Normand Prévost didn’t speak English when he arrived in Sarnia more than 40 years ago from Montreal.
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He was part of a group of 84 families transferred to the city when Imperial Oil shut down its Montreal refinery.
“At first, we were all sticking together, because you need someone to rely on,” said Prévost, president of Sarnia’s Jolliet Francophone Cultural Centre. “Eventually, we all started to adapt. It took a little while, but we’re still here.”
Friday, members of Sarnia’s francophone community gathered at the LCBO on Quinn Drive for a ceremony and a toast as it officially marked designation as a French language services store with bilingual signs, French versions of company publications and some bilingual staff. Other LCBOs in the city will also have bilingual signs.
“We are proud to offer our services in French to our customers in Sarnia,” said LCBO district manager Terry Dubuque. “We see it as a steppingstone for greater inclusiveness in our community.”
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The LCBO event came on the day Sarnia’s designation under the province’s French Language Services Act officially came into force.
It was first approved in 2021, followed by three years to build French language services at local provincial offices, as well as by third parties providing services on its behalf.
Paul Bourgeois, with cultural center, said Patrice Dufour and Yanya Tamilio, with the cultural center and the Center Communauté Francophone de Sarnia-Lambton worked hard beginning in 2018 to see the city designated by the province.
Speaking during Friday’s event, Bourgeois and his wife Rachelle Bourgois noted francophones were the first Europeans to settle in Sarnia.
Now the Sarnia area is home to about 5,400 francophones making up about four per cent of the population.
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“What it means to the local community is we will know when we can be served in French,” Rachelle Bourgeois said about the provincial designation. “It’s not going to be a mystery.”
At the Quinn Drive LCBO, a sign lets customers know bilingual staff wear green decal buttons.
She said they’ve already noticed signs at the LCBO posted in French, and that some French language signs have been added along Highway 402.
“Service Ontario is amazing,” she said. Visiting her Sarnia location in the spring, she was served in French, Bourgeois said.
Bluewater Health also said recently it’s working to provide more services in French.
“It’s little steps,” Rachelle Bourgeois said. She added she hopes other services will follow the LCBO’s example and find ways to easily identify bilingual staff.
“Every long journey starts with a single step,” Paul Bourgeois said. “As we go forward, it will be easier and easier to get French services as these things develop.”
That’s important because there are francophone residents of the Sarnia area, including recent immigrants, who don’t speak English and can struggle when they need to access services, such as health care, he said.
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