TIMMINS - Francine Denis wants to help people find their passion.
Whether through her work as the child and youth services librarian at the Timmins Public Library, auditioning at Take Two Theatre, her position as chair for DARE Timmins, or founding the Northern Ontario Expo TimminsCon, Denis loves seeing people enjoy the things they love. She puts in the time to support them.
“Thirty-five hours a week is work, and then 35 hours a week is everything else,” she said. “I’ve been able to bring what I love to other people, and when you love something so much, it shows in your work.”
Giving back to the community and helping where she can has been a part of her family for a long time, she said. It’s still a family affair, as she and her brother — Rick Lemieux — work with the DARE program.
“We try to do monthly activities for children all the time, just to get the word out that DARE’s not just about drug prevention, it’s also about being a family, talking to kids about internet safety, making good choices,” she said. “There’s a lot of kids that can’t afford swimming or skating or tubing so we try the best we can, there’s always free activity for DARE.”
That same drive to bring people together led her and her husband, Jason Denis, to organize an event for fellow enthusiastic fans in Timmins.
“We used to always go to Fan Expo, and we’d see a lot of Timmins people there, and we said ‘What if we ever did one in Timmins? I wonder if that would work,’” she said.
The Northern Ontario Expo started in 2011 in the McIntyre ballroom during the Sportsman's Show hosted by the Schumacher Lions Club and has grown into a weekend event that fills the McIntyre arena and curling club with vendors, superheroes, video games, and movie stars.
“We have 10 people that put on a show like that, and we have our student volunteers for the day,” she said. “We have people who really believe in comic con.”
She and her husband are still heavily involved in the event, booking guests and vendors and setting up the layout.
Denis said it’s also a great chance to support local and Canadian artists and writers, as many make the trip to Timmins specifically for the con.
“We have these vendors that come back every year, ‘I want my same spot’ and they say that Timmins is one of the biggest shows for them,” she said.
This year, during the April event, a crowd favourite will join the lineup again.
“The original Batmobile was a huge hit in 2018, so those who missed it can finally see it,” she said.
In the meantime, Denis is working with DARE Timmins, the Timmins Native Friendship Centre, EarlyOn, and the public library to promote their Pink Shirt Day event on Saturday, Feb. 22.
The anti-bullying event will include presentations in English and French, pink shirt-decorating stations, face painting, a story walk, and more to promote understanding and prevent bullying.
“It’s not just in schools. Adults bully adults, co-workers bully co-workers, and sometimes you don’t even know you’re doing it,” she said. “It takes somebody very strong and very brave to say, ‘I didn’t like what you did, you just bullied me.’”
“Bullying can lead to a lot of mental health problems in the future, and it’s dear to my heart,” she said. “Mental health, you can’t really see it. It’s not like a broken leg. You have to look for the signs and my door’s always open for everybody.”
Denis’s love for her hometown shines through in her enthusiasm and her work to bring excitement to the people around her, both young and young at heart.
“Timmins is not a boring place. If you volunteer, you’re going to get so much back,” she said. “I want to inspire these young people to become more than what they think they’re capable of.”
