Franco cité

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Franco-Cité
Address
90 rue Main Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, Canada
Website
http://www.francocite.ca/
Information
Principal	Jean-Luc Proulx
Vice principal	Luc Larocque
Grades	9 to 12
Language	French

Situated in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. L'école secondaire Franco-cité is one of the first high schools to have fought for French rights in Ontario.

[edit] History

Once known as Sturgeon Falls secondary school, most of the classes were taught in English while 90% of the students were of French backgrounds. The students rebelled against Ontario's educational system to have the right to go to school and learn in French. The strike led to many events that will be marked in Franco-Ontarian history. The most significant moment during this strike was the human gate created by many students. The students sat down on each side of the hallway and closed in their legs tight to prevent the president of the school board to reach the school principal. The strike ended and Sturgeon Falls high school was renamed Franco-cité. The English school was re-built on a new site, that school would later be known as Northern secondary school. In 2004, Franco-cité students, with the help of teachers like Yves Lafrenière, Jean-Marc Guénette, Marcel Bougie, Gilles Cuillerier, Marc St-George, Luc Larocque etc. Created a play with a goal to help wake up French communities around Ontario, with their play mainly echoing the problem of assimilation. The story surrounded the decisions that needed to be made by a young girl named Julie (played by Angèle Savage and Linda Larocque), having to decide whether she wanted to go with her boyfriend Roch (played by Martin Larocque) to the English school or stay at Franco with her best-friend Manon (played by Danielle Perreault and Carine Labrecque)to learn in French. The play offers many supporting characters, the biggest supporting character is an Italian pizza man , who, like many Shakespearian plays, had the ability to talk with the audience without the other characters being aware of it. This character (played by Stéphane Marcoux and François Castilloux) was perfectly integrated in the play, relieving suspense and playing the role of comic relief. The play toured around Ottawa and Sturgeon Falls. Now, 35 years later, the school holds a very strong pride for its French tradition and continues its successful lifestyle.

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