By Lauren McKeon Parlez-vous français? You should think about brushing up. French entrepreneurs have been staking their claim to Northern business since the coureurs de bois first stepped out of their canoes here in the 1700s. Francophones are still at the forefront of business innovation, opening the North to the rest of Canada, and beyond.
For a while the boys from Montreal were unbeatable. After founding the North West Company in 1779, the upstart fur traders spent the next three decades sticking it to their English rivals. It was more than just a business battle. The fiery crusade to quash the Hudson’s Bay Company and find a better route to riches led the company to carve a path into what would become the Northwest Territories. In 1800, the boys built Fort of the Forks, later renamed Fort Simpson, and in 1805, Fort Good Hope. While the owners of the North West Company were of Scottish descent, most of the fur traders that made the arduous journey were francophone. They began by paddling large canoes from Montreal to Fort William at the head of Lake Superior. There, they traded them for smaller canoes to get to Lake Winnipeg, then up the North Saskatchewan River, across the Methye Portage into the Athabasca River, then Lake Athabasca, the Slave River and Great Slave Lake. Later, after paddling 800 kilometres of the Mackenzie River, the journey ended in Fort Good Hope. The entire expedition took two years. Each way.
Eventually, the grueling nature of the trip ended the North West Company’s dominance. The impossibly high overhead costs caused the company to crash. And it’s no wonder. Once trading time was factored in, the entire trek ate up seven years. In 1821, the North West Company was forced to merge with HBC, but it did not disappear entirely. Today the North West Company operates Northern Stores and the North Mart chain, two modern Northern icons. And the perseverance that allowed the North West Company to thrive hasn’t disappeared, either. Francophones continue to lead business in the North, are at the head of innovation, and, like their pioneering counterparts, don’t let much stop them.
Take Michel Labine. In 1993, the future owner of Polar Creation didn’t know a thing about creating stained glass. But an episode of the then-popular TV show Modern Masters was enough to convince him he wanted to learn. On his next trip to Edmonton, Labine visited a glass shop. “The guy said, ‘Well you can take a course we offer,’” recalls Labine. “I said, ‘No it’s got to be right now because I live in the NWT.’” After a convincing plea and a quick, on-the-spot lesson, Labine was off experimenting on his own. Today, the Fort Smith man’s art is a hot commodity. He’s designed pieces for Justin Trudeau and Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney. His glass snowshoe design is copyrighted. And, as equal parts art and business star, Labine’s also shown profit the last two years.
He’s not the only one. From the Yukon to Nunavut, French entrepreneurs have weathered the economic storms of the past two years, and emerge not only intact, but strong. Indeed, with the help of the territories’ three economic-development agencies, more francophones are packing their bags and heading north to find business, and, hopefully, riches.
Unlike their fur tradING forefathers, today’s French entrepreneurs are keen to work with, not against, their anglophone counterparts. The three territorial economic development organizations, the Yukon RDÉE (Le Réseau de développement économique et d’employabilité), the NWT’s CDÉTNO (Conseil de développement économique des Territoires du Nord-Ouest), and Carrefour Nunavut, are at the forefront of this push. “A big part of our work is with the English-speaking business community,” says Sylvie Francoeur, executive director of CDÉTNO. “It’s a challenge to get the message across that we’re not an exclusive little group working for francophones, but that we are open and ready to work with anybody and hoping to work with everybody.”
About 30 per cent of CDÉTNO’s membership is comprised of anglophone businesses. In addition to having access to the organization’s myriad services, members have a chance to reach new markets and to recruit staff who can help them establish closer ties with a new clientele: francophones. This makes sense for everybody. For one, since CDÉTNO started its campaign in 2005, French tourism to the NWT has increased by 50 per cent. Also, the more French services are offered in the territories, the more the territories become an attractive destination not only for francophone tourists, but, more importantly when it comes to economic longevity, for future francophone residents.
