Dynamic, committed, and growing – these are a few words that sum up the Francophone community of Yukon, according to Isabelle Salesse, Executive Director of the Francophone Association of Yukon (Association Franco-Yukonnaise (AFY)). Although a linguistic minority, Yukon’s Francophone community is more lively than ever. According to a Statistics Canada census, Yukon is the third most bilingual territory with 14 percent of the population speaking French and English. Between 2001 and 2016, people whose mother language is French increased from 3.33 percent to 4.8 percent. And according to Salesse, future statistics will continue to show an increase. “If you come to Yukon, you will be impressed by the number of people who speak French, in the street, in the grocery store… every day I discover new Francophones,” she says. According to Yann Herry, president of the Francophone Historical Society of Yukon and former president of the AFY, the first Francophones arrived in the territory in 1833, attracted by the fur trade. Starting in 1896, the Klondike Gold Rush became the main incentive to move, and Francophones from all over decided to try their luck in Yukon. The historian estimates that at that time, more than 4,000 Canadians spoke French, which was half of the Canadian population established in the territory. During this golden age of the Yukon’s Francophonie, a number of public services were created in French. “When the miners came down to Dawson, they could easily get services in French because the gold commissioner and many of the court judges spoke French,” explains Mr. Herry. Health services, education and even cultural circles were available in French. However, by 1911, the Francophone population had declined significantly. Major political and economic changes, including the replacement of manual labour by mechanized dredges, forced many Francophones to leave the territory. The few who remained were quickly assimilated into the English-speaking majority. But in the 1970s, the Yukon’s Francophone community experienced a revival. As the Official Languages Act came into force and the country experienced a national search for its Francophone identity, Yukon’s Francophones began to demand public services and institutions in French. In 1982, a handful of determined volunteers decided to found the AFY, thus paving the way to living in French in Yukon. Unlike in most English-speaking provinces, French as a first language education is doing relatively well in Yukon, according to Jean-Sébastien Blais, president of the Yukon Francophone School Board (Commission Scolaire Francophone du Yukon (CSFY)). He says that section 23 of the Canadian Constitution, which guarantees the right to minority language education, is respected in the territory. But to get there, the CSFY had to fight. In 2009, the organization took legal action against the Yukon Department of Education to gain full school governance. Under a 2020 agreement with the provincial government, the CSFY was granted the authority over admissions and a funding formula. “We are lucky in Yukon.” says the president of the CSFY. “We have excellent funding that allows us to have an education and extracurricular activities that support our students in their development.” Most importantly, the agreement allowed the CSFY to address a major issue: the lack of infrastructure. Prior to 2020, secondary school students were forced to share school facilities with elementary students, which led many parents to unenroll their children. Today, the CSFY has opened a secondary school, the CSSS Mercier. In just over two years, the number of students grew from 86 to 122. “The Mercier school has a capacity of 150 students, so we are already wondering if we are not going to experience the same situation we had before 2020,” notes Mr. Blais, who is considering opening a new school. As for French immersion, it is also growing. According to Statistics Canada, since 2001, the number of students enrolled in French immersion has increased by 248 percent. “There is a real craze for French immersion,” says Isabelle Salesse. “Here, French is very accepted and people are interested in learning the language.” Despite the progress, the Francophone community of Yukon still has a long way to go. Ms. Salesse, the AFY director, believes that there is still a lot of progress to be made, especially regarding the justice system and the services for seniors, which must be further developed in French. In addition, the community is facing a critical shortage of qualified Francophone workers. This is particularly the case for the association Les Essentielles, an organization working to represent the interests of women in Yukon.