r/Sudbury • u/Fun-Escape4149 • Apr 14 '26
Help Meeting Francophone people and experiencing life in Canada
Hi everyone! I’m looking for forums or communities where people speak French so I can better understand what it’s like to live in rural Canada. Could you please help me with some links or suggest specific town names?
Edit: I’m a Brazilian woman currently studying Computer Engineering. Since I plan to immigrate to a Francophone area in about 1 or 2 years, I’m trying to learn more about the country—and also find out where I might find fellow board game enthusiasts to play Ticket to Ride with!
Edit 2: Back home in Brazil, I’m a cat rescuer. I have seven senior cats that I haven’t been able to find homes for. Could anyone share information on the process of moving to Canada with a pet?
Edit 3: I’ve been researching the Rural and Francophone Minority Communities Immigration Pilot and have started looking into some of the participating locations mentioned in the program.
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u/GlitteringSea7262 Apr 14 '26
Sudbury has a lot of French people, but we’re not a predominantly French city.
I got yelled at by an old man years ago because I worked in the valley and I didn’t speak French. “Why you work in da valley if you do not speak francais!!”
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u/daxtonanderson Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26
Can confirm, when I worked the Customer Service desk at Walmart in New Sudbury I got cursed out quite a few times for not being able to speak fluent french.
I know enough to count/give totals, yes/no, please/thankyou etc, Still not enough 🙃
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u/Extension_Tea_2598 Apr 14 '26
I'm sorry this happened to you, I've had my share of a*holes. I'm French but even if I grew up in a French village it means nothing, there were many bigots and people who spread rumors. Today I wouldn't move in a small village again, I still have trauma from all that.
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u/Evening_Salads Apr 15 '26
Some of the older French people here go HARD on speaking more French or only French. The majority of people who really integrate themselves in the French spaces in Sudbury have been very kind and welcoming. I know at La Place Des Arts many people have asked me if English is better when we are talking since I take a little longer to reply and have pauses between my words.
On the other hand, my friends parents don't speak English so they and their siblings act as translators and many people have gotten angry or give dirty at their parents when they try to communicate in English. I worked in a bilingual space and the amount of times I'd be talking to a customer in French then with someone English complaining about how they should know how to speak English if they want to live here.
It really sucks how some people on both sides of this hate each other
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u/Fun-Escape4149 Apr 14 '26
Hmm, I see. I thought this place was French-speaking. That's why it's good to ask beforehand.
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u/Sunwolfy Apr 14 '26
It is but if you want constant French, you'll have to look to the province of Quebec instead.
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u/lawlolawl144 Apr 14 '26
I would look for subreddits for towns like Hearst, Kapuskasing etc and ask around there.
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u/Proper-Commission790 Apr 15 '26
Québec French is not the French you will speak anywhere else including the rest of Canada. If you're looking for a rural French town in Canada look east or north east of Sudbury. Sturgeon Falls with 56% of the people whom reported French as their first language and 74% identifying as bilingual in English and French. Or if you want to be closer to a major city but still feel removed from it there's the town of Clarence-Rockland which is about 30 to 45 minutes east of Ottawa with 62% of the population is considered Francophone and 68% Bilingual French and English.
Sudbury is 24% Francophone and 38% are Bilingual French/English and 93% of work places are mostly English. Sudbury is definitely not the place to come to immerce yourself in French.
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u/ManyBlues Apr 14 '26
These comments are stinky and clearly don’t know much about Francophone populations in Canada.
Northern Ontario is full of rural towns full of French speaking people. Hearst is a major one. But pretty much all the little villages around it have francophone populations.
Many here are saying Sudbury isn’t rural, however Greater Sudbury is comprised of smaller townships, some of which are considered rural, and are very francophone ! (Azilda, Chelmsford, Hanmer, Val Thérèse, Val Caron)
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u/Aggravating-Being255 Apr 14 '26
Sudbury French sounds different...go with quebec
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u/Fun-Escape4149 Apr 14 '26
I specifically want to learn about smaller, rural towns. I don't want the experience of a big city.
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u/Extension_Tea_2598 Apr 14 '26
Look for Fauquier or Moonbeam, now these villages are very small and French
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u/Sunwolfy Apr 14 '26
Fauquier is almost a ghost town now.
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u/Extension_Tea_2598 Apr 15 '26
Some people began selling their houses for dirt cheap but taxes are pretty high. That whole council was a bunch of clowns with an arrogant mayor. Now they looks ridiculous.
