By investing $100,000 in a feasibility study by the Center francophone du Grand Toronto (CFGT) on the creation of a gathering place for Francophones in the Queen City, on Monday, Ottawa was involved in a third project of its kind in approximately three years. Some members of the community are now wondering if all these projects have a place, although the question does not arise for others.
Projects for gathering places have multiplied in recent years in Toronto, but do not necessarily succeed.
In 2019, Canadian Heritage invested $1.9 million in the establishment of the Carrefour francophone du savoir et de l’innovation at the Université de l’Ontario français (UOF), a place intended to house community organizations and even university premises. The crossroads – a network that links the establishment to a dozen partners – does not yet have a physical location.
Officials from the same department are also currently evaluating the Maison de la francophonie project, which is also intended as a gathering place northeast of downtown Toronto; its steering committee wishes to obtain nearly 18 million in public funds to carry it out.
To this project was added Monday the feasibility study of the CFGT, which will evaluate the addition of community spaces is necessary in the Ontario metropolis. The center’s general manager, Florence Ngenzebuhoro, imagines a place similar to the Maison de la francophonie in Ottawa.
The vice-rector responsible for partnerships at the UOF, Édith Dumont, admits that the three groups communicate “perhaps badly” about their respective projects, but affirms that the latter can very well coexist. His opinion, however, is not shared by all. “Given the failure of such projects in the past, I do not see how such competitors could succeed,” notes Lise Marie Baudry, former director general of the CFGT. “I have a bit of a problem with these projects being isolated. Together, we are stronger,” says former Ontario Minister of Francophone Affairs, Madeleine Meilleur.
Long in the making
The Franco-Toronto community has been trying for years to design a place bringing together its organizations and members, without success.
The Maison de la francophonie project is the oldest: it has had several pilots – from Collège Boréal, in 2016, to a steering committee of five people today – and several versions. As recently as 2017, the UOF planning committee saw her as a potential partner, since she was considering getting into the management of student residences. In an interview with the daily The right in 2014, after raising funds, Richard Kempler, then administrator of the Maison de la francophonie, affirmed that the opening of the latter could occur in 2015, at a cost of 25 million dollars.
Lise-Marie Baudry wonders if the community really needs such a place. “The Maison de la francophonie is a long story of naivety, fantasy and lack of political strategy”, explains the former director of the CFGT. The province, for its part, has still not invested in the project.
The former administrator believes that the UOF project is the most pragmatic and the most coherent. The latter already has several partners, such as Groupe Média TFO, three French-language school boards and charities. It also has a full-time director since last November.
Florence Ngenzebuhoro, the director general of the CFGT, thinks that her project could feed into that of the UOF and vice versa. The Franco-Torontoise, however, prefers not to comment on the need to have three separate locations. Collège Boréal, which has already wanted to have its own crossroads, supports the CFGT study and thinks that the Maison de la Francophonie project is interesting and “responds to the needs expressed by the community”.
Denis Vaillancourt, president of the Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario from 2010 to 2016, believes that there is a risk of duplication of effort. The CFGT study could, on the other hand, make it possible to initiate a dialogue and optimize the use of public investments.
Ottawa, for its part, says it has a responsibility as a funder “to assess the various funding requests it receives”.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.