A few years ago, I was attending a conference run by L’Association canadienne des professionnels de l’immersion (ACPI). It was an excellent conference. The quality of the workshops was high, it was extremely well organized, and everyone had a great time at the events. I would recommend the ACPI conferences to any French immersion teacher or administrator, and I have great respect for all of the fantastic projects run by the hard-working people at ACPI. That conference also helped me to understand why I’ve never fully fit under that organization’s umbrella despite the fact that one of my main areas of research and work is immersion teacher education. The light bulb went off when, in one of the opening talks, the since-deceased historian, Serge Bouchard, greeted the ACPI crowd as ‘francophones et francophiles.’ I looked out at the room, and everyone smiled back at him, many nodding enthusiastically. But I couldn’t relate to either of those labels.

Ni Francophone, Ni Francophile

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*Belonging, Identity, Language, Diversity Research Group (BILD) 
*Groupe de Recherche Langage, Identité, Diversité, Appartenance (LIDA)

We want to start conversations about local happenings and experiences in and outside of Montreal. We consider and write about the world around us from a critical sociolinguistic perspective. We welcome you to join the conversation and share your own local perspective(s).

Ni Francophone, Ni Francophile

BILD / LIDA