Nanaimo recognized as a Welcoming Francophone Community
Cloutier (right) said Nanaimo is a multicultural community and has a desire to become a bilingual community. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm
Nanaimo has been awarded the title of a Welcoming Francophone Community highlighting its growing French-speaking community.
Under the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Nanaimo has joined the list of 23 other communities across the country with this new title.
According to the IRCC, each of the 24 communities was picked based on its already inclusive Francophone community to create an even larger welcoming Francophone community for French-speaking newcomers in Canada.
This is exciting news for the Association des Francophones de Nanaimo who applied for this initiative.
Julie Cloutier is the president and Camille Veron is the executive director of the association, CHLY spoke with them following the news of Nanaimo being awarded the title.
Veron said with this title, the association will be given resources and funding through the IRCC to welcome all French-speaking newcomers to Nanaimo and offer services to help them integrate into the community.
Nanaimo is only one of the two communities in British Columbia to be given this title. Prince George was one of the first communities selected in this initiative back in 2018 during its pilot project.
Cloutier said they saw how the initiative benefited Prince George’s already large French-speaking community with immigration support, employment preparation, and community connections and recerational activities.
“What they do over there was so big, like lots of newcomer over there, build a really nice cultural community where they mix well with the actual resident from Prince George,” Cloutier said. “So they become a really well cultural diversity, like human beings altogether.”
Cloutier said they spoke with groups from Prince George over Zoom during the COVID-19 Pandemic to see how they were working on growing their community.
“They started really small, but now they are really big, and they have a really good mix of culture,” Cloutier said. “I always say cultural, but it's also the human resources–like human relationships.”
Veron said she thinks Nanaimo deserves the title and the community is going to work hard on building a strong and diverse welcoming Francophone space.
“For Nanaimo, I think as a fast-growing city is gonna make the city shine even more because we're in a bilingual country and being a Welcoming Francophone Community in an environment where English is really, really strong and represent the majority, it will give something more to Nanaimo compared to the other places around,” Veron said.
Cloutier said Nanaimo is a multicultural community and has a desire to become a bilingual community. She said services like Service Canada and smaller businesses in Nanaimo are already offering bilingual services for French-speaking community members and tourists.
For Cloutier when she moved from Quebec City to Nanaimo nine years ago, after falling in love with Vancouver Island, she did not know any English.
“I moved to Nanaimo, and I never regret it, because even if I was not speaking English–because my English was zero at that time–nine years ago, people were super nice and really calm with me,” Cloutier said. “They say, ‘no worries, just take your time,’ because sometimes I didn't understand, or I wanted to order or want to go buy something, and I didn't understand the money. But people were just patient and smiley, so that makes just me feel what a nice place to just be.”
She said she started learning English when she moved to Nanaimo and even completed her teacher’s degree at Vancouver Island University which helped her strengthen her English.
Cloutier said that newcomers to Nanaimo who do not speak English should not be afraid to try.
“Don't be scared to mix up, because you have your place, and people will welcome you and will be patient–be patient with yourself,” Cloutier said. “I say the same also with people who want to say, ‘I would like to learn French,’ just be patient with you, but you have to be engaged.”
Veron moved to Nanaimo from France with her partner and baby two and a half years ago. While they did speak English before moving, she said they were able to find a nice French-speaking community in Nanaimo.
“What is great for newcomers in Nanaimo, it's that many people, because it's a growing city, many people have been living in different places, and they come from different places, or they were born in Nanaimo, but then they've been studying or living in other places and coming back to Nanaimo because it's a really, really nice place to live in,” Veron said. “So I feel really lucky to live here now.”
Veron said that while Nanaimo is a growing city that is already welcoming to newcomers, there is are still opportunities to help francophones move or immigrate to Nanaimo.
“Here at the association, we see more and more newcomers coming,” Veron said. “We also refer them to the specific services they can have, either locally in English or the francophone ones that will be more online. We also give them like, tips and advice as to how is it to arrive as a Francophone from another culture in Nanaimo.
Veron said their hope for the association is to grow the resources they have and host more events to have newcomers meet with francophone residents who were born in Nanaimo or who have settled in Nanaimo.
“There is a need as well from our partners. For example, the École Océane, the Francophone school, needs to have more children coming in to develop and open new sections and be more consistent,” Veron said. So they are really with us on this project, and that will benefit them as well. Also, all the other services and businesses in Nanaimo will benefit from a bilingual workforce.”
Cloutier said while they were working on the application, they heard from many community partners and from the City of Nanaimo about their enthusiasm for the application. She said this title will put Nanaimo on the map and highlight this community for French-speaking immigrants when choosing where to go in Canada.
She said this initiative will give the association the chance to be able to upgrade the services they already provide and create new ones for not just newcomers but also members of the associations and other community members.
For now, the association will start by hearing from community members on what they would like to see from the association before they work with the IRCC to make it possible.
Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.