Visit the monuments to la francophonie

Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien (CSDCEO)

Monument location:
Bureau central du Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien (CSDCEO)
875 County Road 17
L’Orignal, Ontario K0B 1K0

Unveiled: June 3, 2008

Bernard Grandmaître, Honorary President of Monuments de la francophonie d’Ottawa

The Franco-Ontarian flag

The Franco-Ontarian flag was created in 1975. It consists of two sections; the left section features a white fleur-de-lys (representing la Francophonie) on a green background, and the right section features a green trillium flower (representing Ontario) on a white background. The flag was recognized as an official symbol of Ontario by the Ontario Government in 2001.

The history of the Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien

The Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien was created on January 1, 1998 as a result of Bill 160. It was a merger between Prescott-Russell’s Conseil des écoles séparées catholiques de langue française and the Conseil des écoles séparées catholiques in Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. The CSDCEO celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2008. Its French-language Catholic schools are the pride of the local education community.

French-language education in Prescott-Russell, Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry

The francophone community in Cornwall began asking for an autonomous French-language school in 1968. After five years without any progress, students went on strike in 1973 and adopted the slogan “Nous la voulons, nous l’aurons” [We want it, we’ll get it]. The government under Premier Bill Davis set up a Commision of Inquiry, and the Commision later published a report in favor of the francophone community and its request. On June 12, 1973, the École Saint-Laurent de langue française became La Citadelle, an autonomous French-language school.

In 1981, the Conseil des écoles catholiques de Prescott-Russell (CECPR) began lobbying the Ontario Government for a catholic school board for French-language education from kindergarten to 13th grade. After 10 years and with the complete support of the community, the Ministry of Education finally announced the creation of the Conseil des écoles séparées catholiques de langue française de Prescott-Russell (CESCLFPR) in July 1991. This new school board came into effect on January 1, 1992. The CESCLFPR was the first French-language catholic school board in Ontario.