FORT SMITH (May 18/98) - Claude Doucette is trying to help keep Canada's second official language alive in Fort Smith.

A high school French teacher, Doucette is a member and past president of Association Francophone de Fort Smith, which has about 30 members.

The group has a Saturday-morning French program for children as there is no immersion program.

At the high school level, French is available through Grade 12, but as of this year, Chipewyan is also being offered as an alternative language.

"You really want languages to develop, especially in the North with native languages," Doucette said. "In my opinion, language is a culture. If you lose your language, you lose your culture."

Doucette, 34, grew up in Campbellton, New Brunswick, where half of the population speaks French. He and his wife are using only French at home in front of the children.

"At least our two-year-old is conversant in French," he said. "This way at least you can make sure that they've started off with a really firm base."

Upon arriving in the North, he was surprised to discover Association Francophone de Fort Smith. "I wasn't expecting to find a group of French speaking people this far North," he said.

Within the North, Doucette said he can detect a number of dialects among francophones.

"When I hear people speak, I can tell, pretty well, that you're probably from Manitoba, or you're probably from Quebec," he said. "Even within New Brunswick, we probably have five or six different dialects of French."

Practising the language is essential to retaining it, he noted.

"If you don't try to practise it, you won't grow. It's like playing guitar -- you keep on playing the same song over and over again until you get real good," Doucette said.

After a trip to the High Arctic, he and his wife decided to move to Fort Smith from Ottawa because he said it had all the elements they were looking for: schooling, trees, the essential services and, importantly, a river.

"The river is a real powerful thing for me. I grew up on the East Coast, so I sort of have to be near water," he said.