"Many cultures, one vision," is how Mario Paris, the association's territorial cultural manager describes the work of art, to be situated at McAvoy Rock.

The project involves Armand Vaillancourt, a Quebec artist, sand-blasting the images of donated children's drawings on the rock face.

Dolphus Cadieux, a Yellowknife Metis, will then create a map of Canada, surrounded by Metis symbols such as fiddles, sashes and the Northern Lights.

On top of the map, Bill Nasogaluak of Tuktoyaktuk will place an Inuit drummer carved from a deposit of marble on Jolliffe Island.

The association is also open to any other culture that wants to show their contribution to the North.

"It's a piece of art, it doesn't have to be a piece of politics," said Paris.

The 20th anniversary artwork is all ready to go, except that it is lacking one ingredient: money. Though funding for the project has not been confirmed, Paris said that the city's taxpayers will not have to foot the bill.

The association has asked the federal governments and Quebec for help with fundraising.

The association does more than commission artwork, though.

It puts out a weekly newspaper, xxxL'aquilon (French for "Northern Wind"), which has a circulation list that includes Canada, the United States and even Europe.

There is also a francophone parents association that meets and discusses the needs of francophone youths.

Garderie Plein Soleil is a day care that provides French immersion services for any child, not just francophone.

One event that has become a favorite at every Caribou Carnival is the "Cabane a Sucre," which provides Yellowknifers with a taste of the popular Quebecois treat, maple syrup.

There are about 700 francophones in Yellowknife. About 50 per cent of them are from Quebec, 30 per cent are Acadian and the balance are spread out from the rest of the provinces.

The mandate of the 100-member association is: "To promote French-Canadian culture" said Paris, and "To answer to the needs of the French population of Yellowknife."

Paris said that he left Quebec 10 years ago "to learn English," but is now thinking of returning to Quebec to pursue a career as an artist.

Daniel Lamoureux came to Yellowknife to take over as executive director of the territorial-wide Association Franco-TeNOise.

Lamoureux said that Yellowknife is a very open society so he has no difficulty in spreading the French-Canadian message.

French-Canadians, he added, have at least one thing in common with most people in the Northwest Territories: "English is the second language of most everyone here."

Only 31,000 people claim English as their mother-tongue in the NWT, according to GNWT figures.