Christian Ricard, president of Alliance de la francophonie jeunesse de Timmins, says he’s always been involved in the French community and doesn’t plan on stopping.
“I think we have gained a lot and we’re also losing a lot, which is really interesting, because we fought so much for what we have now," he says. "But we’re not giving up, we keep on fighting and that’s what's pretty cool about us.”
Ricard, 18, was born in Kapuskasing and moved to Timmins at a young age. He graduated from École secondaire catholique Thériault this year and is going to study political science and juris doctor at University of Ottawa. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he will be studying online from Timmins during the fall semester.
He says he’s fascinated with the court system and with helping people. Since he’ll be studying in French, he's receiving a $1,000 bursary every year.
During his post-secondary studies, he says he will "definitely" continue to be involved with the francophone community.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to stop getting involved with the French community because it’s something that I really hold to heart because some people talk French and that’s it,” he says. “But I think it’s really important to keep that language going and avoid losing what we have.”
Ricard has been actively involved since high school.
He started by joining a school band Touz En Flammes where he sang and played guitar.
“That was the first thing that brought me closer to our French culture because we would interpret French music,” he says.
Then, he was involved with a student council where he was a grade rep. In Grade 12, he was a co-president of student council with his best friend Olivia Tremblay. For his leadership and involvement in the French community at school, Ricard also received the Prix Mordicus award.
“That’s something I was proud of. Not the biggest award, a high school award, but that is something I’m proud to say because I was very involved in the French community at my school,” he says.
Becoming a president of the Francophone youth group about 1,5 years ago was “a lot of work” and “a lot of responsibilities."
“I’m just 18, so taking that on sometimes can be overwhelming just because you don’t always have the contacts you need to have or people you need to know. Other than that, it’s something that let me take more place in my community,” he says,adding the organization members are now working on getting back on track.
“I’ve always been really involved, I’ve always been a proud French speaker. So being able involve myself in something really great and working with a lot of different people and getting those contacts going has been really great as well.”
He says French language is unique and he likes some traditions which may be celebrated only in French families. One tradition that is different is when most people open their Christmas gifts in the morning or during the day but in Ricard’s family he’s always done it on Christmas Eve.
“I think it’s a French thing but I’m not sure. Every French family I talked to opens their gifts on Christmas Eve, so I think that’s pretty cool,” he says.
Ricard has also been a barista and a supervisor at Timmins Starbucks for 1.5 years.
“I really liked being involved. Talking to customers every day and seeing those regular customers is really nice because we can always have different conversations every day.”
Because he’s usually so actively involved with the community, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Ricard says it was hard for him as he had no work and nothing else to do.
“For me, it was a definitely a shock. But getting back into that routine was as hard,” he says. “We have to clean so much more but it’s worth it because we get to see all the customers.”
He also describes his experience working at a front desk at Discover Fitness/Discover Performance during the summer as “super fun.”
Ricard is the only child in the family and says he’s gotten a lot of help from his parents.
“My dad was more involved in my everyday life, not my school life, but my mom is actually a teacher and she helped me a lot with my schoolwork and she really pushed me to keep going,” he says.
Music is another his passion. He likes Nickelback and is into pop and country music. His mother bought him a guitar and he used to take guitar lessons with Ray Perrier for about eight years.
The high school band was like his second family, he says, and being a part of it and playing music is what he really enjoyed.
His future goals include travelling the world and connecting his career with law or politics. Racism and environment are some of the issues that matter to him.
“Racism is something that we see quite often. I’ve always been against it, I do not ever judge someone based on their race,” he says. “And environment would be another cause I would look into. We’re on this planet and I think it’s starting to die and we need to do something.”
