
7 At certain events, such as the Salon du Livre and rvents hosted by the Sociétt! des ecrivains, most of the people involved knew one another, providing an opportunity for people to meet and greet those they have not seen for a whiIe. As well as creating a forum for the presentation of product and dissemination of information, cdture provides opporninities to socialize, and it is important to realize that the social aspects of culture should not be trivialized. Locating comrnunity culhual events in Toronto cm prove an arduous task.
With certain keys to the location of culture, through mass media, L'Express, Métro-Counier,
Canon,' TFO, CJBC and the cable station TV5 (Quebec/Canada/France), even if you search continuously for events, many would remain elusive, particularly if they occur within the discrete parts of the ~ommunity.~Undoubtedly, each sector of the Franco-Torontonian community has its own festivals and events that are impossible to Iocate unless you are part of that small, tightly-knit subgroup."' This chapter will descnbe some of the more obvious instances of the hcophone social calendar. There are numerous culturai genres represented by Franco-Torontonians, many of which will be related below. However, as a starting point, a cultural event that captures the unique sense of Franco-Torontonian life, of the diversification and the subtie contest between the old and the new, is presented.
A cultural event occurred on March 22, 1997 that displayed a nurnber of themes that are being considered in this paper, themes that are reflective of the emergence
8 Canora is a montMy "journal des Canadiens et Canadiennes d'origine akcaine antillaise et asiatique".
9 For example, there is a Zairean church service in Scarboro that attracts approximately 70 Zakans, at which a rnixturr of Frencn and Zairean, music, dance and religion are melded in a religious setting. Without a comection to the Zairean subgroup, this unique church service would be impossible to locate. The service may be unique, but it is the suspicion of the author that the existence of such personalized expressions of culture are not unusuai toToronto.
IO During an inte~ewabout her relationship with Société des ecrivains, Professor Roseanne Runte of Victoria College toîd me about attendhg a festival in Toronto with 1,500 French-speakhg Egyptians. Two questions spring to mind: how is information about events of this nature located - does one require community affiliation, and how does this type of information get translated by Statistics Canada. of a "Torontois" identity.'l Since 1988, March 20 has been the date to celebrate la Journée
Mondiale de la Francophonie, an oppominity for the 49 co~ntries*~where France has left a cultural stamp to celebrate the commonality of French culture." For the first time, on
Sa~day,Mach 22, 1997, although not the first time in Toronto, there having ken previous celebrations within the school system, to celebrate the finale of la Semaine Nationale de la
Francophonie, the Consulat Général de France in Toronto staged a soirée at the Arts and
Lettea Club on EhStreet, an evening of amateur and professionai cultuml activity with the aim of capturing the unique character of Toronto's francophone comrnunity through the spirit of la francophonie." Sponsored by the Consulates of France, Rornania, Côte-d'Ivoire, Haiti and Rwanda, but produced solely by the French Cultural Service, the program was hosted by prominent francophone media penonalities fiom CJBC and TF0 who punctuated the performance with questions and facts about the number of francophones globally, the number of francophones in Canada, Ontario, Toronto and the importance of celebrating French culture. An Appel a Participation placed on a resource table at a Société des écrivains
II The references to Torontois have primarily appeared in literary sources and media to denote a renewcd, politicized, cultural expression. A new term, it has not yet been wholly adopted into the rnainstream of cultural discourse.
IZ This figure is drawn from the material produced by the Agence de la Francophonie for the celebration. A copy of the map illustrating countries with French speakers is attached as Schedule C.
13 Agence de coopération cuituretle et technique ("ACCT") is also responsibte for staging a number of international conferences on politics, education, sports and is responsible for the hcophone summits, last held in Canada in 1987 in Quebec and to be held next year in Moncton.
11 The Consulat ahhas some involvement in prornoting French (fiorn France) ar&istsat the international Festival of Authors, Salon du Livre, the Toronto Film Festival, he World Stage Festival at Harimurfiont- evening was one of the ways the evening was advertised. Publicity was handled by the
French Consulat through invitation, placement of advertising at various events and word-of- mouth. Although l'Express, Toronto's weekly hcophone newspaper and probably the best place to find out about events within the community, was invited and a repter/photographer attended the entire evening, nothing appeared in subsequent issues. According to the French
Consulate, l'Express did not report the event because an ad was not purchased by the organizea, thu bypassing an excellent exarnple to document the ethnogenesis of Torontois identity. This was the reason presented by the French Consulate, although a more politically motivated reason provided by a community member for the francophone press shunning the event was that it was staged by the French Government as an effort to inject more of the spirit of la hcophonie into Toronto's French comrnunity and to dominate Torontois culture.
This notion suggests a sense of linguistic hierarchy within the Torontois, resulting in an unwillingness by Canadian hcophones to support the aims of immigrant hcophones, and vice versa.
Prior to the entertainment, the Consul General spoke to the packed houe about his young daughter who attends a French language school in Metm Toronto at which
35 ethnic rninorities are represented, dl of whom are from hcophone families." The
15 The Consul General could have been referring to St. Michel, which Monica Heller has described as "a Catholic French-language elementary school in the Toronto rnetropolitan area The client population of St Michel reflects the heterogeneity of the Toronto francophone population. About 30% of the families are of linguistically mixed marnages; in most of them it is the mother who is francophone. Another 30% are French and 11% are English; the rest are cornposed of families in which the parents' mother tongue is Italian, Gemian, Arabic. Gujurati, Lithuanian, or Armenian. The program was quite lengthy at three hours, ranging from folk music, comedy (clowns and marionettes), classical music, dance, poetry and plays written solely for the evening including a comedy in which a love-lom man decides to become Jewish to impress the woman of his dreanis, who nirns out to be an extraordinarily beautifûi woman fiom Zaire. The most successful moments involved a Haitian duo who sang and danced with marionettes and le
Groupe des AN Bassan, a quartet fiom Côte d'Ivoire who sang, danced and played an assortment of percussion instruments, including a unique xylophone made out of gourds. A striking moment occurred when a young Francophile woman recited the Acadian folk tale of
Petite Flore, also called "How the Aurora Borealis got its Colours", a yam about the devil playing his fiddle at a town dance and Petite Flore saving the day. The colours of the Aurora
Borealis corne fiom the colours of the scarf the devil was wearing when he was banished into the sky. The least successful moments were the perfonnances of classical music - a duo for tenor and baritone by George Bizet and an unidentified piano performance. Although the pieces were wrîtten by French composen. performed by French artists, and the musicianship was superb, there was little in the crafting of the music, as there was in the presentation of the folk music, to suggest inspiration from French themes.16
large numbers of anglophones can be accoun tcd for partially by the fact that several anglophone familits were instrumental in getting St. Michel established in the late 1960s and eatly 1970s. These parents had an ideological cornmitment not only to bilingualism but to biculturalism, to the mastery of both French and English and to access to both social groups. to support for both languages, and for the social institutions that are the basis for both groups" ( 1987b:190- 19 1 ).
16 The issue of why and how different art fonns are psrceived as French or in some way ethnically grounded arose a number of tirnes in this reseuch. Tiierc is an inexplicable difference behveen French music and music that is sung in French. The critena that designates an art fom as in some way nationdistic is often undefioable. The same cm be said of dance and other visuai arts, but these modes of expression lack the defming criteria of text. Along with the artists, a wide variety of organizations from Toronto's bancophone community participated, including le Bureau du Quebec a Toronto, Canora (a
French-AWcan magazine), le Centre Francophone du Toronto Metropditain, CIUT 89,s FM, la Commission Canadienne des Droits de la Personne, le Bureau Franco-Ontarien du Conseil des Arts de l'Ontario, Enndale College of University of Toronto, Maisha (centre de culture africaine), l'Office des Maires Francophones, la Société des Écrivains de Toronto, la Société
Radio-Canada, TFOlIV Ontario, and l'Alliance Française de Toronto. Many of these organizations offered information to people wishing to leam about their services - an example both of the types of institutions involved in demghcophone culture and of the networking involved. This was an exceptional opportunity for anyone interested in leaming about the cultural and political infrastructure in place for Toronto francophones.
There were dichotomous interpretations of the events of the evening. On one hand it was designed to display the breadth of ethnic diversity withh Toronto's hcophone communities which it did to a certain extent, yet conversely, staging by the French Consulate of la Joumée Mondiale de la Francophonie has been construed as indifferent to the historical and political claims of Canadian hcophone communities outside Quebec. According to
Nicolas Debon, assistant to the Cultural Attache and sole organizer of the evening, the difference with the French Consuiat and other organizations such as ACFO, Centre
Francophone and OFA is that the Consulat is not dedicated to the francophone cornmunity.
In prornoting French artists, 70% of their work occurs nithin the anglophone community, at venues such as Harbourfront. This, he beiieves, leads to a lack of understanding between the
Franco-Torontonian community and the Consulat. However, staging the event was a unique
oppormnity for Debon, one that would not have happened in France. According to Debon:
"Coming from France and discovenng what's happening in Toronto is very instructive for me because in France, it was an immigration country, but not any more. There is a problem. In Paris, the centre of the city is white people and the suburbs are al1 for North Afncan people. Here its very different. In France the idea is to integrate into the same mold al1 the people and to make them lose their own culture. ... So 1 prefer it here, the fact that people can have their own culture and at the same time rneet and work with very different people and it works realiy well."
Perception of the evening is polarized, as a positive event, indicative of an rmergent integrative cuiture, rich in diversity and infused by the spirit of ~cophonie,or conversely, as an anempt by the Government of France to regain some of the hegemonic greatness of old. This pervasive difficulty, according to Ager, stems from a sense of la francophonie as "nothing more than a sounding board for France, a way of ensuring that she retains a world-wide influence and plays a global role which other former colonial powen have surrendered?" (1 996:5). Ager writes of a deep resistance to francophonie, believing that
"[dlespite the declarations at the Surnrnits. and despite the rhetoric of cosperation and diversity, there mut remain a lingering suspicion, in view of the facts of France's own
involvement world-wide, that the cultural and spiritual values uniting Francophonie are those of the French tradition rather than fieely chosen by consenting partnen." (Ager:62) This sentiment could underscore the subtle resistance of Franco-Ontarians to the Franco-
Torontonian cornmunity with its own francophonie atready in place. To some, however, the symbolism of the event outweighed the weaknesses. "
The evening described above illustrates how some of the numerous, diversified anistic worlds of both Toronto's arts and hcophone communities fûnction.
Different worlds, of writing, dance, music and theatre, are active and within the context presented above, representative of changes within the Franco-Torontonian community.
Responding to the necessity for new arenas to publicly speak French, culturai events are part of a culturai history in the making for Toronto's francophones. As the emergent culture strengthens and grows. what better barorneter for recording change than through cultural activity. Colin Partridge accurately States that, "[tlhe newcomers have swived and basic necessity is slowly replaced by varieties of needs requiring more subtle expression of language and thought" (1 982: 18). This is manifest through the development of a denser
Franco-Torontonian culturai cdendar. A response to the geophysical reality of not king part of a cornmunity, new modes of cultural expression are evolving to meet the demands of the emergent culture and to attract groups fiom across Toronto and, in the case of larger scale
17 One of the problems with francophonie in a Canadian context is that it advocates the idea of a universalid, standardized French, a concept unacceptable to Canadian francophonies. According to Ager, a difficulty stems hmthe conception of French kom France that "has an image as an elitist language, difficult to lem, and one whose speakers deride both foreign accents and inadequate mastery " (1 9%: 183). This pro blem translates into animosity more so between Canadian and European French speakers than between European and African francophones. events such as Salon du Livre or Franco-Fête, from throughout Ontario and in some cases, across Canada.
The material provided in the balance of this chapter presents Merexamples of how Toronto's French community is changing as reflected in the addition of events to the cultural calendar that show the strengthening of francophone mobiiization in Toronto. There are undoubtedly a large number of srnaller-scale events occurring within each different community, but access to these events is far more dificult because of the localized nature and the fact that they are not advertised by regular means.
ANNUALFESTIVALS
A number of events and festivals have becorne part of the Franco-Torontonian cultural calendar within the last decade. Al1 of these events provide opportunities to disseminate information by reaching the more discrete groups of the community, a problem plaguing even the well-fundeci organizations. Who in fact attends the events does Say quite a bit about how the cornmunity is constnicted. To a great extent, culturai events are chosen to appeal to the largest possible group, so the more successfid events contain aspects that cater to different segments of the community. For instance, the Salon du Livre stages a number of events for children, and also invites speakers that represent the global bcophone community. Similarly, Franco-fète attempts to involve al1 ages and is beginning to reflect the more global based cornmunity. Factors that restrict attendance at cultural events include personai financial constraints and interest. The rnajority of attendees at francophone cultural events tend to be Franco-Ontarians and francophiles, although attendance depends in part on the specific event.
La Semaine Nationale de la Francophonie
Although the event staged by the French Cultural Attaché was an initiai endeavour, La Semaine Nationale de la Francophonie began in 1988. Part of the repertoire of Association Canadienne dtEducation de Langue Française ("ACELF")for the past five years, La Semaine Nationale is concemed with the promotion of French language education in Canada within the primary and elementvy bels of the school system. ACELF each year presents a popular theme as a means to devrlop interest in speaking French amongst school children." This year's theme was La chonson d'expressionfrançaise and the information package includes literature on hcophonie as well as a CD of songs fiom a globally diverse group of francophone artists fiom Canada. Europe and ~fn'ca.'~
I B Enticing school children, even those in French schools, to actuaIly speak French both in and outside of the classroom is a problem that has been snidied at OISE. There is little perceived benefit and as swn as most schoolchildren Ieave the grounds. they resort to English. Initiatives by ACELF are trying to combat this and add a little fun.
19 SimiMy, on March 20, 1997, La Journée Mondiale de Francophonie, a hi1 âay's celebration was to be held at Glendon College, the bilingual campus of York University, to celebrate the same themes of multiculturalinn. A similar assoment orevents were to occw. such as an exhibition of Haitian art, music, dance, plays, book launches and a "rnulticultural buffet". ,Most of the events were fke, Save a theater production and food. However. due to internai labour problerns, the &y's events were cancelled. La Journée Mondide is new to Toronto. providing a s!mbolic oppornuiity for a diversity of mernbers to participaie in an activity that draws together a H rde range of community members in a way which seldom happas. Salon du Livre
Salon du Livre provides a focal point for the very strong literary network in
Franco-Toronto. In its 5th year, Salon du Livre appeais to Francophones and francophiles interested in the written word. Not just a book fair, although there are opportunities to purchase books from a variety of vendors, Salon du Livre provides a public opportunity for
French speakers to get involved in a high quality cultural event. Four days of book launches, readings and poetry recitals, with additions to the 1997 program such as panel discussions on issues of cultural maintenance and history, lectures from members of the investment community and a meeting of "OWN" - the OIder Woman's Network, musical entertainment and film, and a strong program for school children, Salon du Liwe provides an opportunity to monitor who is in charge of assisting Francophone culturai identity in Toronto. Like La
Semaine Nationale de la Francophonie, Salon du Livre highiights the global diversity of
Toronto's francophone population by inviting participants from a divenity of backgrounds.
Franco-Toronto's literary community is one of the strongest areas of cultural endeavour. Comprised largely of teachers. professors and professional writen, the literary community is linked to those involved in the development of discourse. The writing community has great potential power due to the importance of the spoken word perceived as more indicative of cultural identity than other, more visual art forms such as music or dance which can translate differently to different people and also of the importance of the academic realm to the maintenance of culture. Société des ecrivains is another example of an organization comprised of a group of writen, poets, many of whom are also professors and have published works. Their meetings, open to anyone, provide opporttmities for writers to read and have their works critiqued by peen. Glendon College's Le Groupe de Recherche en Etudes Francophones ("GREF") is also involved in the study and presentation of global
francophone culture. Founded in 1984, GREF is involved in publishing texts, hosting conferences and public seminars. The list of seminars include visits by individuals fiom
Europe, Canada and Afnca, a variety of activities including "la culture haïtienne, soirées belges ou suisses, expositions (photographes wallons, etc.), soirées de chansons québécoises, soirées littéraires ontariennes)," (this quotation is taken fiom an undated handout descnbing
GREF), Merillustrating the international diversity of Francophone culture. GREF,who launched seven texts at the 1997 Salon du Livre, publishes a series of texts on a variety of subjects.
Franco-fete
Franco-Ete is a high profile, more easily identifiable celebration that has been presented in Toronto since 1983. Unique to Toronto, Franco-Ete is held during the week leading up to St. Jean Baptiste Day, which, according to Francois Bergeron, is "actually a
French-Canadian nationai holiday. Quebecken sort of rewrote history by calling it Quebec's national holiday. Until very recendy it was the French-Canadian holiday, so it is still cdled outside of Quebec the French-Canadian National Day." Five days of events" including film, theatre. music, storytelling and information gathering sessions at which people can partake in activities about science, cornputers, arts and food, Franco-fête culminates each evening with a conced' Reflective of the change in the Franco-Torontonian cornmunity, this year, for the fint time, Morocco was chosen as a "country of honour" due to the substantial Franco-Moroccan group in Toronto. This newly implemented aspect of Franco- fête will be continued in subsequent years.
OTHER EVENTS
Film World
Two distinct1y francophone movie festivals have appeared in Toronto, one that has quickly become part of the cultural calendar. Les Vues d'Afrique, the success of which reflects the fact that the Afiican cornmunity is the fastest growing part of the Franco-
Torontonian community, hosted by COFTM as part of a national non-profit organization, is in its third year. Held in April, the 1998 program inciuded six films by filmmaken fiom
:O Quotation fiorn a November, 1996 interview with Francois Bergeron.
2 1 Franco-Rte ran in 1997 hmJune 20 to 24, with three pre-Rte days of celebration. From June 17 to 19, TFT ran a production, Ara hommes de bonne volonte, Cercle Canadien staged a dinner on June 17 and on the 19, a film, te bonheur est dam le pre, was staged. The pre-Rte events were the only ones for which admission was required. The balance of events at Me1 Lastman Square were fiee.
22 The evening shows represented hcophone cornunicies fiom across Canada. Manitoban Daniel Lavoie sang, Sutdit hmIles de la Madeleine, Les 4-Alogues and for the fmale, Amie Berthiaume, Rioux, Mario Chenart et En Bref. Licensed, and supported in part by a beer Company, the evening concerts appeded mainly to the wider-30 crowd, some of whom brought dong Quebec flag for waving. Afnca (Aigena, Burundi, Mali, Marocco, Tunisia. Ivory Coast) and one fkom Martinique and
a Montreal-based artist of African ongin, Maurice Lwamba Tshani who creates masks. Last
year a Québécois festival was hosted, but this year a new festival, Cinefionco, a three-day
festival showing 13 films from Quebec and France was quite successful, drawing in a
capacity crowd for movies such as Karmina, the story of a vampire in love which will soon
be released in an English version. While the French films with their English subtitles will
appeal to a larger audience of film lovers, La Vue d'Afrique presents a variety of films in
various Afncan languages with French subtitles, more strictly catering to the francophone and francophile audience." TF0 also has a lengthy series of classic French films that they advertise and run as a festival, one per evening, but it is different in the sense that participants do not have to venture out to be involved and thus while it provides product for francophones, it does not actually foster a sense of community.
23 1 spoke with a producm at the hcophone office of the National Film Board. His approach to film making and to king a hcophone in Toronto were quite unique. With a staff of thrre, due to recent cuts, 75% of the documentaries made are by independent filmmaken, Le. Erom the community, but not necessarily Toronto. The making of French language films invoives French writers and French directors but the National Film Board does not have a regional mandate. Initially there were trends towards pducing material on Franco-Ontarian histocy and culture, but now material, in French, is king produced about everythhg. In tenns of cultural authenticity, the products of the National Film Board are more global but in French and less French in character. The bottom line is being able to se11 these films, not to develop a character. îhe National Film Board is responsible, however, for a unique film, La Demier Francatarien, prerniered at the t 997 Salon du Livre, that has recently been dubbed and is availabte in English. Theatre
The TFC handbook lists two theatre companies - Théâtre Française de
Toronto ("TFT") and Théâtre Flash Bantou." Théâtre Flash Bantou, started in 1990 with an aim to promote Afican culture and drama and "to help immigrants of Afncan ongin preserve their culture" (TFC 1996b:5 1) has a very low profile and there appear to be very few oppominities to view this company." Théâtre Française is a highly regarded organization that stages three French language plays each season. In its 30th year, Théâtre Française, which began life as Théâtre du P'tit Bonheur de Toronto, is important for its choice of plays that are indicative of the greater problems of reaching such a diverse audience. According to Greg Brown, managing director of TFT. although they would like to stage plays that appeal to specific sectoa of the Franco-Toronronian cornmunity, budgetary constraints force the organization to stage plays that the greatest number of people will attend. For this reason,
Moliere and Michel Tremblay are mainstays of the theatre season. TFT is a repertory company with littie room for experimental theatre or resistance pieces that promote a localized identity. However, the quaiity of productions is very high and each production weli attended by both francophones and bricophi les. with opening night of each production king an opportunity to see the "who's who" of the Franco-Torontonian community. TFT also has
14 It also lists Compagnie de Th- "Le Balafon" as an association w hich has suspended its activities.
2s 1 say this because during the entire time of rny fieldwork. 1 have seen the name mentioned but have never seen an advertisement of a play king staged. There are several reasons for this. It could be a result of the group king part of one of the more discrete communities and thus not advertised in mainstrearn; it could be due to lack of funding; it could be cin organization chat functions on paper more than in reality; or maybe 1 just missed it. an award-winning CO-operativeprogram with Northern Secondary School for shidents who
are studying French and wish to learn about working in the arts network. A final example
of theatncal events available fiom time to time are provided by the comedy troup, The
Klektiks.
Music
Toronto is a major center for music of al1 genres, but there does not seem to
be an ongoing French music scene, Save for Les Voix du Coeur, a choir that performs at various francophone functions (such as Franco-fête and the 1995 "No" rally in Toronto).
Developed four years ago by the French school board. Les Voix provides an opportunity for people from diversified backgrounds to get together and sing. Another example of French music is provided by MuchMusic's daily taste of musical bcophonie, French Kiss, show everyday at 1 1:30 am. providing a glimpse of current videos and personalities. Interviews and presentation are in a mixture of mostly French and sorne English, but the videos, dl in
French, are repmentative of contemporary musical genres fiom al1 French speaking countries. Centre Francophone also has a highly visible cultural department that runs on a very srnall budget. They CO-produceshows such as the well-attended Coup de Coeur in
November at which time bcophone Canadian and other hcophone artists are promotedZ6
26 According to Francois Bergeron, Coup de Coeur is a coast to coast French singing festival with 80 shows in Montreal, about 15 or 20 in Quebec City and two or three in 18 otfier cities in Canada, hcluding Whitehorse, Yukon and B.C. There are two shows in Toronto, each with two artists. The 1997 edition included @ormances by Acadian Marie-jo Therio. Burundais Aron Tounga, le "barde fiançais" Maxime LeForestier and Philippe Noivant. and the evening concerts of the Franco-fëte, and any major attraction coming to Toronto that
is promoted through the Francophone community (ex. Charles Aznavour, of Armenian
descent, but nonetheless an icon of the French community). The Flying Cloud Folk Club
occasionally invites Quebec folk music groups to play but this appeds more to the folk
aficionados than to a francophone crowd."
Other Events
There are other opportunities for French speakers to network with members
of their own communities. For exarnple, Alliance Française de Toronto offers culture - art,
photography, film, theatre - as well as language instruction. An example of this is the
October 1996 lecture CO-sponsoredwith the Royal Ontario Museum at which Alain Malraux spoke about his father Andre. In a different vein. Cercle Canadien, the only fûily French
Canadian Club with upwards of 400 rnembers, meets approximately every six weeks at the
Royal York for lunch and a speaker and an opportunity to network with rnembers of the business community. This club has, in the pas, hosted talks by Jean Chretien and Jean
27 1 found it very amusing when attending several Cajun music and dance events at The Gladstone Hotel, a somewhat decrcpit night club on Queen Street West. t enquired whether any ûancophones ever attende4 being thaî the band, Swamperella, sang in an unusual dialect that they assurrd me was Cajun French, and providing one of the few opportunities to hear French music that was folk based. The coupIe in charge, who are hosting the event because they like to "No-step" told me that, 'Wo, hère were no French people there, but some are corning". Apparently a fok music band fiom Montreal ("OJNAB",Banjo spelled backwards), who had played a Flying Cloud Folk Club show at the Tranzac Club (Toronto's Australian and New Zealand cultural Center), were apprised of the Saturday night dance and were expected to corne dong to jam with the band and presumably authemicate, or hcize the evening.) I don? know whether they ever showed up and Iegitimized Swamperella, who have developed a large foliowing, not with those who like French or Cajun music, but with those who like to two-çtep. C harest. Jefiey Simpson, "joumaliste et commentateur politique", Diane Bnsebois of the
Conseil canadien du commerce de detail and PC leadership candidate, mategist and Queen's
University lecturer, Hugh Segal and Francoise Bertrand. President of the CFTC presented discussions as part of this year's schedule. Other oppomullties such as Franco-Fun, are helpful for those who must provide themselves with opportunities to speak French, with networks of fnends to whom they can converse and with whom they go to restaurants or bars that are known as owned or operated by francophones (it wdto be held at Boa in Yorkville, a cafe owned by a francophone fiom Montreai). Hosted by Jacques Charette of Montreal and proprietor of the Condom Shack on Queen Street and Sensoria on Yorkville Avenue,
Francophones congregate once a week to socialize in a relaxed atmosphere, usually a bar but sometimes a restaurant where people can come and go at will. Most participants are
Canadian, from Northem Ontario and Quebec, dthough it is open to al1 francophones and fmncophiles. Franco-fun appeals to those with the disposable incorne to go out and have a good time, to people who are mamed to anglophones and miss the oppomuiity to speak
French and offer a place to practice French. According to a Febniaiy 1997 article in
L'Express, the same type of get-together happens each Wednesday in the Beaches at "The
Wave". The Linguistic Exchange Club is similar to Franco-fun in that it was fomed to assist people who wish to swap language skills. An anglophone will be paired with a hcophone and half the Mie is spent speakmg in each language. Events are hosted monthly, usually in a bar, to get people out together, practicing speaking whichever language they choose in a social setting. TFC, Centre Francophone, Patrimoine Canada, Ontario Arts Council are al1 part of network that stages events. Funding cornes from a variety of sources, both govemmental and pnvate although the amount of private funding varies depending on the profile of the event. For instance, Franco-fête, as the highest profile francophone event of the year, is able to attract the largest nurnber of private sector sponsors, whereas somr of the cultural events at Centre Francophone, although well attended, do not have the same attraction for private sector sponsorship.
Who creates the culture and for whorn? In Toronto, most of the events are organized for appeal within the school system. Salon du Livre and Semaine Mondiale being examples of the significance of the school system to creating and maintaining culture. The schooi, however, is only part of a dense network of organizations and associations that work together to develop new opportunities. Toronto itself is a communicative facilitator, "in view of its higher density of interaction networks, communication channels and media, and communication occasion" (Fishman 1Wîa: 103), but this also acts as a problem in a city the magnitude of Toronto where despite the considerable oppodties, budget restraints and invisibility dismpt the ability to communicate with certain secton. Granteci, Toronto's prominence as a focal point for artistic endeavour does mean that the variety and potential for participants is very great. But diis fact becomes a double-edged sword for the nurnber of agencies vying for working capital and trying to develop an audience. Who ends up
attending these events is significant to how the cornmunity is stmctured. According to
Marthe Rheault of Centre Francophone, many immigrants do not corne out because they
lack the economic means to do so. She believes that "francophones in Toronto are well educated and bilingual so they go to many shows, many activities, both in French and
English, but they really appreciate when we can produce francophone activities like songs, the book fair - I'm involved in the book fair too - and we don't have enough money to produce hem." The problem of trying to accornrnodate so many different cultures under the umbrella of francophone culture in Toronto is. according to Rheault, political:
"You have two niveau. in that because politically people wish al1 the francophones from different cultures are under the same umbrella, but in fact its not like this in reality (sic). You have politics and you have reality. They are different."
People who try to stage cultural events in Toronto try to reach as broad a range of individuals as p~ssible.~'For many people, culture is created for lovers of a genre, be it music, film, dance, theatre, rather than for French lovers of culture. The question of how authenticity is "created underlines and undermines al1 attempts at creating reai unity amongst hcophones. How to get around it. how to determine what is authentic, defies
3 A small ad recently appeared in The Globe & Mail advenising the new Théâtre Française play, implying thai they are rying to reach a broader range of individuals. Many ofïh&~Français' clients are francophiles, and if it is a question of filling seats or not fiIlhg seats, being able to attract francophiles or king unable to reach the broader francophone cornmunity, then a srnall ad in the Globe is the best answer. explanation. For many, the medium is the message, the form and the delivery in French more
significant than the ~ontent.'~
29 This is how Am D'Youville, who has been a Franco-Torontonian for about 25 years feels. She lives in Toronto becausc it has a flourishing culturaI community. She attends French events, but also attends as rnany other events as she can fit into her schedule. CHAPTER6
ACFO,AMFO, AiFO AND OTHERS:THESICNIFICANCE OFASSOCIATION
fntroduction
How culturai activity reflects social change needs to be grounded in a description of the organizations that provide a foundation for the development of Franco-
Torontonian identity. Details about these organizations provide an overview both of the significance of networking and of the smaii group of people promoting and creating
francophone cultural history.' There is a level of institutional completeness2(de Vries236) that maintains francophone rights at the federal and provincial level,' but at the municipal level there are cenain organizations struggling to refiect a distinctively Tomntonian context.
The development of a network of institutions "that provide the sarne seMces as those of the dominant society while simultaneously transrnitting the culture and language of the minority"
(Denis: 172) is important to help a community stem language shifts.* Denis describes the
I The material for ttlls chapter is admittedly quite sketchy, but it proved very difficdt to find informants willing to "talk politics", particularly those within political institutions. However, the matcnal is presented in an effort to ground the material of the last chapter and to establish the important Iink between culturc and politics for the francophone community.
2 Breton ha wriüen emtnsively on institutional completeness and the necessity of a level of institutionai completeness for a minority to survive.
I Federal organizations include Office of Francophone Affairs, the Commissariat of Languages and Heritage Canada
4 Nomand Labit, in an article entitled The role qfpressure groups in the change of stam of French in puebec since 1960 refers to the significance of the collectivity to language planning. A collectivity is "groups of citizens joined together with associative or political organizaùons based upon either their evolution from the provincial to the municipal level of how organizations and institutions
are developed to deal with the needs of minority groups as foltows:
"First, associations were created to try to defend minority rights at the provincial level. As new needs were identified, new organizations were established, whether for school trustees, to train or recruit teachers, or to foster economic or cultural development. French organi zations assumed the responsibility of providing a French school curriculum from grades one to twelve, since the provincial authorities were unwilling to do so. Where necessary and possible, private schools were established. Alliances were formed with other rninorities to defend religious and other rights. Francophones also nied to defend their rights in the courts. However, court cases, even if successful in the first instance, had no long- term or global effect on the official statu of French, as provincial governrnents refùsed to acknowledge any such daim (Blay, 1989: 188-9; Denis and Li, l988:W). Francophones also established their own newspapers and communications systems, including radio stations. And of course they lobbied govemments continuously with petitions, letters, bnefs, meeting, and attempts to get memben on appropriate government bodies (Blay, 1989; Comeault, 1 979; Denis and Li, 1988). (Denis: 1 55)
Toronto provides a unique case. The level of institutional completeness, on a federal and
provincial level, is significant but does not go far enough to capture the essential diversity of Franco-Toronto. To this end, bnef discussion about three organizations - Centre
Francophone, the Toronto French Comrnittee and ACFO and its offshoot AIFO (with
reference to the now-defùnct in Toronto AMFO), organizations that reflect increasing
ethnolinguistic origin, or a cornmon interest quite independent of this" (1990:18). These pressure groups, or collectivities, such as ACFO and members of the school board, are also at the heart of language banles in Ontario. Juteau has also referred to Ontarois as a collcctivity engaged in a struggle for the recognition of the ethnic minority's right to exist and its basic right to develop a distinctive socioculturai life ( l983:6S). ethnoculturalism, provide an overview of how the francophone network operates and will
frarne the material presented in chapter 5. The particularly Torontonian context of the organizations will be emphasized to Merestablish the significance of networking to the maintenance or, in some cases, control of French culture in Toronto,' and how each organization impacts on the othen, as part of a greater framework, or network.
COFTM
Cenû-e Francophone is an example of an orgarhtion that has evolved to rneet the needs of Toronto's developing fmncophone ~ommunity.~Founded in 1977 as a resource center, Centre Francophone has developed services that reflect the ethnically diverse character of Franco-Toronto and has become busier, particular in the areas of immigrant
5 This chapter was by far the most difficult to fmd material for. Although sorne organizations, such as the Toronto French Cornmittee and ACFO, have prepared material, it is difficult to get answers about change, or cornplaints voiced by immigrants. Despite numerous attempts to reach ACFO, including phonecalls and% person" visits, 1 was unable to interview anyone in administration and have, thus, had to rely on printed materials and the opinions of others, which by and large, are uncomplimentary. When conducting rcsearch for an earlier project, 1 was able to spend some hclpfiil timt with the teceptionist, who has since been let go due to budget cuts, but 1 have never actually been able to taik to any interna1 member of the organization. Voicing my concem that 1do not have a complete picture to one of rny interviewees, who has chosen to remain anonymow, 1 was infomed chat 1 was probably not going to get an interview with the president of ACFO because 1 was, as an Anglophone, the "enemy". Despite my sympathetic stance and my lame endeavours to communicate in French, 1 could not crack the veneer of ACFO. It has becorne clear in ment rnonths that ACFO is, according to some informants, no longer aaive or disbandeci, but to othen in a period of change, due, most probably, to the reasons set out through this thesis conceming the changing hcophone demographic. The issues for francophones are diffemt now and ACFO has to change to remain an organization involved in the insurance of francophone rights.
6 Cenîre Francophone is a multi-faceted organization of which the cultural ma, briefly discussed in chapter 5, is oniy a small part. It Iists its affiliations as being a member of CFHVT, Cornite des services en hçaisde la Police, Association 6ançaise des municipalites de L'Ontario, Federation des Clubs sociaux 6anco-ontariens and L'Assernblee des Centres culturels de l'Ontario (Annuaire Francophone l996:29). services. since 1992. with more recognition fiom the federal govemment with regards to the services provided to clients. A September 1997 interview with program director Rosanna
Brabar was extremely helpful at developing a sense of how Centre Francophone has evolved to meet the changing Franco-Torontonian community. Newcomer services have, according io a handout available at the Centre, a mandate "to assist French-speaking people who are new to the Metro Toronto area in adapting to their new environment, both socially and professionally", providing orientation and employment to new francophones. Rosanna
Brabar, director of Centre Francophone provided the following comrnents about the newcomer services:
"We have activity services and we have two departments that offer direct services to the fmcophone comrnunity. By direct services I mean employ men t services and orientation information for French-speaking newcomers. We establish client files for these two departments whereas other activities, whether they be projects. people connecting, a workshop, there are no client files. Orientation information for newcomers - we provide retèrral services to emergency housing, preference refugee claimants who have just entered the country and who are in the process of acquiring or asking for refugee status. Very often as soon as they arrive. We are in contact with shelters for people, we direct hem towards lawyers who cm help them with immigration procedures, wefre their link for access to social services, social assistance, and that is what this depanment does. [Produces a chart listing client files] These are the countries of orïgin, for instance you wi have someone who is a Canadian citizen but whose country of origin is Cameroon for instance. This is the list. You have 91 countries and you'll see these categories represented in the total. We're looking at 254 client files for the fiscal year April 1, 1996 to March 3 1. 1 997. niese are the clients for that cornponent. These are the clients. again same categories, these are the clients for smployment services. You'il notice that this department has many more refugee people claiming refugee statw than this file. This is when people obviously have a work permit and you'll see that there are more immigrants and people with Canadian citizenship in this department."
Of the people that use newcomer services, Brabar believes that about 60% arrive in the country by themselves and then have their family follow. 1 0% arrive in the country with their families. Another 30% might be women coming by themselves with their children, perhaps not knowing where their husbands are, or their husbands may be deceased.
One of the more successhl aspects of Centre Francophone is the employment service department. The Centre offers employment services to any francophone who is unemployed and legally entitled to work in Canada. Due to Metropolitan Toronto's status as a focal point for francophone immigrants, services are available to anyone but approximately 80% of those who apply are newly immigrated to Canada. Orientation
Uiformation, in the fom of social services (babysitting, housing, English language Lessons and translation) is also available to anyone who requests it.
Part of the reason the employment services division is so important is that with an increase in profile of French and the need to liase with Quebec, francophones are becoming a more important part of the workplace. Brabar has noted an increase in the number of employen who are looking for bilingual staff. thus increasing the interest in
Centre Francophone. They have a list of approximately 200 private sector companies who have requested positions filled, although the Centre is unable to fil1 each request. Brabar
believes that the perception of politicai instability in Quebec has made companies û-ansfer
their national headquarters in Toronto. Many have a " 1-800" Iine serving Quebec and are
in need of bilingual staff. Another factor for the increase in profile is that Centre
Francophone, unlike other placement agencies and the newspapea, does not collect a fee for
its services. This factor alone has had an impact on the increased visibility with potential employers.
Centre Francophone provides a number of other services to the cornmunity,
including publishing the Annuaire Francophone, of which 35,000 copies are circulated as a revenue generating project, entirely funded by advertisements. Free LMC (language instruction for newcomers to Canada) classes to refugees and babysitting are also available.
Other projects involve a club for setting up small businesses in Toronto and comrnunity
initiatives such as an acanwomen's group, in conjunction with the Centre médico-sociale and OISE'S Centre pour femmes that meet regulariy. Held in a very informal sening with a budget of approximately $1,000, three social workers meet with the group to provide
inComation on cornmunity resources. For these women, many of who are alone with their children, the group provides a lifeline fiom their isolation to come out and meet other wornen
*-ho share the same experiences upon arrival. The services of Centre Francophone are available to any who need them.
Most of the programs are part of several networks of immigration organizations and the employment and training neh~orkfimded partiaily by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, while certain prograrns such as LMC are Funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
The Centre also receives fimding from the Immigrant Settlement and Adaptation Progmm, and because it is fimded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, immigration officen at the airport are able to provide information to new arrivais. If a refbgee claimant has just arrived at the airport, in theory an immigration oficer would be able to provide the claimant with information about Centre Francophone's services. Funding for projects cornes f?om a variety of federal, provincial and municipal sources suc h as Heritage Canada, Human Resources and
Development Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Tourisrn, Ontario Arts Council, Metro Toronto Policy and Planning Cornmittee, Metro
Toronto Purchase of Services, Metro Toronto, City of Toronto, United Way and private sources. For an organization such as Centre Francophone, the raising of fûnds for projects constitutes almost a full-tirne job.
Networking, although not solely within kcophone networks, is an integrai part of the Centre's ability to reach the community. They develop relationships with any agency that can keep them abreast in terrns of what is happening to Metropolitan Toronto with regards to irnrnigmtion, social services and employrnent. For the types of seMces that the Centre speciaiizes in, OCASI (Ontario Counsel of Agencies SerWig Immigrants), an umbrella organization for 170 or 180 organizations serving immigrants here in Ontario, is a more potent source of information and exchange of ideas on service delivery models.
Employment Uifomtion is forwarded nom IIurnan Resources Development Canada, from
Skills for Change and hmother organhtions with the sarne immigrant component that are not specifically hcophone organizations. A relationship with ACFO has been maintained, but more so when the need to lobby mises.
A Merexample of the manner in which organizations work together to develop services is the June 1997 report jointly produced by the Centre Francophone and the
Toronto French Cornmittee, with the help of Alpha-Toronto and the Centre médico-social cornmunitaire Inc., entitled Un Apercu des Nouveaux Arivants by Daniel L. Larocque (who is the same person responsible for the TFC's More French Services. Please!). This report surnmarks the findings of 120 respondanu fkom 50 diffmnt corntries on issues such as the reason why they immigrated and the most significant aspects of their acclimatization penod
(i.e. ability or inability to locate employment, access to social services), the results of the study enabling both Centre Francophone and TFC to better understand the necessary services for newly anived hcophows. The results of the study established that immigrants arrive for a varîety of reasons - new oppominities, greater security, educational and employment oppomuiities and to rejoin farnily and friends. Rosanna Brabar had the following to Say about the Centre's working relationship with TFC: "Oh they definitely acknowledge our work. Not on a practical bais but on a philosophical basis, in that respect yes. If there is something to cornmunicate to a govemrnent, 1 will join hands with other francophone organizations and Say this is how we feel about this issue, for instance. We have just produced a study, right here, Un Aperçu des nouveaux arrivants, and we did this in conjmction with CMSC7and Al pha-Toronto, and it addresses the needs of Francophone newcomers and Canadians of fmt generation. This is a joint effort. So obviously there is a lot of information here and it will be a document that will be taken into consideration by ail govenunent levels also because it is hded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Heritage Canada. But when we want to rnake a point, that's when we get together and work together and express common views."
Another of Centre Francophone's initiatives was the development of ethnocultural associations, a program which two years ago was abandoned due to lack of fùnding.' A glance through the Annuaire Francophone, Annuaire Franco-Ontarian and the
TFC handbook show that many groups are trying to orgd,some with an action plan, but more with the aim to network with others of like origin and socialize.
An unusual listing in the Toronto French Cornmittee Handbook is of associations that have suspended their activities. due to various reasons, hcluding changes in hding, changes in in- interna1 nrife or fiom people leaving the city. Nine of the ten
7 Centre mddico-social communautaire Inc.
8 The point at which 1 reaiizcd that an ethnogenesis was in progtcss was when 1 noted the number of ethnically-specüic hwphone organkîions 1isted in the A nn uavt Franco-Ontarian. From this pin& f began to note how 0thorganizational aspects were evolvinig organizations listed are ethnocuitural, Iending credence to Monica Heller's comments that
many of the associations exist because there is hding avaiiable - as funding becomes harder
to get, the associations no longer fun~tion.~The list includes Stop Racisme, Réseau des
femmes noires. Compagnie de théâtre "Le Balafon", Cercle afro-canadien de l'Ontario,
Association somalienne, Cercle des Canadiens dlÉgypt, and Pan Afdca Centre (1 W6b:8),
many organization that onginally benefited from Centre Francophone's cornrnuniry initiative.
Rosanna Brabar believes that two or three years ago there was more activity in presenting
projects and holding workshops, but the change in govemment, and the drying up of funding
for ethnocultural organizations has Ied to a disappearance of about 90% of this type of
activity.
Toronro French Cornmittee
Comité hnqus de l'hotel de ville de Toronto ("CFHVT", or Toronto French
Cornmittee, "TFC"), established in 1981 by recommendation of ACFO-CUT,overtly presents an ethnically diveaified, changing Torontois identity. A 1997 CFHVT pamphlet reads "[a] community consultation was conducted in 1992 to broaden the Cornmittee's membership and to create a profile of Toronto's francophone population in light of the demographic changes in Toronto since 1982. especially with respect to the massive idux
9 According to Rosanna Brabar, Tt's quite unforninate, these smaller groups would have difficulty hctioning because of interna1 conflicts, conflicts at the board fevel, things like that, so not always were they able to do what they would have wanted to do. You would have also divisions in associations bastd on ahnical hentage. So there were ptoblerns cven with the fùnding. Without the fiuiding it was difficutt, " of immigrants of different ongins. The French Committee reflects this diversity". As a liaison between the francophone comrnunity and City Hall, CMVT reflects in its choice of members, the diversity of Franco-Toronto." htituted by recornrnendation of ACFO-
CUT in 1982 and composeci of an eight person board, CFHVT, according to the publicly available 1992 Community Consultation Report, " should reflect the cultural and demographic divenity of the city of Toronto, since the ethnoculaual population of Toronto has evolved considerably in the ten past years. The present population of Toronto is very divenified in terms of ethnic origin." Since CFHVT represents the needs of the francophone community of Toronto, the Committee should reflect that diversity. " (TFC
19925) The eight memben are drawn from the politicai. ethnoculturai, medical, seniors, education, culturai and religious sectors, plus two representatives of City Council. As well , four additional members are involved who act as "experts " in the fields of "business,
10 The material for this section was taken hmfive publications available through the French Committee: Community Consultation Report, published in 1993 and based on materiai collected October 22 and 27, 1992; Framework for the Development of Services in French at Toronto City Hall, published in 1995, French Language SeMces, Please! - Snidy Conductecl Within the Francophone Community on French Language Services at Toronto City Hall, published in 1996, nie French Comrnittee of Toronto City Hall, a pamphlet published in 1997, and the extrcmely helpful, "A Catalogue of Francophone Community Organizations in Toronto", also published in 1996. Al1 the pamphlets are printcd in both English and Frcnch. The handbook is an ongoing project, including a section of organhfions that will be contacted in the next six months (oddly enough, this Iist includes Glendon Coilege, OISE, Salon du livre, Cercle Canadien de Toronto, and several of the Acadian organizations that have ken around for a number of years). t I The goals of the TFC arc loQ. Theu mandate States that liaison benween City Hall and ihc bcophone community should be handled by increasing visibility of the francophone community in the City of Toronto, encouraging more involvement municipally, "defending the intercsts of hncophones at City Ha; and increase the number and quality of services offered in French by the City of Toronton (TFC Handbook: 1). One of the major difficulties is that hcophones are not using the services because not enough people know they are there. ïhis is a difficulty that reoccurs throughout the community, a resounding cry of those who are trying to advertise a product (such as theatre), to those who are attempting to mate a bit of unity arnongst the different communities. communications, law , economy , recreation, housing , multiculhualism, health, social services; and women's. youth's. seniors', persons with disabilities', and urban issues"
(TFC l992:6).l2 in the preface to the 1995 "Framework for the Development of Services in French at Toronto City Hall", "[tlhe recommendations included in this study represent a step towards the recognition of the Franco-Torontonian community and its contribution to the growth of Toronto, the metropolis of Canada and a city of international statu" (TFC
1995:i). There is a lot of potential within the TFC,but each of the reports has confirmed that francophone organizations are aware of the French Cornmittee but do not use it to full advantage. The Framework snidy did corne up with some interesting findings that illustrate the secondary status of French language sentices in Toronto that reflect the experience of many of the francophones interviewed for this thesis:
"a we must always 'cal1 back later' to be served in French; Francophones do not receive the same level of service as do Anglophones; Francophones are considered an ethmcdtural gmup, when they are an official-language community: there is no designated person to serve Francophones; and "the CFHVT and services in French need more visibility, public relations and publicity". (TFC 1995:4)13
12 Please sec Scheduie E for a listing of the 1997 French Commitîee. Note the endeavour to reflcct a cross-section of Franco-Toronto.
13 indeed, when trying to get infornation on the French Cornmittee, 1 found the services of the French aanslator invaluable. She, howevcr, is the only francophone on staff. When she went on vacation for a month last fall, I had to wait until she came back to get a copy of the Iatest report. The 1997 pamphiet suggests that the kst way to implement services wouid be through the creation of a working group, involving "representatives fkom Toronto City
Hall, the Office of Francophone Mairs, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the
Francophone Association of Municipaiities of Ontario, Metro Toronto City Hall and the
Association canadienne-hçaise de I'Ontario/Metro Toronto section". This is a wise approach, to use the presxistent municipal and provincial infrastructure, but something noticeable throughout the three reports was a cal1 for a liaison officer, a helpfûl idea which has not yet happened.
A 1996 report, French Language Services, Please!, surveyed 2,000 hcophones, of whom the resuits of 21 5 were used in the study. The aim was to ascertain the services required in Toronto for Francophones. Surprisingly, the need for cultural services ou~eighedwhat would be perceived as necessities. "Services Which Would Most be Usedtt included libraries, comrnunity services, public hedth, parks and recreation and grants to cultural and social service organizations (fke department services ranked among the ten seMces which wouid occasionally be used). The top ten priorities to ~cophones in Toronto, in order of pnority, were libraries, public health, parks & recreation, cornmunity services, grants, seniors, property taxes, economic growth, tire department and subsidized housing (TFC 1995:30). The results, though somewhat confusing, were consistent with an emphasis on more culture. The study does carry a waiver by stating, "[olne must not forget, however, that the study did not examine the motivation behind a choice or the reason why one se~cewas more important than another. We rather sought to identiS which services were priorities and how they could be delivered in an efficient and equitable manner. The cornments are therefor hypothetical, made with the intent of fbeling the discussion on the dynamics of the francophone cornrnunity in Toronto" (Larocque: 17). Among the most significant findings were that the francophone comrnunity still does not know that much about the French Committee, a theme that recurs throughout al1 the reports and in fact, throughout most of the research for this thesis. The most important thing the report implied was that the "Francophone population must be informed of existing services available in
French as well as of the means to access these services." (Laroque:48). There are a lot of excellent services available, they just need to be broadened. Rather than creating new organizations, pre-existent organizations should be strengthen. ûrganhtions such as Centre
Francophone would benefit as a more encornpassing culhiral centre hmincreased hinding.
The problern throughout is that it is easier to reach those who are active in the cornrnunity than those who are not. An example was presented of how bcophone volunteen were located in the anglophone media, the volunteers not king "aware of the traditional Francophone network and were not familiar with the activities happening in
French in Toronto" (Laroque56) - indeed Théâtre Française has been advertking in The
Globe & Mail, to reach a much broder demognphic segment. The study recommended that
"innovative means be also evaluated to attempt to reach Francophones who are not integrated into a French language network" (Larocque57) but this type of marketing is very difficult
and will probably ody reach, save advertising in English newspapers, those aiready uivolved.
A dedicated volunteer organization that meets once a month in a City Hall
boardroom, TFC maintains a telephone line where messages can be left. With its finger in
a great number of cultural pies, meetings are duly constituted and deal with the Cornmittee's
involvement in many of the events referred to in Chapter 5." Although the Committee lacks
political power, the concept places the Toronto French Committee at the heart of the structuring of discoune on the Torontois.
ACFO-CUP
This material is the most circumspect due to the unavailability of direct conference with any members of ACFO's administration. In Chapter 4 a brief history of
ACFO's fighting banles for language rights in Ontario was presented, but trying to update this information is proving difficuit. ACFO has, in the past, played a major role in maintainhg and redefining hcophone rights in Ontario. To reiterate, beginning in 19 10 as the Association Canadienne-fiançaise de l'education en Ontario (ACFEO), ACFO adopted
14 1 was very impressed by the way individuals, on a volunteer bais, give their tirne to participate in many of the events and organizations that are defming Franco-Torontonian culture.
15 CUT rcfers to "Régionale de la Communauté urbaine de Toronto".
118 its new, broader mandate and name in 1969 and has reinforced its position as an advocate of the best interests of Ontario's 500,000 francophones by strategies involving creating a saong Franco-Ontarian voice to ensure legislated nghts with services available to any French speaker.
Probably the most significant official step that Franco-Ontarians have made towards establishing bilingual nghts is the implernentation of Bill 8, the French Language
Services Act. ACFO was instrumental in passing the November 18, 1989 legislation Cjust as
ACFEO was instrumental in lobbying for the repeal of Bill 27), assuring bilingualism in
Ontario with respect to certain government services, the offshoot of which has been an increasing nurnber of bilingual govemment positions. Although similar to the OJciai
Languages Act of 1969, Bill 8 ensures a much broader platform of services for Ontario's francophones. ACFO has also been actively employed in safeguarding the nghts of Franco-
Ontarians in the face of Quebec's mounting national politicai stmggles. However, the last public initiative with respect to French language and cultural rights in Ontario made by
ACFO was its statements during the 1995 referendum. Clearly, the lobbying of ACFO indicates the existence of a Franco-Ontarian ethnic group that is king nurtured through govemment agencies. But the last several years have been somewhat tumultuous for ACFO.
Being chamcterized by some, as "a period of transition", by others as "oh they're very active, but we don? know what they do", and pilloried by othea, it is very difficult to establish the significance of ACFO at present.I6 According to Linda Cardinal, political scientist at
University of Ottawa, sorne organizations have associateci themselves with ACFO due to past reputation, despite the lack of action on its part, thinking that they will end up with some benefit from the alliance. The women's groups have nothhg to do with ACFO, being part of the Table Francophone Feministe de Concertation Provinciale, a group of organizations that promote women's interests and aid in immigration issues."
Francois Bergeron of L'Express characterizes ACFO as "a political movement so they are there to basically complain when something is not done by the government that should be done"." As a pressure group, ACFO has had many problems with governent funding.19 ACFO's problem may have been that they were successful. According to
Francois Bergeron:
16 Surfing ACFO's web site tecently, 1 noted that it had ken dcveloped in 1996 and does not appcar to have been updated since then. Andre Lalonde is still listed as president even though elections were held last nimmcr. Dots this imply lack of interest in the potentiai of information tcchaology to reach a broder audience or a lack of cohesion within ACFO. It is also impossible to find information about AIFO.
Accotdiag to a March 2, 1998 article in L'Express, ACFO is in the proces of reinventhg itself as part of an alliance to which not ail organizations are adhering. AIFO, for example, has chosen to remain aloof.
17 According to the March 2, 1998 article in L'Express, La Table Francophone Feministc is currently working with A0to cnatc a new alliance. Rivairies have to stand aside when the issue becornes survival.
18 October 1996 interview with Francois Bergeron of L'Express. t 9 Andre Lalondc was, apparentiy, working without a salary for the 1st year of his tenure as President of ACFO. "There was a lot of co-operation during 1 would say, ten years ago, because ten years ago there was a lot of good will in English Canada towards redressing al1 kinds of things that was wrong in the past. Plus there was fear of Quebec separating that was a new fear at the time and they realized that there was a lot of things that they have to change so that francophones can recognize that this is also their country. So there is a lot of goodwill, in fact, it eroded the support for ACFO because ACFO is basically an angj party that you use to fight for your rights. But if you get every(hing, if you get schools and access to trials and whatnot, you sort of never use ACFO any more. If you're not persecuted, there is no need for a defence association, so 1 think there is still a need for ACFO but it is not very visible in Toronto. It is visible in other communities. In Toronto its almost a secret society. I didn't know until recently who was president of ACFO in Toronto, the Toronto chapter, I know whose the head in the province, but the Toronto chapter is almost a secret society. They never even advertise their meetings."
Having redressed a number of issues, ACFO's job is not over, it has just changed. It is, at present, in a time of reconstitution, and although it has not been explicitly stated in the media, there is discussion that it has completely disbanded
It is, however, clear that by 1986 the Franco-Ontarian demographic had evolved to a point where immigrant hcophones were requiring, and at times demanding, representation as part of the community. ACFO did not appear willing to ded with the change, king happy to maintain the statu quo. So AMFO (Association Multiculturelle
Francophone de l'Ontario) was launched in 1986 in an effort to provide support and assistance for new francophone^.^' AMFO and AIFO exist as a recognition that visible minorities are part of community. Memben of AMFO believe that their success was undermined by ACFO's development of AIFO, a bmnch organization that is mandated to
"bring together, integrate, promote and protect Ontario ethno-cultural francophone communities" (TFC 1996b320). The profile of AIFO is extremely low, and, as an off-shoot of ACFO, may be powerless without its parent and may be sufTering fiom the sarne restnichiring." The development in 1986 of AMFO in light of ACFO's inability to provide representation for newcomen establishes that the cornmunity has metamorphosed and the need for new initiatives had &sen.
