About AFNOO

AFNOO invites local businesses and employers to share their job offers for positions in French, bilingual or where French is an asset, and will post them for free on our website. Our job listing section is seen by people already established in the region or in the making, which makes targeting potential candidates easier. 

Friendly reminder: do not forget to include the mention "French is an asset" in your job description or title. 

Fill your vacancies or improve employee retention 

AFNOO’s resources can help you:

• Attract and recruit qualified, bilingual candidates.
• Post your bilingual job openings on our listing and our targeted networks.
• Refer future candidates to bilingual language training services. 
• Provide settlement support to successful candidates and their families. 
• Organize workshops to prepare or train your teams and new employees.

AFNOO can help you promote services offered in French in your company in three different ways : 

1 - Advertise in Le Relais magazine

Le Relais is a French regional magazine published twice a year with a circulation of 1200 copies and online. 

Read the latest edition here

2 - Directory of services in French 

AFNOO has developed a directory of French-language services to promote bilingualism and the French language as an asset in professional contexts. In addition, businesses can expand their customer base by displaying the services that they offer in French on our online Directory. This service is free of charge.

Whether you have a service available at all times, on request, a website or documentation, there is a way to include it in the directory, which is frequently consulted by Francophone tourists, newcomers to Northwestern Ontario and current residents.  This listing gives you and your service visibility and access to a vibrant and growing Francophone community in Northwestern Ontario and beyond.

We encourage you to talk to your employees: you'll be surprised to find out how many of them can serve your customers in the country's second official language! 

Register online

For more information or assistance, call AFNOO toll-free at 1 888 248-1712 or via email at promotion@afnoo.org. 

3 - Bonjour/Welcome Initiative

Did you know that 1,400,000 people speak French in Ontario?

The Bonjour/Welcome initiative is a campaign promoting the availability of French services in the region. With the help of the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario, the project encourages employers and businesses to let people know that they can receive services in French.

If you run a business, join the movement by building a bilingual offer. This will help expand your customer base, increase your sales and get your business free publicity on our platform. 

Bonjour/Welcome’s promotional items from AFNOO and be added to the Northwestern Ontario French Services Virtual Directory to increase their visibility free of charge.

If you’re interested in displaying your bilingualism, you can get Bonjour Welcome promotional items from AFNOO and list your services on the Northwestern Ontario French Language Services Virtual Directory to increase your visibility for free.

If you are new or know someone that is new to the Northwestern Ontario region, you can benefit from a wide range of free direct services to facilitate you or your contact’s successful economic and social integration into our beautiful region. 

Settlement services

AFNOO’s settlement services are available to Francophone and/or allophone newcomers. These services are designed to facilitate orientation, settlement, social integration and job search. 

For services in English, please contact etablissement@afnoo.org 

Welcome Kits

Thanks to the involvement of the entire Francophone community, newcomers now have access to a quality tool in French that brings together all the information they are looking for.

If you’re helping a newcomer Francophone settle into the region, we have resources available to help them orrient them and feel comfortable in their integration.

Built in collaboration with more than 20 partners, AFNOO is pleased to make available free French Welcome Kits for Francophone newcomers wishing to settle in Northwestern communities.

The Welcome Kits compile useful information for these communities: Dryden, Greenstone, Ignace, Thunder Bay, Manitouwadge, Marathon, Red Lake, Terrace Bay.

These Welcome Kits are tools available to all Francophones. Even long-time residents will find answers to their questions.

Here’s three ways you can contribute to the Francophone community of the region : 

1 - Franco-Festival

Join us each year in September for the Franco-Festival, where we celebrate the largest and only Francophone festival in Northwestern Ontario. 

Initiated by AFNOO in 2007 on its 30th anniversary, the Franco-Festival was created to put the francophone community of Northwestern Ontario on the map. Since then, the festival has been coordinated by the CentreFrancophone, with the help of the Thunder Bay francophone community and others partners.

Come and enjoy a Francophone experience with shows, activities for all ages and a typical food fair.

For more information, visit the Franco-Festival website.

2 - Franco-Ontarian Day

The celebration of the Franco-Ontarian identity and the important contribution of Francophones in Ontario happens on a yearly basis.  

Municipalities are invited to raise the Franco-Ontarian flag and issue a municipal proclamation for Franco-Ontarian Day on September 25th. 

Proud of our Flag

In the 1970s, after the formation of Acadia, Franco-Ontarians became the second French-Canadian community outside of Quebec to create an iconic flag to celebrate their identity. In 2001, the Ontario government passed a law making the Franco-Ontarian flag the official emblem of Francophones in Ontario. 

On the emblem, green represents summer and white represents winter. Together, the two colors represent the diversity of Ontario's climate. The lily represents the world's French-speaking community, while the trillium is Ontario's floral emblem.

3 - Historical Exhibitions 

What if you could contribute to the Francophone heritage? 

In collaboration with the Club canadien-français de Thunder Bay, AFNOO offers the opportunity to host one or two bilingual exhibitions in your organization, museum, school or city hall. 

Each exhibition is free and represents 10 vertical displays:  

Exhibit : Francophones of the Northwest: History and Heritage. 

Exhibit 2: Pride in the Northwest: 400 Years of French Presence in Ontario.

For more information or make a reservation contact us.

AFNOO has a wide pool of partners and group members that work in different sectors including education, culture, early childhood,  genealogy, women, health, entrepreneurship, seniors and youth. 

If you’re looking for partnerships, we invite you to search our List of organisations to find out which ones are in your area and what they can do for you. Who knows? This could be the beginning of a great alliance!

In 2020 AFNOO participated in AFO’s consultations to develop their Community Strategic Plan (CSP) for French Ontario - TOWARDS 2030, and began the process of evaluating its own 2016-2021 strategic plan in April 2021.

As a result of these exchanges, AFNOO chooses to further align itself with the French Ontario CSP by taking into consideration the unique realities of Francophones in the vast Northwestern Ontario region.

Read the Report  Read the Appendix

In February 2024, municipal councilors adopted a resolution to lower our flag in all locations in Greenstone (in front of the municipality and in its council chambers in Geraldton, Nakina and Longlac). This decision outraged the French-speaking community of Greenstone and the Northwestern Ontario region and caused noise elsewhere in the province and in Canada. Here are articles published in the English press.

Document submitted for Deputation. 

A complete press kit brings together French-speaking publications and AFNOO actions.