Leader-Post: French program enrolment numbers growing in Sask.

Nine-year-old Serena Chartrand’s first phrase in French was “Give me your hand” because of a vivid memory with her father.

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Why is 2012 the Year of the Fransaskois instead of Year of the Francophone?

Paul Heppelle, the president of the Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise (ACF) said it is because a Francophone is anybody who speaks French and does not distinguish the Saskatchewan identity.

He said that ‘Fran’ comes from ‘Français’ which describes the language. The ‘sask’ comes from ‘Saskatchewan,’ which is the place they helped build and now live in and the ‘ois’ in French means ‘a person who.’

Therefore, a Fransaskois is a person who speaks French and lives in Saskatchewan.



Eleven-year-old Max Berg, a Grade 6 student at the francophone school, école Monseigneur de Laval, had more to say about the Year of the Fransaskois.

“The francophones and more importantly Fransaskois can have their important time where they’re important and I feel that this is very important to me and I’m very happy that it’s happening,” said Berg.



What will the Year of the Fransaskois incorporate?

"For over a century, before Saskatchewan was ever a province, francophone settlers from Europe, Eastern Canada and the United States began to arrive in this land to build a better life," Provincial Secretary Wayne Elhard said in a news release.

"These settlers and the generations that followed, our province's Fransaskois, have continued to not only survive but flourish and have grown into a vibrant community that is now an integral component of the history and identity of the great province of Saskatchewan."

The Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise (ACF), the primary francophone organization in the province, is also celebrating its centennial in 2012. The news release stated a celebration will be held by the ACF in Duck Lake on Feb. 25. 

"Fransaskois culture is distinctive to the province of Saskatchewan," stated the release. "The year long celebration is an opportunity for all residents no matter their heritage, or the language that they speak, to celebrate this unique aspect of our province.