Downtown Okotoks was a buzz on Friday morning as the town's Francophone school Ecole Beausoleil, Mayor Bill Robertson and Foothills M.P. John Barlow held a short flag raising ceremony at the Municipal Centre.

The 2011 census recorded more than 81,000 Franco-Albertans were living in Alberta, while 238,000 Albertan's speak french.

For Ecole Beausoleil Vice Principal Isabelle Mercier today is important as it confirms her beliefs that the future is brighter for children who study more than two languages.

"We have many Francophone people everywhere in Canada, so it's great for children to have their education in French, I think it's very important." Mercier says "The future is becoming more multi-cultural, so for the kids, it's really important to know more than language and it's a great option for parents to expose their children to more than one language."

Mayor Bill Robertson says we have a lot of Francophones in the Foothills, and our region is rich with french heritage.

"Certainly a significant number of our population in the Okotoks region are french speaking, or have french heritage and want to avail themselves of this educational service."

Mayor Robertson also feels that because french is an official language of Canada that it's important that french education is available.

"It's one of the two official languages in Canada so it's important and only fair that families are able to become educated in the language of their choice."

Ecole Beausoleil is currently operating out of portables in the Percy Pegler area.

The portables prove a problem to the quick growth the school is experiencing, so the school's students and staff are quite excited to announce that their new building will be open in September of 2017.

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Staff / Students of Ecole Beausoliel, M.P. John Barlow and Mayor Bill Robertson