Principal Brigitte Bergeron splits her time between running the school and teaching her Grade 2 and 3 class. - Michele LeTourneau/NNSL photo

Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services Yellowknife (Nov 30/01) - What luck! Allain St. Cyr answers the telephone.

Though perhaps present in spirit in the schools that bear their names, St. Joseph, Mildred Hall and William McDonald aren't exactly available for interviews.

The Grade 8 and 9 students, under the direction of Pierre Ouellet, formed a band this year. Stefan Christensen plays the trombone in the nine-piece band. - Michele LeTourneau/NNSL photo

St. Cyr, now a distance education teacher in Alberta, says that one of his first reactions upon learning a school would bear his name was to exclaim, "But I'm not even deceased! Don't do this to me."

But they did. The French people of Yellowknife wanted to honour the man who laid the foundation for a rock-solid and thriving francophone community. And with good reason.

St. Cyr first came North in the mid-70s and he is credited with being a founding father of the Federation Franco-TeNOise, an organizer of a French dance troupe, now defunct, not to mention the originator of French immersion in the North.

"It was just a matter of convincing people that it was a good idea, that it was a sound education for your kid and, if you want your kid to be bilingual, this is one of the best ways of doing it."

It started with one Grade 4 class. Then came the time for one of St. Cyr's children to enter kindergarten. English just wasn't enough. And so immersion kindergarten came to be.

"It's almost like drawing the design of a house, and then you put in the foundation, and this gets done and that gets done and then a roof. And always with a lot of finesse and diplomatic tact," says St. Cyr.

The educator left Yellowknife in the mid-80s after the death of his wife. With four children, including a five-month old, he needed his family's support so he moved back home to Saskatchewan.

"Then for another group of parents -- seeing what was happening nationally -- French immersion wasn't quite what they wanted for their kids. They got the ball rolling."

"The little French school" began with eight children in a classroom at J.H. Sissons. Then came 10 years in portables on Sissons grounds until, with over 50 students, Ecole Allain St-Cyr, as it was now known, burst at the seams.

Now, in 2001, the student population has doubled at the Wayne Guy-designed key-shaped building next door to William McDonald school.

Brigitte Bergeron, the current principal, says that it's predicted the school population will rise by at least another 50 students in the next couple of years.

A new gymnasium is in the works -- Allain St-Cyr students currently share William Mac's gym. The building, which opened its doors to students in 1999, was constructed in a such a fashion that a third level could be easily added.

Running a French school isn't just about teaching kids, it's about keeping a language alive and nurturing a culture.

St. Cyr says it takes a mere six to eight years for a kid to lose a language. French kids will always speak English, but will they always speak their mother-tongue?

Bergeron, principal half-time and teacher half-time, sees it is the school's job to nurture the continued use of the French language. Inside her Grade 2 and 3 classroom, she says, there's no point in speaking English.

"It's good to speak English, but there is a time and a place for it," she says.

Between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Ecole Allain St-Cyr is not that time and place.

All subjects, except English beginning in Grade 4, are taught in French and students are expected to speak French in the schoolyard.

To help them out, recess-time is staggered so that they don't end up playing in English with William Mcdonald students.

Keeping the language alive

"When they see me coming, they switch (back to French) quite rapidly," says Bergeron.

There is some tension between francophone and anglophone students. Name-calling isn't unheard of. St. Cyr isn't surprised. He says "kids are kids. They tease each other. There's a pecking order."

Bergeron says the incidents are mostly based on misconceptions and each issue is dealt with individually.

Besides the usual curriculum of social studies, science, French, English, and math, the students receive a healthy dose of visual arts and music.

They get swimming and tennis lessons, and like their peers at neighbouring schools, they participate in snow camps, schools dances and other group activities.

Ecole Allain St-Cyr is currently experiencing a difficult transition. Principal of three years, Julie Bouchard, suddenly resigned this fall.

Within days, Terry Bradley, the first superintendent for the newly formed Commission Scolaire de Division, died.

Bergeron says that many of the school children knew his wife as a teacher at their school and experienced a deep sadness.

In December, Terry Gallant, who taught at the school for almost a decade, will move on. In a small school, these changes rend the intimate fabric of daily life.

But Bergeron and St. Cyr say that the French community and the school staff will rebound from recent events and continue strong.

Timeline

- During the last year Ecole Allain St-Cyr spent in the portables, 50 children made up the student body. Since moving to the new building, the student population has doubled.

- The new Commission Scolaire Francophone de Division employs 5.5 teachers, a .5 principal, a .5 secretary, a .5 program support teacher, a .5 teacher's aide, and a full-time special needs resource person.

- The school has a five-year plan to build a gymnasium, add a third level to the building, and hopes to one day add grades 10-12.