"It's All French Over There": My Quest for Franco-Ontarians around Lake Erie

As an Ohio-based (U.S.) French instructor and francophile, I explored Ontario (Canada) in search of Franco-Ontarian communities. Eager to understand their position within larger anglophone-dominant spheres--positions that are unique from neighboring Francophone communities of Quebec--I traveled to such communities. An international border divides Lake Erie, thus making Ontario a polity bordering Ohio. Inspired by a provincial-government map documenting communities of Francophone communities, I took advantage of a winter break to wander via automobile. Finding little public evidence of French, I was often told to venture "over there". This adventure led me to important discoveries about the perceptions of minority linguistic communities amongst anglophone Ontarians, which become clearer through Foucault's concept of heterotopia and Bronfenbrenner's ecological model. This quest for Franco-Ontarians made me revisit my own cultural assumptions. Findings encourage more nuanced understandings of the nature of minority linguistic communities and the ways in which they are represented.