About us

There are two components to the organizational structure of the commemorations of the 400th anniversary of French presence in Ontario : the Provincial Organizing Committee and the Provincial Community Steering Committee.

Provincial Organizing Committee

This committee oversees the various governmental projects related to the 400th.


Provincial Community Steering Committeee

The community component is led by a Provincial Community Steering Committee created in March 2012.

The Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario

The Réseau du patrimoine franco-ontarien (RPFO; aka Franco-Ontarian Heritage Network), a province-wide organization responsible for promoting knowledge of the history and highlighting the  heritage of French Ontario, found itself lead coordinator of the project following the Summit on the Future of Franco-Ontarian Cultural Heritage held in 2009. At the time, more than 125 representatives from the institutional and community sectors mandated the RPFO with overseeing the liaison and coordination of community initiatives for the 400th, with an eye to celebrating, “with great fanfare,” this pivotal anniversary for all Franco-Ontarians.

However, the project took on such dimensions that, today, it reaches into every sector of Ontario society, and was consequently given to the Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario (the Assemblée).

The Assemblée is the umbrella organization and political voice of the French-speaking population of Ontario. Its mandate is to consult the province’s francophone community and, among other things, act as an advocate for the rights of the province’s 611,500 Franco-Ontarians.

The Assemblée is governed by a Board of Directors made up of 24 members:

– A Chair

– 5 representatives from the 5 regions of Ontario

– 4 representatives from the community of Francophone racial and ethnocultural minorities

– 14 representatives from community and identity sectors

The Chair of the Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario, Denis Vaillancourt, was re-elected on Saturday, October 26, 2013 for a second three-year term.

To learn more about the Assemblée, visit www.monassemblee.ca.

In the context of the 400th project, the mandate of the Assemblée is to:

  • provide all support services to the Provincial Community Steering Committee for the 400th
  • be responsible for the implementation of community efforts for provincial consultation, coordination and liaison