From February 13th to 16th 2010, 30 bilingual leaders from everywhere in Canada met up in Halifax for French for the Future’s National ambassador Youth Forum.

Celine Raisbeck from Bellegarde was present as a representative from Saskatchewan.  She has one Anglophone parent and one Francophone parent.  She speaks English at home and attends a francophone school.

Here are her impressions just after the forum:


While waiting for my plane back home, I thought about my weekend.  Every experience changes me in a way and this one opened up a pride in me stronger than before. 

In Halifax, I really learned to appreciate my French language.  I now have a strong sense that I need to save the French culture in my area.  I want to keep that feeling with me because I didn’t know before how easy it is to lose a culture.  But now I know it thanks to the young Acadians panellists who spoke to us at the Université Sainte-Anne. 

But what puts a weight on my shoulders is the difficulty of accomplishing all my intentions as an ambassador of bilingualism.  My father always tells me: “Celine, you are a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant.”  But I’m not only Anglo-Saxon… I am Fransaskoise.  There are few people who can identify as Fransaskois.

During the group discussions at the forum, I learned that the situation is almost the same everywhere in Canada: students don’t make an effort with French.  With the feelings of pride and urgency I developed In Halifax, that fact discourages me.  I don’t want the Francophone culture to die in Bellegarde (SK).  But in Halifax, I was also encouraged by everyone around me who, like me, are proud of their French skills.  They face the same challenges as me and have the same passion to keep French alive.

It’s wonderful to see how people who are so different can unite around French.  It is completely true that French opens up another world. 

I want to thank Ronald Bourgeois, a wonderful Francophone singer-songwriter and the coordinator of the forum.  He touched me through his music and added a lot to the weekend.  Also, all the friendships that were formed were unbelievable. 

It was a fantastic weekend and I encourage everyone to apply next year.