Geographical Imaginations of the Canadian Minority Francophonie among French-Speaking Immigrants and Refugees
The role of social and spatial representations in processes of inclusion and exclusion forms a privileged field of study for understanding power relations between dominant and dominated groups. The purpose of this article is to take an innovative approach to examine this issue by adopting the concept of geographical imaginations to investigate the representations of Francophone minority communities (FMCs) in Canada by French-speaking immigrants and refugees. To this end, we present the results of an instrumental case study on the experiences of French-speaking immigrants in two cities with FMCs in Ontario: London and Ottawa. Our analysis highlights the sociospatial dynamics of the Canadian minority Francophonie as perceived by French-speaking immigrants and their role of these dynamics in the negotiation of their belonging.