While the approximately 65,000 Franco-Torontoers await the opening of a space where they could gather, other Francophone minorities have already benefited from the presence of such a place in their municipality for several years.
Several Francophone communities outside Quebec have succeeded in building gathering places for their fellow citizens over the past 30 years. Francophones obtain services there and participate in group activities. Communities in Edmonton, Vancouver and Ottawa have overcome the main challenges associated with opening these collective places, such as obtaining a suitable site and the necessary funding, but also the ability to assemble a competent team.
Daniel Cournoyer, general manager of the Cité francophone in Edmonton, who says he is often approached by other groups wanting to know “how and why the Cité works”, warns that the model of a city will not necessarily work elsewhere. “You have to work in the context where we are,” he says.
The appropriate place
For their project to see the light of day, the Toronto groups may have to benefit from the same circumstances that allowed the construction of the Cité francophone and the Maison de la francophonie d’Ottawa. In both cases, the steering committees obtained prized land on the territory of their municipalities. These lands were public since they previously belonged to a school board.
According to Ronald Bisson, vice-president of the Coopérative multiservices francophone de l’ouest d’Ottawa (CMFO) — the organization that manages the house — the CMFO obtained the land, worth $2 million, located in a central district, for $1. La Cité francophone d’Edmonton, for its part, acquired its own, a stone’s throw from the francophone campus of the University of Alberta, at a cost of $1.2 million in the 1990s.
To make a large building live, it takes someone with strong backs and accustomed to managing large infrastructures.
At the time, the City encouraged multicultural groups to settle in industrial districts. Instead, City officials insisted that it be built near campus. “Much of our success comes from our location,” Daniel Cournoyer explains today.
This type of agreement is not currently discussed publicly by Toronto groups, although the location targeted by the Maison de la francophonie is downtown. The steering committee of the Maison de la francophonie in Toronto is seeking to acquire a Victorian house valued at $12.5 million, while the Université de l’Ontario français (UOF), for its Carrefour du savoir , and the Center francophone du Grand Toronto did not share their strategies. The Center is, however, initiating a feasibility study financed by Ottawa which could answer the question.
A key team
A unifying place project needs a group of bold, visionary leaders with different skills, explains Franco-Albertan Daniel Cournoyer. And to this team must be attached partners “with strong backs”, say two members of the boards of directors of houses of the Francophonie.
In Ottawa, this involves an agreement with the Conseil des écoles publiques de l’est de l’Ontario (CEPEO); in Vancouver — where real estate prices are the highest in the country — by marrying a developer.
By 2026, the British Columbian metropolis could have already opened its second house of the Francophonie. The current house, inaugurated in 1990 thanks in particular to funding from the Quebec government, is in poor condition.
In 2018, the Vancouver house partnered with Montreal developer Canderel, who bought the adjacent land. The house also sold its land to the developer, creating a larger lot on which Canderel will build a new house with a condominium tower above. “Without such a partnership, we would have needed to renovate the entire house, which would have cost millions,” explains architect Pierre Gallant, chairman of the board of directors of the Maison de la francophonie in Vancouver.
In 2016, the CEPEO became the owner of the Maison de la francophonie d’Ottawa. “To make a big building live, it takes someone with strong backs and accustomed to managing large infrastructures”, underlines Ronald Bisson. “It costs thousands of dollars, clearing community centers. We don’t have this headache at all, because the council takes care of it, ”explains the Ottawan. “You have no idea how grateful I am to the CEPEO,” adds the vice-president.
The three projects underway in Toronto rely on separate teams, but they can count on experienced people. Edith Dumont, the vice-president of partnerships at the UOF — notably responsible for the Carrefour du savoir — was director of education at the CEPEO when the Maison de la francophonie d’Ottawa opened. Linda Savard, president of the CEPEO when the latter became the owner of the site, is one of the five members of the founding committee of the Maison de la francophonie de Toronto.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.