Such potential diversity is a major boon when it comes to attracting, and keeping, French workers, investors and entrepreneurs, a major goal for all three territorial economic-development agencies. “We want people to know that there are all these great outdoor opportunities, and there are all these natural phenomena, and yes, you can bring your dog,” Francoeur says. “But that’s not the first thing we tell people because we want people to come here and stay and realize you can make a life here. It’s not just a place to come visit and have this great two-week adventure.” That means Franco-Anglo partnerships, but it also means tirelessly promoting the territories at both local and international employment fairs, and pitching them as a place of opportunities, where the possibilities to advance and grow come quicker and more often.
It’s a straightforward strategy that appears to be working. In the Yukon, the French population tripled between 1951 and 2006, now reaching a whopping 1,250. Perhaps more impressive, at least from the RDÉE’s standpoint, is the increase of 335 individuals between 2001 and 2006. “This is very important because it shows we really are a growing and vibrant community,” says Sophie Delaigue, Yukon RDÉE’s director. This is true throughout the territories. Together, the three boast close to 3,000 francophones. And, with a median age of about 40, Northern francophones are also proven to have high employment rates and to work in a wide variety of sectors. Many don yellow hardhats and work in the construction, mining, and oil and gas industries. Others sharpen their pencils for work in education services and public administration. There are also, of course, many French entrepreneurs: The Yukon, for example, has 150 of ’em.
It’s important to note that those 150 people aren’t solely Quebecois, either. Northern francophones also come from all over Canada, and beyond. In the NWT, it’s estimated 80 per cent of francophones were born outside the territory; most come from Quebec or the Maritimes, particularly New Brunswick. About 10 per cent, however, are immigrants from Europe, Africa and Asia. This breakdown is roughly the same for the Yukon and Nunavut. “More and more we see people that immigrate right away to the Yukon,” says Delaigue. “Before they were going to Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver. Now they are making the choice to come to the Yukon as a way of life, and also because they see the potential for business.”
This people-power not only boosts the North, but also the economic development agencies that promote the region. “We are always having to demonstrate the need,” says Francoeur. Meaning, ask Yukon RDÉE, CDÉTNO or Nunavut’s Carrefour what their biggest challenge is as a non-profit agency and the answer is the same: finding and keeping stable funding. “Of course money is an issue,” says Daniel Cuerrier, Carrefour’s director. Of the three organizations, Cuerrier likely knows this challenge best.
When UHB spoke to Cuerrier in May, Carrefour didn’t even have an office. Since its official January founding, the organization’s directors have worked from their homes and met in public places to share ideas. By this month, Cuerrier hopes Carrefour will have a proper place to call home, but until then, “It’s really not the best situation for us.” In the meantime, however, he’ll have the power of a growing French population and the help of his counterparts in the Yukon and the NWT – the three directors teleconference at least once a month – to help convince funders that the economic-development agencies are beneficial.
If French entrepreneurs share any of the same concerns as the development agencies of being pigeonholed, it doesn’t show. Indeed, when Belgian import Bob Daffe is asked about challenges, there is an audible click as his mouth pops open and shut: “You mean from being francophone as opposed to any other regular business?” The founder of Whitehorse-based Tatshenshini Expediting adds that if anything marks his business from the rest, it’s only in advantages. The company, which was founded in 1983 with “a van, a raft and a case of beer,” has grown to be wildly successful, accommodating rafting groups from all over the world. And those people, says Daffe, “like to be spoken to in their own language.”
But Ol’ Man River, as Daffe is affectionately dubbed, says it’s not only francophones who appreciate a trip around la belle langue. A French phrase often becomes a souvenir of the trip – “c’est chaud,” for example, after a guide picks up a too-hot coffee. “Then it becomes the norm and anybody who touches something that is hot will say ‘c’est chaud’ instead of saying ‘it’s too hot,’” says Daffe. “So it’s comical, and it’s all in good fun.”
Being bilingual can also help form business connections. Husband and wife team Danny and Josephine Cimon, owners of Yellowknife-based Danmax Communications, agree speaking French can help put francophone customers more at ease. “It just gives you that extra connection,” says Danny. “Business is about relationships.” To that extent, he adds, being bilingual can also give Danmax (or any other French business), an edge when making connections with other francophone businesses and potential clients. For a business that’s been around since 1987, this is not a case of stick-together. “It’s a brutal world out there and you don’t count on that,” Cimon says, “but it’s a nice perk.”
