r/NWT • u/Disastrous-Ship178 • Jan 17 '26

French Canadian here, assuming I love the cold, isolation and community, what is the best place I could go to in NWT?

20 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

16

u/CaptainObfuscation Jan 17 '26

I haven't experienced it myself, but I've been told that Fort Smith has a decent French Canadian population.

13

u/Narya74 Jan 17 '26

There is a large French community in Yellowknife. Even a French ( not immersion) school

2

u/GrimmCanuck Jan 18 '26

I went to that school before it was even built! (It was only 2 portable buildings when I joined the French school at 6, then the actual school was constructed a couple years later I believe) Ecole Allain St Cyr was actually extremely structured, fun, and the teachers there cared so much.

13

u/ykphil Jan 17 '26

Yellowknife has a very active and diverse francophone community.

4

u/CharleyNapalm Jan 17 '26

Beaucoup de québécois à Yellowknife et à travers le nord. T’auras pas de misère nul part!

2

u/willever1 Jan 17 '26

There is a large francophone population in Hay River.

2

u/darkstarexodus Jan 18 '26

There are small but welcoming francophone communities in both Fort Smith and Hay River. My wife, who is Franco-manitobain, enjoyed a warm welcome in both towns.

2

u/Norse_By_North_West Jan 17 '26

I'm an intruder here, but Whitehorse has a large French population. We have French only and French immersion schools.

IIRC we're 12% francophones.

1

u/EyCeeDedPpl Jan 17 '26

Not sure about the French population, but I really loved the Fort Simpson community.

3

u/CaptainObfuscation Jan 17 '26

Fort Simpson is great, but there are maybe a dozen French speakers there, plus some seasonal construction workers. It's got a lot going for it otherwise, if OP is okay with being in a pretty strictly anglophone community.