Building my life in French in Canada: Albert’s Story

Every year, thousands of Francophones immigrate to Canada and settle in French speaking communities outside Quebec. Throughout their journey, many Francophones organizations across Canada support and encourage them in planning their new life.

Transcript: Building my life in French in Canada: Albert’s Story

Video length: 1 minutes, 27 seconds

Lively music is heard in the background. A black sign with the same music in the background. The displayed text says: “Every year, thousands of Francophones immigrate to Canada and settle in French‑speaking communities outside Quebec. Throughout their journey, many Francophones organizations across Canada support and encourage them in planning their new life.

Here is a testimonial from one of them. ”

A man smiles at the camera. A title states: “Albert Safeut, native of Cameroon”.

The man is sitting in his living room with his wife and three young children — two boys and a girl. We see the three children looking at the camera, the one in the middle making a peace sign with his fingers. The images are all in slow motion.

Albert Safeut: My name is Albert, and I am from Cameroon. We have been here in Canada for 2 years, to offer our children a brighter future.

The man then looks at the camera and smiles. We see his children looking at the camera, followed by his wife, and then Albert talks to the camera, with his wife sitting next to him.

Albert Safeut: I felt at home as soon as we arrived, because when I arrived at the airport the immigration officer greeted us by saying “welcome home”. He did not say “welcome to Canada” but “welcome home”, and to this day I truly feel at home.

We are now outside. Albert is walking with his son. It’s early evening, so it’s dark. Then we see the family walking outside toward a brightly lit building. It’s now evening. The family enters the building. A sign at the entrance reads: “Bienvenue. Journée de Célébration du mois de l’Histoire des Noirs”. Albert and his wife meet friends. We see several images of Albert’s friends and family embrace each other.

Albert: I have really seen no limits to our integration. If you think you are not at home here, right away you shut yourself off, and people will not come looking for you. Seek people out, be open. That is what helped us with our integration, because I know there are other people out there too.

The images continue to scroll. Albert enters a large reception room full of large tables set with tablecloths and flowers. There are plenty of people at the tables. We see Albert sitting at a table, laughing with another guest. The camera shows us the room and participants. We then follow Albert as he walks from table to table, stopping to talk to friends. His wife is with him. We also see people dancing and celebrating. We end with Albert waving to his friends as he leaves.

Albert: When we say we have been here for 2 years, they are surprised, they say, well, 2 years only, it went very fast. That is true, because when we left we told ourselves: we have left now, we are making this country our new country where the children will grow up. It is better to transform your living environment into something that is attractive to everyone, and to do that, you have to open up to other people.

The image changes to show the graphic: “Building my life in French in Canada” with the text: “For more information about settlement services in French, visit canada.ca/francoimmigration”. We see the brand image of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

The music stops. We see the signature of the Government of Canada, the Canadian flag flying on a white background.