My name is Jordan, and I would like to thank you for visiting Dimoitou.ca. For the better part of two decades, primary schools across the nation used a program called Dimoitou to teach Canadian youth French as a second language. Dimoitou was published by Centre éducatif et culturel (now known as Les Éditions CEC) between 1984 and 1988. There were three distinct levels (one for each respective grade level between grade one and three). They featured textbooks, worksheets, a puppet, and cassettes of songs and stories.

               If you have been directed to this site from a podcast or a radio show on CBC, you may recall that I have been totally blind since birth. Naturally, this means that my life primarily consists of sound, and my fondest memories often involve sounds and music. Some of my fondest memories as a child involved the songs and other material from the Dimoitou program.

               During the COVID-19 era, I spent much of my time on a mission to track down the sources of these musical memories. Many of them were difficult to find, but none so much as Dimoitou, parts of which continue to elude me. For the past year, the Doc Project has followed along with me on this mission to obtain all of the Dimoitou cassettes; but only a small portion of them have turned up (and some in such poor condition as to be nearly unplayable). To make matters worse, the institutions charged with protecting and preserving Canadian history have often failed to do so (Library and Archives Canada is supposed to receive two copies of any publication). The paper components of Dimoitou are well preserved, with holdings at several university libraries as well as LAC. The audio components? Not so much; some have incomplete sets, some have sets which are so damaged as to be unplayable and others have no cassettes at all.

               Since I began this project, I have been contacted multiple times by other individuals who also remember the Dimoitou music and asked to share with them what I’ve found so far. I remember Dimoitou fondly, but I’m not the only one. Dimoitou is in danger of being lost to history, and I want to be the one to pull it back from the edge of the abyss before it’s too late.

               If you own cassettes of Dimoitou content, please get in touch. If you would be willing to donate or sell them to me, I would be eternally grateful. In addition to preserving them, it is my wish to own a complete set of original Dimoitou tapes for all three grade levels. If you represent Centre éducatif et culturel and have access to archives, please consider sharing them with me. If you work for a school or school board, please check your archives for Dimoitou cassettes and contact me if you are in a position to sell, donate or lend them to me. I have no profit motive, nor is it my wish to infringe on anyone’s copyright. I simply want to see a cherished part of our history remain intact (and to have it as a cherished collectible, if at all possible). Dimoitou was sick, but now he’s missing in action. If you can help me bring him home safely, please contact Jordan at find@dimoitou.ca.

Thank you.