Youth Leadership

Developing the leadership of Francophone youth in Hamilton is one of the pillars of the work carried out by the CFH!

GFI logo
September 2023 to March 2024

Génération Franco-Influenceurs

Funded by the Francophone Community Grants Program (FCGP), Génération Franco-Influenceurs (GFI) is the latest leadership program launched by CFH. It’s a digital content creation training project designed with and for high school students aged 12 to 17 in the Hamilton and Niagara region.


The aim is to enable selected young francophone leaders to create secure accounts on the most popular social networks of their generation, and to feed them with video content. This content will focus on the various resources available in French for young people, and will also highlight organizations, services, talents and personalities that are particularly noteworthy in our community, through video capsules prepared and produced by them.

“Génération Franco-Influenceurs” aims above all to engage young Francophones, increase the amount of French-language content on social media, and reduce the social barriers to integration for young Francophones.

With a phase of theoretical and practical workshops to increase their knowledge in the following areas:

  • Oral expression (public speaking, speech writing, camera presence)
  • Digital content creation (editing methods and techniques)
  • Marketing (promotion and monetization of content created)
  • Journalism (journalistic ethics, content selection and relevance)
  • Content moderation (combating cyberbullying, the golden rules of moderation)

Check it out on :

Instagram – Tiktok – Youtube

Leadership against bullying

Funded by the Ministry of Francophone Affairs of Ontario, this 2nd edition of CFH’s leadership program offers an innovative model of workshops to strengthen Francophone students’ leadership, and help them learn how to fight against bullying and discrimination in all its forms. The project aims at creating sustainable communities of practice so that each student knows how to prevent, or react to, situations of bullying based on gender, race, sexual orientation or ability.

With the support of the Conseil scolaire Viamonde and the Conseil scolaire catholique Mon Avenir, 10 young Francophones from grades 9 to 12 were selected for the ÉSC Académie Catholique Mère Teresa and the ÉS Georges-P. Vanier. First, these young leaders receive four 2-hour training sessions on the following themes: anti-racist 101, facilitated by Tau S. Bieu; self-confidence and self-expression, facilitated by Sêssi Hounkanrin; feminism and social justice, facilitated by Leila Durante; discrimination, sexuality and gender identity, facilitated by Anne-Sophie Ruest-Paquette (FrancoQueer). Teachers and CFH staff who supervise these young people also receive special training to best support them in their journey.

Second, the young leaders will adapt the content of the trainings they received, then share what they have learned when they visit the 6 elementary schools and the 2 secondary schools of the Hamilton-Burlington region.

Third, the trained leaders will lead workshops during the March Break leadership camp around the themes on which they will have been trained. Cultural and artistic activities such as the creation of a mural, a yoga class, an oral poetry workshop and a show and conference by artist Vincent Bishop will complete the program of this camp. It will take place March 13-17 in Hamilton at the Staircase Theatre. Registrations can be made for the entire week or by day.

Information and registration for the leadership march camp: https://en.campscfh.com/a-propos

Leadership Champions

Between November 2021 and March 2022, CFH developed a leadership training program for youth in the Greater Hamilton Area. The project was in the form of interactive training sessions, staggered between January and March, and a retreat during March break. The potential of young people was expressed through the following activities and training: development of skills in debates, personal development and expression of ideas, emotional development (sharing of life stories, networking, training in active listening), coaching in development of self-confidence, training in communication, group dynamics and management, training in fundraising, in means of community impact… The young people chose both the themes they wanted to explore and the schedules and training dates, depending on their availability.
The progress of year 2 of the project will be announced in the fall of 2022.

Leadership camp

Centre Francophone Hamilton is pleased to offer their first ever leader in training camp program. The program is designed for youth 12-15 years old who wish to participate in leadership activities along with practical training in order to become a future leader.

The program is two weeks long and consists of 1 week of leadership training, theory and activities followed by 1 week of practical experience alongside current camp counsellors and campers.
In order to participate future leaders must attend one week of training and one week of practical experience with the CFH youth camps.

A certificate of achievement and volunteer hours (20-40 hours) will be provided to participants who have completed the two-week program.

To register: https://www.campscfh.com