Both Danmax and Tatshenshini have a core group of Francophone employees – and in Daffe’s case, hiring Yukoners is considered top priority – but neither need an all-francophone staff. If they did, they might find there are some unique challenges to being a francophone business owner. “We have had our share of problems, particularly with reference to recruitment of qualified personnel,” says Johanne Gauthier, director of La Garderie du Petit Cheval Blanc, a francophone daycare in Whitehorse. While Gauthier is careful to say staff shortages are common in the daycare field, she adds it has been hard to find qualified people who are not only passionate, but speak exceptional French. Being unable to combat the problem in the past has meant the daycare, which was founded in 1989 with the capacity for seven kids, hasn’t been able to move past its current capacity of 40. It has also meant a constant waiting list for the in-demand service.
This year, however, Gauthier thinks the daycare has turned a corner, largely thanks to some creative business thinking. For the first time, the daycare was able to place a woman who is finishing her three-year program with the Cégep de Sherbrooke in Quebec. Once the woman has finished her field placement with the daycare – the last step needed toward her diploma – she has agreed to stay on as staff for one year. Her adventure has also lured two other students finishing their diplomas at the cégep. Both have submitted their resumés, says Gauthier, and are coming on board. “Recruitment of passionate people that are qualified in the field,” she adds, “is really the cornerstone to having good quality daycare.”
The same can be said of any business. Finding qualified, eager-to-work staff has long been a problem for many Northern business owners. Unfortunately, for francophone entrepreneurs who’ve moved North to start a business, the ability to recruit and retain staff is often the difference between a successful business and failed one. “[Staffing] is one of the obstacles to really developing a business,” says Delaigue. “It costs a lot to bring people here and to invest in the training. Then after two or three years [they quit].” Which is why some businesses, like Tatshenshini, don’t bother recruiting from the south and hire local. Daffe teaches outdoor education class at the schools and often recruits graduates to become guides. But, for businesses that can’t work such magic, it’s often a struggle.
Delaigue points to the wealth of government jobs, both federal and territorial, in the Yukon as the culprit. Often, after businesses have invested in their employees, those same employees abandon camp in favour of a higher salary, or better benefits. “I really think we need to work on this issue with the government themselves,” says Delaigue. “There is a lot of turnover.”
But turnover is not the only challenge, adds Olivier Pellegrin, a business advisor and project manager of the Yukon Business Development Program, an innovative effort to help businesses in the territory reach their goals. (Incidentally, Pellegrin is one of the “go to guys” in the Yukon for any business having staffing or growth challenges.) Pellegrin has worked with plenty of francophone businesses, but has also experienced challenges himself. Marketing is a big one, he explains. A francophone can be the best marketer in the world in French, but that doesn’t always translate in the switch to English. “When you need to convince,” he says, “we are not always on the same level.” But it’s not only a question of language, he says, it’s a question of communication – and sometimes business culture.
Anglophones, says Pellegrin, are sometimes too positive. “If, for instance, I come for a project and see an English person …they’re going to say, ‘Good project, that’s fine,’” he explains. “But in French, we are very frank. When it’s good, it’s good. And when it’s bad, it’s bad and you say it.” While Pellegrin himself is saying this with a laugh, his frankness does tend to earn him the admiration of his business partners. But, he stresses, once you prove your skill, your colleagues, and potential clients, are likely to appreciate you, French or English.
Simply put, when it comes down to it, “Francophone entrepreneurs have some challenges,” says Pellegrin, “and at the same time they have some opportunities.” Those opportunities enable them to make market connections anglophones can’t. Indeed, the French are more open to doing business anywhere in the world, and this is showing not only in their success but also in increasing French immigration to the territories. Pellegrin and his fellow francophones are confident of overcoming any and all challenges on the path to shape new markets, launch innovative ventures, and build better businesses in the North. After all, they’ve been doing it for 220 years.