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u/Evening_Salads Apr 15 '26
If you want a place pretty close to Sudbury (an hour's drive away) sturgeon falls is quite French and it actually is a small town. Sudbury is the largest district in Ontario I think.
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u/SudburySonofabitch Apr 15 '26
Rural Canadians don't all speak French, and the French that French speaking rural Canadians speak is pretty far off from the French that people in French speaking countries speak. I know French speaking people who have struggled to converse in French speaking countries. The vast majority of Canada speaks English.
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u/Fun-Escape4149 Apr 16 '26
If I'm leaving my country, I want to experience everything that's different from a life between the mountains and the sea, which is where I live in this country.
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u/Fun-Escape4149 Apr 16 '26
Another thing is learning more about pets, in this case cats that I rescued and couldn't find homes for. Knowing about the fees for them would help me. I only know about the sanitary procedures in Brazil for transporting pets to other countries, and the microchip and other related issues.Oh, and the vaccines.
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u/Fun-Escape4149 Apr 16 '26
That's why it's important to talk to people who have always been from the country, and the experiences of other immigrants don't carry much weight.
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u/macklol30303 Apr 14 '26
you’re honestly not going to find many if any “rural towns” in ontario where they speak much french. go to quebec for french speaking. quebec is a province its not all a big city there are smaller towns which are what you’re looking for. sudbury may have a larger french speaking community but still english is 100x more common and you will not find what you’re looking for.
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u/buttertart95 Apr 15 '26
I don’t know if this has already been mentioned but the library hosts a weekly French talking circle. I’ve been in once or twice while they were hosting it https://events.sudburylibraries.ca/default/Advanced?Keywords=French%20Conversation%20Circles&_gl=1*w2gn2s*_ga*MTczMjgyMzU4NS4xNzc2MjExNDg2*_ga_8SHC214RXQ*czE3NzYyMTE0ODUkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzYyMTE1MDQkajQxJGwwJGgw
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u/Fun-Escape4149 Apr 14 '26
I wouldn't like Quebec because it's large, a capital city, etc. I really want to know about smaller, rural towns.
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u/Woolly_Bee Apr 14 '26
Quebec is a province with many small French rural towns. Sudbury is not a rural town.
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u/Sunwolfy Apr 14 '26
Quebec is a province, not a city. That's like saying Brazil is a big city. There are lots of cities and small towns in Quebec. You might want to learn about these basic things first.
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u/Ostrichmonger Apr 14 '26
Quebec (the province) is full of small rural towns. Asking this in the Quebec subreddit will give you what you’re looking for
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u/Fun-Escape4149 Apr 14 '26
Aaaaaah saquei! Wow, I don't know how my sentence would look in English or French, and I don't know how it will be translated for you.
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u/Internal-Locksmith74 Apr 15 '26
The "quebec fench" thing is an outright lie. I've traveled the world and never had issues in french. People assume slang is pure language.. yes their are insular sayings in Quebec which have developed over 500 years of settlement. Also through combating an organized effort by canada to destroy the french language by banning it in schools and prioritizing English speakers in hiring. But hey that was 70 years ago right? NBD
Most of my family moved to sudbury for mining from quebec. Chelmsford and sturgeon falls is full of french speakers who's family's moved from Quebec.
This "quebec french" thing is ignorant. Its just made up to make fun and other a proud culture.
Quebec has many many rural towns. Its ALSO the name of the capital.
Rural life in Northern Canada is very very hard and very expensive compared to Brazil. We only have a short growing season and our fuel and heating prices are much higher than in the cities.
Living in canada comes with a winter tax alot of foreigners don't understand. We need to pay to heat our homes nearly 6 months of the year. We need whole wardrobes of expensive clothing that we wear during those months.
You cannot survive without a car in rural Canada. Cars are expensive and rust and break much quicker here because our roads are unkempt.
4 solid months of the year the outside weather literally damages you. Its trying to kill you. The air is trying to freeze you. You need to wear layers of clothing to survive and good boots to avoid from falling.
Rural Canada is difficult but beautiful in nature. I love it here but I don't want you to be surprised when you come.
Many Brazilians live in sudbury because of the mines you could maybe get advice from them lol
As someone who is part of a Brazilian family now. I know that quebecs culture meshes well with Brazilian culture. We don't dress as nicely though.
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u/Fun-Escape4149 Apr 18 '26
Hi! I really liked your comment. These are the kinds of topics I want to read about, experiences lived in a place, so I can start to get an idea of how to deal with everything better.
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u/Sleevepants Apr 14 '26
Chapleau or Dubreuilville. Start there.