Mandate & history

The first francophone association in the Northwest Territories was founded in 1978 in Yellowknife under the name “L’Association culturelle franco-ténoise” (ACFT). At the time, the priority for members was to install an antenna to receive Radio-Canada. Over time, Francophones in other regions of the Northwest Territories began to take an interest in Yellowknife’s activities, and the ACFT gradually extended its services throughout the Territories. On the initiative of ACFT members, a new association is created to serve the capital more specifically. This new association was incorporated on September 18, 1985 under the name “L’Association franco-culturelle de Yellowknife” (AFCY).

From then on, the ACFT concentrated on its territorial mandate and, in 1988, took the name ” Fédération franco-ténoise ” (FFT). At the time, AFCY’s role was to organize socio-cultural activities in French in Yellowknife. This mandate will gradually be extended to other types of initiatives, both community-based and cultural. In the late 1980s, the Association played an active role in setting up École Allain-St-Cyr, Yellowknife’s French-language school, and in forming a parents’ committee. This committee broke away from AFCY in 1989 to become the “Association des parents francophones de Yellowknife”. AFCY organizes several shows, sets up an amateur theater troupe and, in 1994, inaugurates a lending counter offering books, records and videocassettes in French.