Members of Sault Ste. Marie’s Franco-Ontarian community stationed themselves outside of the offices of MPP Ross Romano Saturday to protest the provincial government’s decision to cut the independent office of the French-language services commissioner and scrap a planned French university in Ontario.
Similar protests against the cuts to francophone services were staged in 40 communities across the province.
Jessica Torrance, president of the Centre francophone de Sault-Ste-Marie, says she's at the rally to send a message to Premier Doug Ford.
“We still feel that we have rights, we still feel like we deserve to have the French university, and the french language commissioner was there to make sure that our rights were taken care of,” said Jessica Torrance, president of the Centre francophone de Sault-Ste-Marie. “For us, it feels like he doesn’t care about us, and it feels like he’s going to keep cutting stuff for us.”
Dana Thomson, who came back to her hometown of Sault Ste. Marie to visit for the weekend, felt compelled to stand in solidarity with the throng of Franco-Ontarians lined up along Bay Street and Elgin Street Saturday afternoon.
The former Ecole Notre-Dame-du-Sault student says she’s worried that losing the independent office of the French-language services commissioner will eliminate provincial services that are also offered in French.
Ontario residents are entitled to, by law, receive services in French from the central office of any provincial government ministry, or from local offices located in one of 26 designated areas in the province.
“French services aren’t mandatory anymore, so as French people, we really want our rights back,” Thomson told SooToday. “As the second language in Canada, that’s pretty important.”
Late last week, the provincial government announced plans to create a commissioner position within the office of the provincial ombudsman, establish a Ministry of Francophone Affairs, and hire a senior policy adviser on francophone affairs in the premier's office.
Not good enough, says Torrance, whose Centre francophone de Sault-Ste-Marie promotes French language and culture locally.
“I see that he’s trying to come back on what he did, but for us, it’s still not good enough,” she said. “He never mentioned anything about the french university, which was something very important to us.”
“He’s trying to get back on track...but it’s still not the same, it’s still not what we had.”
As cars on Bay Street honked in support, Torrance told SooToday that she was more than happy with the turnout for Saturday’s rally.
“I’m very happy to see so many people coming to support us, and to prove that we are here to stay,” she said.
On Wednesday, rookie conservative legislator Amanda Simard broke ranks with the Ontario PC Party in support of an attempt to overturn the cuts to French services.
- with files from The Canadian Press