According to Sirnone Abouchar, AMFO's greatest problem was a philosophicai difference in that they were willing to assist al1 francophones, but ACFO, contrary to their stated policy, was striving to develop a Franco-Ontarian identity. Access to information about the system needs to be tailored for immigrants and this was not available. Methods of social interaction and requests for activities by new hcophones are different. Immigrants felt their needs were overlooked and a group of business and education professionals fodAMFO, an organization, according to Abouchar, aîtempting
20 The foilowing matcrial was pnsented by the oniy people who wished to remain anonymous. Having been dealt witb harshly by ACFO in the past. they made a number of emmely strong, personal statements about the strength of ACFO behind the scenes and how ACFO is motivated by an agenda that does not includc inunipi..and women. This material, howcver, is impossible to substantiate.
21 As with ACFO, repeaîed fcqutsts for information. leA on an answering machine, have gone unanswered. to work for a cause, whereas Franco-Ontarians were working for theu own benefit. When
MO'Sranks grewmd they were vying for hding, it was ACFO whom they were vying
with, thus creating anirnosity between the two groups. Abouchar, a trustee on the French school board, descnbed problems with access of hcophone immigrants to schooling. If the nurnben of Canadian francophones were insufficient, immigrant children were allowed to enter French schools, but if the nurnbers were sufkient, access was denied, despite Article
23 of the Charter that allows access to dl francophone ~hildren.~
Members of AMFO have very strong things to say about AIFO. Refened to as "window dtessing",or as a "coloured extension of ACFO", the suggestion has been made that AIFO was created to usurp AMFO, which, in 1996, it did? ACFOISredefuiltion as a
n A bittemess between the quality of Franco-Ontarian culture opposcd to other French cultures has arisen throughout the material. Allegations of poor quality have arisen fiom those who want an international bcophone culture, while proponents of Franco-Ontarian culture aiin to maintain undilutcd Canadian fhncophone culture.
23 Heller provides a diffemt take on the development of AMFO and AIFO:
"Initiaily,ncwly arriveci hcophones who chose to affiliate with Franco-Ontarian institutions did so within existing forms. In some areas, however, tensions developed, as some groups felt that their voice was bcmg silenced. ... It also happened with the hsociution c4114diem-fiançade& l'Ontario: in 1987 a group of Toronto-based hcop hones estab1 ished the Associa1 ion mtrlticuIizuellefi~ll~o- onrurienne, or MO,a clear message that the urnbrella lobbying group, ACFO, could no longer claim to reprcsent francophones of non-Canadian origin." ( 1994: 13 1 )
"In 1990 yet another association was founded, the Association inrerculturelIefi(~1~0-on~mienne,or AiFû. The AiFû acts as an umbrclla organization for francophone multicultural associations, making a distinction betwcen itself and AMFO, which it sees as being an association of individuals. More irnporfanm, it appears that the AlFO was established in reaction to perceiveci selective rcprcscntation within the AMFO." (1 994:î28). lobbying organization depends on its ability to transcend such notions of polarity within the conimunity.
Conclusion
A May 26, 1997 article in L'Express reported on how the ethnocultural organizations such as Centre Pan-Afkika, AIFO, l'Association des Haïtiens de Toronto,
Association zaïrois and Conseil d'kchange entre femmes africaines et canadiennes are dissatisfied with their representation in Toronto. The article stated that 95% of ethnoculturals are on social assistance and 85% have high school education or less, thus negating the findings published in the 1996 OFA shidies. These organizations, not surprisingly, feel excluded hmthe well-financed Franco-Ontarian infrastnchue. Aithough promises were made to look into the problem and form an action plan, a Februaxy 2, 1998 article in L'Express reported on yet another meeting of organizations interested in assisting
Franco-Torontonians. An interesthg article, reflecting the theoretical basis of much of this paper, the article reports that of the 100,000 francophones in Toronto, many are not Franco-
Ontarian. At a third such meeting to be convened, the importance of disseminating
Somation was discussed as was the inequality between Franco-Ontarians and immigrants of access to power and money. The meeting suggested that ACFO see the other organizations as partners in a greater purpose. Recent articles describing ACFO's attempts to stem assimilation illustrate how ineffectuai this organization has become due to its inflexibility toward the globality of its clientelle. If ACFO were to adopt a stance as a francophone organization, rather than as a Franco-Ontarian organization, measures could be
taken to strengthen and move forward.
There are two distinct themes found in the discussion of the three
organizations - the way they have evolved to meet the needs of Franco-Torontonians and
illustrate how francophone culture has evolved, particuiarly within the last decade and the
way they work together, or not, to achieve their ends. Centre Francophone and TFC have services that are central to the francophone network, but they lack the profile of ACFO and are not utilized to the best of their abilities. A full shift must occur throughout the Franco-
Ontarian int'rastructure for the issues plaguing the community to be fully resolved. Canada's nature is captured by Charles Taylor when he expresses that it has
"always been an immigrant society, (that is, one that functions through admitting a steady
Stream of new arrivais), on top of the fact that it could not aspire to make immigrants over to its original mould, [and this] has meant that it has de facto become more and more multiculnual over the years" (1993: 161). Changes in Canadian immigration policies in the last three decades have resulted in an increasingly diverse demographic mix that has manifested largely in the major urban centres. Although it has been evident for some time that Canada's demography is changing, these changes were documented by Statistics Canada for the first time through the results of the 1996 Canadian census report. Following the release of this data in Febniary 1998, the City of Toronto commissioned a study from
Toronto's Access and Equity Centre. As reported on in a front-page article entitled
"Minoritiesset to be majority" in The Suru@ Star of June 7, 1998, the study concluded that
" [i]n less than 18 months, the majority of people in the new city of Toronto will be non- white. ... And if steps aren't taken to address the 'huge inequalities' faced by many visible minority groups in employment, education, income and housing, the disparities and fiutrations will get worse". According to the report, "Toronto is the moa ethnicaily diverse city in the world ...We do not simply recognize and tolerate this diversity, but respect, value and numire it as an exciting and integrai part of our collective expenence and identity." According to the report, currently 48% of Toronto's population are immigrant and by the year 2000, immigrants will make up 54% of the population of Toronto, up nom 30% in 199 1 and only 3 % in 1961. Overall, Toronto is home to 42% of the total non-white population in Canada.' The greatest impact of the findings of Statistics Canada has been felt in Toronto, a fact that has been substantiated by this thesis both through the results of fieldwork and through the data presented by the Toronto French Cornmittee and Centre Francophone. An exarnple of Taylor's idea of deep divenity, Toronto's francophones represent a globally diverse community, affiliated solely by their ability to speak French.
The tramnationai has, particularl y in the 1stdde, becorne an everyday part of Torontonian life. This increased transcuituration, a neologism devised by Cuban poet
Nancy Morejon to describe "a process of cultural intercourse and exchange, a circulation of practices that creates a constant inteweaving of symbolic forms and empincal activities among different cultures that interact with one another" (Lionnert:325), is having a profound effect on Toronto's hcophone cornmunity. resulting in the emergence of an ehoculturally diversifie4 Franco-Torontonian identity. The airn of this thesis has ken to prove that
Franco-Torontonian identity does exist and is in the process of developing a voice strong enough to have impact on the pre-existent Franco-Ontarian community. This was accomplished by considering how the profound effect of the ernergent and evolving forces
I Although New York is ohideaiized as a point of enay and invitation to the United States, only 28% of its population is foreign barn, in cornparison to Toronto's 48*6 (Sunday Star, June 7, 1998, page 1). of ethnicity and identity, given present-day transformations in global politics and culture,
have transformed the community. To a large extent, the matenal presented, particularly as
outlined in Chaptea 5 and 6, has substantiated this notion. Polyvocal Torontois identity is
king reflected in a vibrant arts community and in organizations and associations that have
either changed or arisen to Mfil the needs of the emergent community. Ethnogenesis has not
occurred overnight, king the result of approximately 30 years of relaxed immigration po licy .
The symbolic significance of the 1986 birthdate with the foudation of AMFO, an
organization designed to fulfil the needs of new francophones and the countermove by
ACFO in 1991 with the institution of AiFO. has been followed up in Toronto by numerous
initiatives, through Centre Francophone, through the Toronto French Cornmittee, through
the educational facilities and through the toi1 of a small network of concemed individuals,
that refiect an interest in immigrant services. However, the growing numbea of new
francophanes have resulted in a tension between a pre-existent Franco-Ontarian identity that
has been strengthening in the wake of Quebec nationalism with the assistance of a strong
govemmental infktructure, and the more univenalized tenets of la hcophonie. Franco-
Ontanans are in a position of relative strength and, by resisting the incursion of newly anived
francophones to their comrnunity, are minontizing ~cophoneimmigrants, just as they themselves have been minoritized histoncal l y. Franco-Ontarian identity has ken a symbol of resistance in Canada to the anglophone majority, but it should not be so to other
hcophone rninoities. The counter-hegemonic movement that has been successfully waged by Franco-Ontarians, hegemony in the sense of Stuart Hall's reinterpretaîion of Gramsci's notion to mean "the construction of a collective will through ciifference. It is the articulation of differences which do not disappear" (1 997: 58), would benefit from increased numbers of French speakers, not from disparity amongst different subgroups. It may sound overly dramatic to refer to a clash of conflicting interests, of the strong Franco-Ontarian voice opposed by an increasing number of immigrant fhmcophones whose very presence suggests that the fundamentally monolithic ideology of Franco-Ontarian identity is wrong, provides a serious obstacle to cultural survival, and if it is not dealt with, will sound the death knell for al1 French communities outside of Quebec. However, there is a problem with nurnbee and this problem could be partially rectified by embracing the spirit of francophonie and multiculturalism and supporthg the notion that a Franco-Torontonian identity is developing.
