Researchers: Naomi Fortier-Fréçon, Francis Denis, Jacqueline Castilloux
This research project seeks to explore how students attending a Francophone high school in Saskatoon perceive the Fransaskois identity in their personal lives. Due to the ever changing realities of Saskatchewan demographics, the definition of a Fransaskois has changed, and we wish to find out how the Fransaskois youth of today see themselves within this community. Through reflection, students will be invited to draw their personal representation of a Fransaskois.
As the only French first language school board in Saskatchewan, the Conseil des écoles fransaskoises (CÉF) carries out a triple mandate to prepare its students to live their Francophone cultural identity daily: language, identity, and culture. As a result, the development of Francophone identity lies at the heart of the Fransaskois curriculum. We believe it is important to investigate this question through students’ perceptions and their collected stories, which will provide insight into teaching and deep learning that will help us, and other teachers, improve how we teach about cultural identity in a minority linguistic setting. Our hope is that potential contributions from this study will help to better understand the diversity of the Fransaskois community.