Morinville raises the Francophone flag

10006258_735476803163715_1937906130_n

1924633_735476629830399_481018450_n

Morinville – Mayor Lisa Holmes raised The Franco-Albertan flag in front of Town Hall Friday morning. The blue, white and pink flags are flying over municipalities in Alberta as communities raise the Franco-Albertan flag in honour of Rendez-vous de la Francophonie (RVF), an initiative of the Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue, a group who promotes and supports dialogue between the Francophone and Acadian, and all other communities in Canada.

Cathy Pellerin, regional director of the French Association of Alberta was emcee for the event. “Every francophone Canadian will be like us, celebrating the French community this time of year,” Pellerin said. “This year the theme is the joy of living in francophone communities in Canada. In Alberta there are almost 66,000 people whose first language is French, which is pretty amazing. In our beautiful province there are more than 238,000 who speak French.”

Guest speakers included Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA Maureen Kubinec, Mayor Lisa Holmes, Ecole Notre Dame School Principal Marlene Pelletier, and the ACFA regional centralta President David Frechette. Frechette said he was proud to be in attendance for the sixth annual provincial raising of the flag. Also in attendance was Marie-Laure Polydore, Director, Special Projects and Entrepreneurship with CDEA (conseil de developpement economique de l’Alberta).

The event was well attended by Notre Dame students who sang O Canada. The flag aising was performed by Mayor Holmes with the assistance of Community Peace Officer David Budgell.

“Raising the Franco-Albertan Flag, celebrating the festivities of Rendez-Vous de la Francophonie along with our friends and community partners like the ACFA are important ways that our community can show the pride that we have in being a Francophone community,” Holmes said in her presentation, adding the Town will hold a ceremony at the beginning of May to mark Morinville’s participation in the Concerto project from CDEA to move the community forward as a member of a group of Alberta’s Francophone Municipalities focusing on Economic Development.

That event is scheduled to take place May 9. The Concerto Network promotes a province-wide bilingual municipalities Network based on economic development instruments. Members include Plamondon and Beaumont. The Concerto Network will be based on tourism development, recruitment and employability, attraction of bilingual residents, entrepreneurs and investors and sustainable development and green economy.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email