The very first cohort of the Université de Sudbury, relaunched “by and for” the Francophones of Ontario, has secured funding to bring an ambitious collective literary project to life. Gathered under the provisional name Collectif Ancrage et Exil, the group will publish a collection of texts exploring themes of love, courage, and identity.
Under the artistic direction of Isabelle Bourgeault-Tassé, writer and sessional lecturer at the Université de Sudbury, and Alex Tétreault, Poet Laureate of Greater Sudbury, playwright and theatre artist, the project will accompany these students as they work toward the publication of a digital zine and a public reading of their work. Through poems, essays, monologues, comics, and songs, participants will share plural voices rooted in Northern Ontario and open to the world.
Supporting the students will be a circle of artistic collaborators: Philippe Mathieu, Soraya Belkadi, and Cécilia Rodriguez-Beaudoin, who will take part in a panel on writing as a tool of expression, moderated by Elsie Miclisse, journalist with Radio-Canada. Artist Connor Lafortune will deliver the opening keynote, exploring the power of playing with language — from French to patois and the languages of the land — as a space for creativity and affirmation. France Huot will lead a reading and performance workshop where orality becomes a driving force for writing. The visual direction of the zine will be led by Jasmine Morin, with photography by Isak Vaillancourt.
This initiative is part of 50 Years of Pride! Together for Tomorrow, a collective creation project marking the 50th anniversary of the Franco-Ontarian flag, supported by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and the Alliance culturelle de l’Ontario, with the support of the Ontario Arts Council, the Government of Ontario, and TFO.
Works produced through the project will be presented as part of a collective exhibition in Ontario and beyond, shared on a bilingual web platform, and highlighted at the 2026 Francophonie Summit in Cambodia, placing the voices of Northern Ontario within an international Francophone dialogue.
Quotes
“We were born from the meeting of horizons opening toward one another. From the Sudbury crater to the thousand hills of Gitega, from the sidewalks of Montréal-Nord to the winds of Lake Superior in Marathon, from the riverbanks at Ottawa’s border, from Hanmer to Hearst, where an endless sky stretches toward the great metropolises of Africa — Kinshasa, Abidjan, Yaoundé. Here, in the North, we form a Francophonie in motion, one that writes itself, reads itself and recognizes itself in the gaze of the other.”
— Collectif Ancrage et Exil
“A university is reborn through its students. The Université de Sudbury is proud to support this transformational project led by its very first cohort. Through this collective work, these student voices have not only etched themselves within the educational and cultural tradition of their institution, but areactively shaping its future here in the North.”
— Serge Miville, PhD, President and Vice-Chancellor, Université de Sudbury
About the Collectif Ancrage et Exil
The Collectif Ancrage et Exil brings together the first cohort of the Université de Sudbury relaunched “by and for” the Francophones of Ontario. Through creative writing, the collective explores courage, love, and identity within a plural Northern Ontario Francophonie, giving voice to journeys rooted in the territory and open to the world.
About the University of Sudbury
Established in 1913, Université de Sudbury is the first institution in Northern Ontario to offer university-level education. In 1975, the very first raising of the Franco-Ontarian flag in the province took place on its campus. The institution received its designation under the French Language Services Act in January 2020. The University acknowledges that it is located within the territory designated under the Robinson—Huron Treaty and that the lands on which it is situated are part of the traditional territories of Atikameksheng Anishinaabeg and the Wahnapitae First Nation.
For information:
Isabelle Bourgeault-Tassé
isabellebt4@gmail.com
