AFY promotes francophone immigration to Yukon

Yukon's francophone association is trying to make the territory more welcoming to French-speaking immigrants.

The Association franco-yukonnaise(AFY)saidit's aboutdrawingnewcomers North, as well asprotectinglanguage rights in Yukon.

"The [Yukon]francophone community is already about 15 per centimmigrants, so it is a huge part of our community," said FrdricNolet,whoworks in economic development with AFY.

"It is important to have that core number, to help with our development."

Nolet also saidthe demographics of Yukon's francophone immigrants are changing.

"A lot of francophone immigration is mostly European descentalot of people from France, Belgium, Switzerland," he said. "But we saw people in our offices recently from AfricaMorocco, Chad, Madagascar."

"We even we had someone from China asking for services in French, which is great."

Nolet says immigration is good forfrancophone Yukoners, as it prevents the minority group from shrinking as a percentage of the population.

"It's just a question of maintaining our weight," Nolet said.

'A question of adventure'

Lhoussain Nouaman is anew Canadian whooriginally lived in Montreal, but moved to Yukon two months ago.

"Really, it's a question of adventure," Nouaman said."I like nature, lakes, mountains."

"The main challenge is [to]find a job, and keep a job," he admitted. He also said housing is tough to find, and that "winter is a big challenge for me."

Still, he thinks more francophone immigrants should consider the North. He thinks they might, if they were aware of the territory's francophone services.

"Perhaps [there could be]more publicity on internet and TV, to inform immigrants to come here, because not everyone knows if there is work" Nouaman said.

"I remember when I left in Montreal I didn't have any idea about Yukon."