When the Ontario government announced funding for French-language public high schools in 1967, Franco-Ontarians thought the matter was settled. However, this turned out not to be the case. During the 1970s, several school conflicts pitted parents demanding French-language schools against local school boards, typically those dominated by a majority of English-speaking elected officials. Concerned about their finances, these boards often opposed the creation of French-language high schools. They preferred bilingual establishments. Such was the case in Cornwall and Sturgeon Falls. In 1977, some parents in Penetanguishene lobbied for a French-language public high school for their community, a demand supported by the Association canadienne-française de l’Ontario (ACFO). Simcoe’s school board rejected their idea. Instead, it proposed to build classrooms attached to the bilingual Penetanguishene Secondary School to accommodate francophones. This solution was unacceptable to many parents and students.

To force the school board to change its mind, some parents established a parallel French-language secondary school called l’école de la Huronie. This “school of resistance” opened its doors on September 3, 1979. The parents wanted to force the Ontario government to intervene by granting them a French-language high school. But the Huronia school needed funding. The Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens and ACFO asked francophones to contribute to the funding of the school to ensure its operation and to demonstrate popular support for the cause.

This battle garnered national attention. Media across the country published stories about this high school. Federal politicians supported the cause of French-speaking parents in Penetanguishene, as did Quebec Premier René Lévesque. On April 23, 1980, Minister of Education Bette Stephenson announced the construction of a French-language high school in Penetanguishene. This school opened two years later.

Like school conflicts elsewhere in Ontario and the rest of the country, this battle made francophone parents and their supporters aware that they had to take control of their schools.