In the Port-au-Port Peninsula, we all have an ancestor of French or Acadian origin. These are our roots, whether we speak French or English today.

All parents who live in our region have the right to enrol their children in our school. We are also heirs to a rich culture and beautiful traditions that our grandparents and parents were able to preserve with determination and pride, often in the face of adversity. “In the past, French was forbidden in public places, even though the majority of the population was Francophone or Acadian. For example, at school, those who spoke French were isolated in a room or beaten with leather straps. As a result, French seemed lost,” was the reminder in the book Si le CSFP m’était conté, published on the occasion of the Council’s 10th anniversary in 2008.

But thanks to the struggles waged in the early 1970s by the Francophones of the Peninsula, French is still alive in our country! In addition to claiming the right to speak French, they demanded to have their own schools. In 1975, the return of French to schools first took the form of immersion classes in Cap Saint-Georges. And in 1984, two schools for teaching French as a first language opened their doors, in La Grand’Terre and Cap Saint-Georges. In 1987, the Centre communautaire et scolaire Sainte-Anne, in which École Sainte-Anne is located today, was officially inaugurated.

Thanks to these schools, as well as community organizations in the region, the French language, as well as Francophone and Acadian culture and traditions, are now part of our present and our future. In this way, we can pass on to our children the benefits of bilingualism as soon as they finish high school.