History of the Community

The French presence in Toronto goes back to the very beginnings of the city. It was a Frenchman, Étienne Brûle, Champlain’s interpreter, who discovered the region around 1615.

The roots of Toronto’s original francophone community lie in the economic migrations of the end of the 19th century during which many French-Canadians left Quebec in search of better economic conditions. The first real Franco-Torontonian institution - Sacré-cœur Parish – came into being in 1887.

The community’s most significant demographic growth began in the middle of the 20th century, the numbers doubling every ten years. In the1970s, French-speaking immigrants arriving from all over the world contributed to this increase, diversifying and enriching the original community.

Today the francophone population is pluriethnic and multiracial, distinguishing itself by the very diversity of its origins: North America; French West Indies; French-speaking Europe and Eastern Europe; the Middle East, the Gulf Region and the Maghreb; West Africa, Central Africa and Somalia; Southeast Asia... These communities are not concentrated in any neighborhood, but sevral francophones work, study and live downtown.