Northern Ontario – for everyone to discover

If you build it, they will come.

Nicole Guertin discovered that first-hand when she took a chance on turning her dream into reality. She believed that more Francophone tourists would visit Ontario’s northern communities if they knew that French language services were available there. She was right.

Destination Nord, a not-for-profit agency that promotes Northern Ontario tourism to Francophones, began in Nicole’s basement in Kapuskasing in 2001. Armed with little more than an idea, great passion and commitment to do whatever it took to be successful, Nicole was able to start building her dream with help from partners like the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

In five short years, Destination Nord has become a recognized authority on where to find French tourism services, accommodation and attractions throughout all of Ontario.

The agency now employs 16 people in 14 regions across the province. Tour planners and operators and tourism businesses look to Destination Nord as the expert on marketing Ontario tourism to Francophones. The agency offers guidance and translation services as well as shares how-to insights.

“The Ontario Trillium Foundation listened when no one else did,” says Nicole. “OTF was there at the very beginning to help us get Destination Nord up and running.”

The first step was gathering information for a reference tool. Once the organization had produced and distributed the Destination Ontario guide, the number of Francophones who visited Ontario began to grow.

While most of the visitors continue to come from Quebec, there has also been some interest from French-speaking people in New England and even Europe.

The economic spin-off effects have been huge. In the Kapuskasing area, Destination Nord has created jobs for its own employees and provided work for accountants, translators and even office renovators.

Because the number of French-speaking visitors in many Northern Ontario communities has grown as a result of Destination Nord’s marketing efforts, employment opportunities for bilingual and French-speaking residents have increased as well.

Resorts and tour providers have expanded their businesses and thousands of people are becoming aware of Northern Ontario’s history, attractions and appeal.

One of Destination Nord’s recent projects has been the creation of a Francophone festival network.

With funding help from OTF, Kelly Kraby, who manages and promotes the festival network for Destination Nord, began by conducting a survey to determine the sort of services and support the organizers of French language festivals most needed.

She found that groups across the province wanted to be able to connect with one another, to share information and pool resources. Group efforts led to whole regions working together to market their regular events and even to create some new ones.

A wine and cheese tasting in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, expanded to include New Liskeard, Ontario, and a series of boat cruises was organized in the Haileybury-Temiskaming region.

“Now, we are developing a toolkit to help festival organizers attract volunteers, find resources, source funding and make the most of their events. We are even looking at the possibility putting together some bulk purchasing deals for festival supplies.”

For Nicole Guertin and Destination Nord, the reality of success has exceeded even her wildest dreams. A magazine advertisement for the Destination Nord guide that specifically targeted Quebec brought in over 1,000 requests for the publication. The spotlight she has helped to focus on Kapuskasing has put it in the running as a model community for bilingualism in Canada.

“Destination Nord is a group of strong people share a passion for what Northern Ontario has to offer,” says Nicole. “When you believe in something, you can convince others to believe, too. For big successes, you must have big dreams.” 

GRANT SUMMARY In 2003, Destination Nord received a $290,000 Province-Wide grant over three years to establish a festival network in Northern Ontario, to showcase Franco-Ontarian culture and strengthen Francophone tourism, and for office and computer equipment.