Honourable senators, the Franco-Ontarian flag was first raised at the University of Sudbury on September 25, 1975, and on Thursday, it will celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Our flag represents the spirit, values and identities of Franco-Ontarians. It expresses our history, our culture and our hopes. It is a symbol of unity and pride. The green and white symbolize summer and winter, the diversity of Ontario’s climate. The fleur-de-lys reminds us that we belong to the global francophone community. The trillium is Ontario’s official flower, symbolizing where we live and where we belong.

The province recognized our flag as the official emblem of the Franco-Ontarian community in 2001 and it has been an official emblem of Ontario since September 24, 2020.

Brian St-Pierre, a Franco-Ontarian singer-songwriter, musician and musical director, has set our francophone identity to music. I want to share some of the lyrics to his song:

Our Flag

They founded families in this wintry land

Producing countless descendants

Once grown, their children resisted those who would subdue them

Glory to my fair flag, the flag of Ontario’s francophones

I raise my flag high so all can see

That I am Franco-Ontarian!

Faithful to their distant past and the language of their ancestors

Proud to have come, to have stayed, to be here still all these years later

Let us raise our fair flag

Let us fly it ever higher

Franco-Ontarian now and forever

Acadia has August 15; Quebec has June 24; and Ontario has September 25. I dream of the day when every province and territory in this country celebrates the French language and its great contribution to our country’s wonderful diversity.

I wish happy franco day to all whose francophone identity is near and dear to their heart.