I watched a great video series about the Francophone community in Alberta this week.
“How to be French in Alberta” is a documentary series filmed primarily in French to reach audiences both inside and outside the Francophone community. It was produced by Telus and is available for free on YouTube. There’s a companion series called “How to be French in British Columbia,” which I will write about next.
One of the things I liked about the series is how the producers centred each short episode around one theme. The first episode is called How To Be French: En Alberta – Ep1 – The Beginnings, and it features eight older French speakers living in Alberta. They speak about how they or their families arrived in the province, a bit about their lives, the Francophone communities that they found/made, and their hopes for the future.
Ep2 – The Restaurant is centred around a restaurant called Chartier in the heart of Beaumont, Alberta, a community founded by French settlers. The video takes us behind the scenes and into the hearts and homes of its owners Sylvia and Darren Cheverie. Ep3 – The Politician introduces us to Randy Boissonnault, a Member of Parliament from Morinville, Alberta. In Ep4 – The Road Trip we take a road trip through the Rocky Mountains with four young francophones.
Ep5 – The Artist takes us to the studio of Patrick Ares-Pilon, a multidisciplinary artist living in Edmonton. His specialty is stereoscopic photography. Ep6 – The Arrival focuses on how immigration has expanded the francophone community in Alberta in a beautiful way. In Ep7 – The Barber we meet a barber named Lison Laverdière, originally from Abitibi, who now lives in Grande Prairie.
Ep8 – The Principal describes the ongoing fight for an education system that will safeguard French language and culture in Alberta. Today, l’École Nouvelle-Frontière in Grande Prairie thrives, partly due to its magnetic and energetic principal, Benoit Dubé. Ep9 – The Mechanic focuses on Denis St-Laurent, a friendly car mechanic from Grande Prairie.
Ep10 – The Newcomers introduces us to four French-speaking newcomers living in Fort McMurray. They share their stories of separation, transition, and resilience as they also recount what they experienced during the devastating wildfire of 2016. We meet Dr. Sonia Thibault in Ep11 – The Dentist. Sonia transformed a negative experience with a dentist at a young age into a passion for dental health by becoming a dentist herself. She offers healthcare in French, fulfilling a great community need.
Ep12 – The Leader looks at how part-time farmer Linda Beaudet has enriched Grande Prairie’s French immersion community by encouraging kids to learn a second language to become good bilingual citizens. Linda emphasises the importance of speaking French in everyday life, not just in the classroom.
I hope you will check the series out!
Catherine Fisher, blogger
