Welcome to Windsor, the oldest French colony west of Montréal - in fact, the first permanent European settlement in all of Ontario!

The founding of Fort Pontchartrain at Detroit in 1701, is an historical fact familiar to many people. What is less known, and seldom appreciated, is the history of a continuous French presence that has survived in this part of the world for nearly three centuries, cut off from and forgotten by the rest of the French-speaking population of North America. How is it that we still find a francophone culture here, in spite of all the pressures to assimilate?

Take a few moments to discover - or rediscover - three centuries of history and culture. When and why did the French settle here? How has their language and culture survived for three hundred years? What does the future hold for them?