On June 5, close to 1,800 students from some 30 schools celebrated the launch of St-Jean Baptiste festivities by attending the outdoor concert featuring the Franco-Ontarian artist Stef Paquette. The concert was presented at the Grace Hartman Amphitheatre through the collaborative effort of the Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario (CSCNO), Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord de l’Ontario (CSPGNO) and La Slague, with support from Laurentian University, the University of Sudbury, Collège Boréal, the Centre de santé communautaire du Grand Sudbury, and the Association canadienne-française de l’Ontario du grand Sudbury.

This quality 60-minute performance will mark the launch of the numerous St-Jean Baptiste activities to take place in Greater Sudbury through to June 24, 2014. With the presentation of this concert, partners want to expose students from French Catholic and public schools to a francophone cultural and pride experience and to reinforce their links with francophone community partners.

Hailing from Chelmsford, Ontario, Stef Paquette is a man of many talents. This writer-composer-performer who is criss-crossing the country with his guitar and striking songs, is also an actor whose television roles have included Météo+, Les Bleus de Ramville and Hard Rock Medical as well as an afternoon radio host at Le LOUP-FM. In 2005, he won the Chanson primée award at the Gala des Prix Trille Or while travelling through the Middle East for International Day of La Francophonie. His second solo album, Le Salut de l'arrière-pays, was released in 2011 and won a number of awards, including the Prix Trille Or from the Association des professionnels de la chanson et de la musique in 2013. In January 2014, Stef won five of the seven prizes at the annual Contact ontarois music competition.