2024’s annual meeting characterized by renewal

On Thursday, December 5, Collège Nordique successfully organized its annual meeting, an opportunity to take stock of the past year. This event brought together new members of the Board of Directors and representatives of NWT’s Francophone community. 

The ceremony opened with a prayer guided by Corine Nitsiza, in tribute to Indigenous people. This symbolic moment strengthened the ties between the participants while honouring the duty of remembrance. 

Angélique Ruzindana Umunyana, outgoing Chair of the Board of Directors, then warmly thanked the audience and announced the newly elected Chair for the next three years.

Executive Director, Patrick Arsenault, went on to thank the outgoing members of the Board of Directors and to introduce the new ones. He highlighted Collège Nordique’s resilience and commitment to serving its community, despite the challenges of wildfires and prolonged evacuation. He also proudly shared a striking fact: the second highest number of registrations in the last ten years, a sign of the dynamism and confidence of our community. 

  "We are very proud that, despite the forest fires and the evacuation, we were able to have the second highest number of registrations in the last ten years," says Patrick Arsenault. 

Guests were able to learn more about the year's achievements through a guided tour of the new classrooms and administrative offices, followed by presentations from the various departments, present in several rooms: 

In the Behchokǫ̀ room, located on the 3rd floor, where the CELPIP and TEF Canada exams are regularly held, Rosie Benning, Director of Education and Training, and also a Tłı̨chǫ teacher, accompanied by Senior Education and Training Coordinators, Natalia Pérez and Francis Giguère, presented highlights of the progress and delivery of professional development training programs throughout the year. Always inspired by Nordic values and guided by our education model, the language training programs as well as the training for the early childhood sector were outstanding. Partnerships with NWT institutions and post-secondary institutions in the Canadian Francophonie have been key to the success of our learning community. 

During his presentation in the Fort Smith room on the 3rd floor, Mounir Barry, Director of Student Experience and Quality Assurance, shared enrolment statistics, with a focus on the language courses. Although the latter recorded a slight decrease compared to the previous year, this decrease was mainly explained to be due to the forest fires and the resulting evacuation. However, he pointed out that the year 2023-2024 remains the second-best year in terms of enrolment numbers.

Natacha St Vignes, Director of Marketing and Communications, in the Inuvik room on the 2nd floor, highlighted the work accomplished to revamp the print and digital communication media, integrating the new design and slogan of Collège Nordique. This initiative marks the final phase of the institution's overall rebranding. She also shared key statistics from the new website, while also talking about the development of content for the blog and social networks that were among the priorities of the year.

Finally, Érika Cairo-Luce, Director of Operations, enthusiastically introduced the new team at Collège Nordique before guiding guests through the new premises. Open since July, these modernized spaces promote enhanced collaboration for staff and offer an even warmer welcome to the community. Among the new features are two additional classrooms, that have been created in the former premises of the college, thus responding to a growing demand.

Read all the details of Collège Nordique's successes and projects in our 2023-2024 annual report, available in French and English: