In 2022, grade 9 students at École secondaire catholique de La Vérendrye in Thunder Bay took part in an ambitious but above all courageous school project: the creation of a video vignette with Improtéine's Vincent Poirier and Nadia Campbell. They conceived, wrote and performed sketches reflecting the challenges and riches of living in a community where French is a minority language.
"In our schools, we talk about identity building, cultural referents and linguistic insecurity. We place the student at the heart of the educational project, and it's with this in mind that we wanted to give a voice to young people, so that they could freely express their ideas and positions on these issues," says Mireille Major-Levesque, Director of Education.
In a climate of trust and respect, the students opened up about the situation in a French-language school that can be experienced from one end of the country to the other. They were able to share their vision and reality as students in a French-language school in a minority context, without filters or censorship.
The video (https://youtu.be/_5-SSfX3k7U) was published on YouTube and Facebook on June 6, 2022. On Facebook, it received 353 likes, 70 comments and 329 shares. It has appeared more than 52,000 times on screen. On YouTube, it has accumulated over 1,400 views since it went online.
It crossed the country, relayed by organizations such as ACFA (Association canadienne-française de l'Alberta), ACELF (Association canadienne d'éducation de langue française), and community figures in Regina (Saskatchewan) and Orleans (Ontario).
Proud francophones? Kind of.
In 2025, the students who took part are now in grade 12 and finishing high school. It's the perfect time to revisit their identity journey and answer the question: three years on, does their discourse remain the same? Are they in line with what they said back then? So the school board invited Improtéine back to shoot a second video vignette. This time, the students had no advance notice. No staging or script was provided; the aim was to elicit from them a spontaneous dialogue and genuine reflection on their personal evolution.
This new capsule (https://youtu.be/8mjjOb2NYPI) is to witness their journey and confront them with the builders of Thunder Bay's francophone community: Denis Malette (First Principal of ESC La Vérendrye), Claudette Gleeson (President of the School Board) and Denyse Culligan (community activist). Particularly touching, she challenges us on questions of identity, the role of the community and the place of young people.
"The sentiments expressed will enable us to share many reflections within our schools, between employees, families and with community organizations. Young people are always teaching us new things," emphasized Claudette Gleeson at the screening in front of students, parents and the community during Francophonie Month.
"We must continue to value our language and culture, but above all to encourage our young people to express themselves and take their place in our community. Youth is by definition synonymous with change, and they can be proud to be part of that change! Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to enter a period of questioning and change. You've given us a gift, and we're going to try to live up to it," shared Krystal Murray, Director of ESC de La Vérendrye.
The exchanges between the builders and the young people, although too numerous to fit into an 8-minute capsule, were incredibly rich. That's why we've decided to create a third capsule, dedicated solely to the face-to-face exchanges, which will be available in June.
