Please Help! French Visa!!

Hi, I am hoping that someone with knowledge of Visas, particularly French Visas, can help me with my problem. My brother and I (we are both American citizens and are residence of Seattle, but we are also Canadian Citizens and have both Canadian and USA passports.) we were planning to apply for the working holiday visa to go work for our uncle on his family's farm in Lyon, France. So we filled out the application (working holiday visa) and got an appointment with the French consulate in Vancouver to submit them in person. We were denied the visas, They said that even though we are canadian citizens we do not have Canadian residence and therefore do not have provincial insurance. They did not specify which was the problem, not being a resident or needing provincial insurance ( we both have medical insurance through a company in the states and we are covered internationally and brought documentation with us.) Then they said something about having our employer contacting the consulate in San Francisco, and having it work that way. But that didn't make any sense to us because Americans are not allowed the French Working Holiday Visa?!
Please any information or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!