Happy Franco-Ontarian Day, Canada!

25th September is Franco-Ontarian Day in Canada. We celebrate the Francophone community in Ontario this day.

It’s the anniversary of raising the Franco-Ontarian flag, which was first flown in Sudbury in 1975.

The flag was designed and created by Michel Dupuis and Gaétan Gervais and features a trillium flower to symbolise Ontario, a fleur-de-lys for the French language, green to signify summer, and white to represent winter.

The flag symbolises continuities in the history of the linguistic minority it represents. Initially embraced by the Franco-Ontarian community, it was officially recognised by the legislative assembly as the emblem of Ontario’s Francophones in 2001. In 2020, it was designated as an official emblem of Ontario.

Francophones across the province celebrated their heritage and culture on Wednesday during Franco-Ontarian Day.

The idea of creating a distinctive flag for the Franco-Ontarian community began to take shape in the 1960s. Before that, the Carillon-Sacré-Cœur flag and the fleurdelisé (the flag of Québec) were commonly used to express religious and cultural identity.

We love our Franco-Ontario Canadians.