Charles Taylor's notion of the politics of recognition is at the heart of the stmggle for representation throughout Canada's hncophone groups. Discussion of Franco-
Torontonian identity is fùndarnentally a discussion of the political constitution of identity.
How Canadians identim with an included nation, region, ethnic group, sexual group, gender or with Canada as a whole is an important aspect of the Canadian experience. "Much of the political life of this country consists in dealing with the exceedingly strong desire of each and every one of these groups to be recognized: to have a Say as a group in collective decision- making, to have the special interests and values of the group served and protected by everyone else'' (Brooks: 4). The backlash of this type of faimess resuits in a clash between those who feel they have eamed the right to resources and to cal1 themselves Canadian and thosc who, according to certain groups, shouid not be allocated these same rights. nie system is set up to offer aid to everyone who establishes a need, be they underpnvileged, newly arrived, special interest, or hcophone. Franco-Ontarians have benefited at dl levels of govemment by their statu as a charter group. The problem is with perception, of the difference between Canadian and non-Canadian francopho~e. In order to strengthen collective ethnic identity, a group has to conceive of itself as such, be it as a real, bordered community, or as in the case in Toronto, as an imagined community. But the Franco-
Ontarian sense of belonging to an ethnic group espouses, by and large, a Canadian francophone identity, unlike the Franco-Torontonian community that represents a group benefitting largely fiom current immigration trends.
This thesis has examùied new ways the Franco-Torontonian community has chosen to seek unity and bolster collective identity. In connection with the increased diversity of the community, cultural events have been developed or recreated reflecting the gradual changes. Events such as La Semaine Mondiale de la Francophonie, Salon du Livre,
Centre Francophone's African film festival and even the mainstay of the francophone calendar, Franco-fëte, reflect this change. Patrons can attend such events and become part of an imagined commmity of francophones in Toronto. Culture does equal visibiiîty and an increase of cultural activity indicates an increase in visibility for the Torontois. Similarly, the choices made by Centre Francophone have provided a response in areas where ne& have arisen, representing a cornmitment made to the development of seMces for new Francophones. Although the Toronto French Cornmittee currently, admittedly Iacks the plitical power to make a difference, it is possible that the most significant part of their job is to bring attention to the changing community. The numben of immigrants warrant these considerations. In light of levels of assimilation and budgetary restraints, embracing new hcophones as part of the community provides numbers needed to ensure the continuation of senices aiready in place. Many of these new fmncophones are fervent promoten of their new identities, providing a wealth of energy and intenst in exchange for community affiliation. Discussion of events and organizations has also made it clear who the individuals in charge of creating culture in Franco-Toronto are. Most of the foundation for the structure has developed within the school system, the arena where change is initially situated. Those involved in the school system radiate outwards, through cultural and poli ticai organizations.
The research presented above adequately dealt with certain aspects of the
Franco-Torontonian community, particularly in areas of new culhiral avenues and where the responsibility lies for the creation of such areas, whereas other questions, those at the heart of the creation of collective identity, remain unanswered. Unfortunately, these questions are most significant to treating and, ultimately resolving, the dichotomy between Franco-
Ontarian and Franco-Torontonian identity. Despite having attempted to represent the histories of hcophones in Canada, the resolutions to questions of how and why prejudices are created remains illusory. One of the most difficult questions that has ken alluded to, but not convincingly responded to, is the creation of the mer, of a new minoritki community within Toronto by the pre-existent minonty. This, in effect, is what has been happening to
the newly immigrated francophones at the hands of Franco-Ontarians. Roud of the strength
of their collective identity, Franco-Ontarians have, according to new hcophones, barred
admission to the pre-existent power structures and stifled attempts of new members to create
sûuctures of their own. But the new international francophones have created a counter-
movement of recognition against Franco-Ontarian identity by virtue of their numbers and of
their desire to create new history. What is occurring in Toronto is a reconstmction of the
idea of French in Ontario, a phenomenon which is most likely occurring in al1 the major centres of Canada. A difficult, rnulti-faceted problern lies at the heart of the fkancophone cornmcniity. How do you bring together the global and the local on the same playing field,
particularly given that both have expenenced their own brand of oppression. 1s it possible
for one group to fùlly understand the fundamentai reality of its neighbour? This cnsis of representation for francophones penetrates right to the core of what it means to be a
francophone in Canada.
Torontois identity, in theory, is a manifestation of universal hcophonie.
Despite this, Ontario is coosidered one of the grands absents fiorn the organized comrnunity of international francophonie with 337,900 'real' francophones and no interest in joining
(Ager: 126). The gains to be made for a strong front outweigh the loss for Franco-Ontarians of a little perceiveci economic and political power. More plainly. there is a lot to be gained if the Franco-Ontarian commurity fully ernbraces the new immigrants as members of their cornmunity. For al1 hcophones outside of Quebec, the huth is, according to L'Express,
"coopération est synonyme de survie".
Although there are still invisible members of the francophone comrnunity in
Toronto - due to choice, intermarriage or economics - by and large the community has become far more visible due to the collective efforts of Iobbying organizations and the addition of visible minorities. Canada as a whole is suffering what writer Hubert Aquin refers to as "culhual fatigue" (Cook:98), but the changes occurring within francophone communities throughout Canada are exciting and worth following. Not enough attention is king paid to how changes within the francophone cornmunity impact upon the concept of two founding nations, on what it means to be hancophone and ultimately, what it rneans to be Canadian. Taylor's believes that "the absolutely crucial one [feature] that Canada must have in order to possess a raison d'être is that it contribute to the survival and/or hirtherance of la nation canadienne-fiançaise (1993: 163). It is smge that the ones who are barring admission to the francophone communities are none other than the Franco-Ontarians themselves.
Then is a sacient infktnicture already in place in Ontario to respond to the needs of al1 francophones. The new community requires less a broadening of specific resources than a philosophical broadening by Franco-Ontarians to embmce change. The numemus govemmental, educational and cultural institutions already in place have to rethink essential questions of francophone identity as a means of garnering more support. ACFO, which still has a phone line and is, presumably, not completely defunct, will have to reorganize in concert with the countless organkitions and associations developing to handle francophone speciai interest groups, thus ensuring that a community is maintained for future generations.
Change does not occur ovemight. The changes to the community, the political battles stagecl, won and Iost, have ken taking place over decades and will continue to do so within this most ethnically diverse city in the world. PAYSD'ORIGINE DES FRANCOPHONES
From the Toronto French Cornmittee's 1996 report Des services en hçais, S.V.P.!,pg. 70- 71.
Toronto métro Toronto (ville) Population totale 40,618 14,238 1 Population née au Canada 1 24,220 1 8,800 Population née a l'extérieur du Canada 16,395 5,438 France 2,263 1,090 1 Maroc
Portugal 905 595 Maurice 788 198
Égypte 753 140 Autres Europe 660 205 Viet Nam 660 305 1 Pologne 568 190 1 Roumaine
1 Autres Afrique 1 Autres Asie Autres Amérique du Sud 333 80 U.R.S.S. 325 68 1 Hong Kong 1313 1 85 1 Haiti . -- Belgique Suisse - Turquie Yougoslavie Étatsunis d'Amérique Allemagne
République pop. de Chine Autres Antilles Royaume-Uni Kampuc hea
Sn Lanka
Syrie
République ddmocratique de Somalie République fed. tchéque et slovaque - -- Argentine Algérie
Autres Amérique du Nord et Centrale Philippines Brésil El Salvador Pérou Mexique 48 18 Bulgarie 43 15 Ghana 35 8 Guatemala 33 O
-- 1 ~utresOcéanie 15 IO SCHEDULEB
. LANGUESAVANT D'ARRIVER AU CANADA
From Un Aperçu des Nouveaux Arrivants by Daniel L. Larocque, 1997, page 37. LA FRANCOPHONIE DAR
49 PAY S ET GOUVERNEMENTS AYANT LE_--- FRANÇAIS EN PARTAGE
L FRANCOPHONIE DANS LE MONDE
wick
I I'ilili i.
Francois Bergeron Director - L'Express Line Montreuil Director - Les Voix du Coeur Greg Brown Manager - Théâtre Français Jean Marais Producer - National Film Board, French Division Helen Pilotte Secretary - Societé d'histoire Sy lvia Richardson Assistant to Registrar - Toronto French School Roseanne Runte President - Victoria College/Societée d'écrivains member Noman Labrie Professor - OISE, Centre Franco-Ontarien Marie-France Dion Librarian - OISE, Centre Franco-Ontarien Paulette Gagnon Ontario Arts Council, Francophone Cultural Division Monica Heller Professor - OISE, Centre Franco-Ontarien Martine Rheault Promoter - Centre Francophone Nicholas Debon Assistant to Cultural Attache - Consulat Général de France Rosanna Brabar Director of Programs - Centre Francophone Patrick Monahan Constitutional law professor and lawyer to Guy Bertrand Simone Abouchar Ex mernber of AMFO Ann D'Youville Community member for 25 years Chair : André Duclos CECGT
Vice-chair: Carole Fugère CEFCUT
Mernbers: Nancy Geronazzo CMSC Marie Koïnasse AIFO Nacy LeBel Centre francophone Leona Légère Paroisse Sacre-Coeur Manon Le Pavan Centres Heritage Guy Levesque ACFOKUT
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