MINORITY-LANGUAGE EDUCATION
In 2005-2006, Canadian Heritage invested $179.4 million in initiatives to offer Anglophone and Francophone minority Canadians a quality education in their language. The initiatives are intended for Francophones outside Quebec and Anglophones within Quebec.
1. WHAT WE TARGET:
Offer minority-language Canadians the opportunity to receive an education, in their language, of comparable quality to that offered to the majority.
2. WHAT IS BEING DELIVERED:
- Development and support of minority-language education programs;
- Promotion of French first-language education to eligible students;
- Recruitment, training and professional development of teachers in official-language minority communities;
- Enrichment of students' cultural life through artistic activities;
- Delivery of educational services to improve students' first-language skills;
- Access to post-secondary education through new technology.
3. OUTCOMES (EXAMPLES):
- TFO, Francophone Ontario's educational and cultural television channel, co-produced Je vis ta vie, a series for young people and winner of the Multiculturalism Award at the 2005 Gemini Awards;
- In 2005, the Passeport francophone communautaire project enabled 315 students in grades 8 and 9 from the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique to take part in French-language holiday camps;
- Prince Edward Island announced the construction of a school-community centre in the West Prince region and expects to receive nearly 100 students from the region's Acadian and Francophone communities in January 2007;
- The Northwest Territories recently opened its second Francophone school. L'École Boréale in Hay River can accommodate 110 students, from kindergarten to grade 8;
- French teachers across Canada will soon have access to training kits, on oral communication as well as on reading and writing strategies.
Intergovernmental Cooperation
The Department and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), have longstanding ties, dating back 35 years in the field of official-language education. In 2005-2006, the Department and the CMEC renewed the Protocol for Agreements for Minority-Language Education and Second- Language Instruction, until 2008-2009.
The Protocol covers cooperation on official-language education between the Government of Canada and each provincial or territorial government. The federal government will spend close to $1.1 billion over the next four years, including some $108 million for language bursaries and official-language monitor programs, and $911.5 million for bilateral agreements with each province and territory.
Bilateral Agreements
Th Minister of International Cooperation and Minister for La Francophonie and Official Languages signed bilateral cost-sharing agreements and accompanying action plans with the 13 provinces and territories. For every dollar invested, the provinces and territories invest an equivalent amount. Of the $911.5 million that Canadian Heritage committed to invest, $656 million will be spent to maintain and improve regular education programs in the provinces and territories. In addition, $153.3 million and $102.2 million respectively will be invested to support additional strategies related to specific minority-language education and second-language learning issues.
To that end, each provincial and territorial government drafted, as an integral part of its bilateral agreement, multi-year action plans outlining the ways in which the funds are to be spent.
The intergovernmental agreements also set out mechanisms for consulting the education sector's key players and an accountability framework to help both levels of government better communicate the results of their cooperation to the public.
Promotion of Access and Integration
Canadian Heritage funded a number of initiatives to promote access and integration to minority language education, in order to: increase the number of eligible students attending primary schools; keep them in the minority school system through high school; and promote enrolment of students from exogamous families. In Quebec, the goal is to maintain and/or increase enrolment levels, especially in rural areas. In Western Canada, in 2005-2006, Saskatchewan set out to establish 11 integration programs and 11 French first-language kindergartens by 2009. These initiatives help prepare children for French school by integrating them into the Francophone system at a young age. It is hoped that enrolment levels in the French-language school system will be both increased and maintained.
Manitoba's Department of Education, Citizenship and Youth, via the Franco- Manitoban School Division, launched an initiative whose goal is to increase enrolment of eligible students in French-language schools from 33% to 36% by 2009. The new approach specifically targets homes where the French and English cultures coexist. A market survey will be conducted to identify the reasons parents choose to enrol (or not enrol) their children in French-language schools. The survey's findings will help determine how programs and services are promoted.
In addition, the Passeport francophone communautaire project helps to keep students in the British Columbia Francophone school board's high schools and promotes a sense of belonging to the community. The project encourages students to take part in Francophone community development activities, by allotting them participation points to take educational tours designed to reduce linguistic and geographic isolation. The project gives a growing number of grade 8 and 9 students in British Columbia and Saskatchewan an opportunity to take part in French-language holiday camps. A total of 315 students participated in 2005-2006, compared to 295 the previous year. Also, 15 grade 10 students took part in a second edition five-week exchange program with Quebec.
In Hay River, Northwest Territories, L'École Boréale opened its doors. This is the second French first-language learning facility to open in the Northwest Territories and it can accommodate 110 students from kindergarten to Grade 8.
Assistance for French Teachers Across Canada
In 2007-2008, Phase II of the French First-Language Pan-Canadian Project (an initiative funded under an agreement with the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada – CMEC) will include the completion of an oral communication training kit and a reading and writing strategies training kit for French first-language teachers.
Thriving Educational TV Channel in Ontario
With support from Ontario's Ministry of Education and the Department of Canadian Heritage, TFO produces and co-produces educational programs and guides for Francophones. Je vis ta vie, a series for young people, won the Multiculturalism Award at the 20th Gemini Awards Ceremony. This program offers young people ages 8 to 12, of different origins and from various regions of Canada, an opportunity to trade living arrangements for a week. Each episode describes the experience of one young person.
Quality of Programs and Cultural Enrichment in the School Setting
The goal of investing in this area is to retain the highest possible number of students in minority-language education systems. The Department helped to develop personalized learning programs, approaches and resources, in-school cultural enrichment and community roots initiatives, and secondary school revitalization projects. These investments also helped draw on new communications technologies and improve the way students' skills are evaluated.
The Atlantic provinces have also been active in this area. In 1978, Canada's first schoolcommunity centre, the Centre communautaire Sainte-Anne, opened in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The centre is currently being expanded, as is the Centre scolaire-communautaire Samuel-de-Champlain in Saint John. The Minister of International Cooperation and Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages took part in a ceremony at the start of construction to expand the Centre communautaire Sainte- Anne. The renovations are expected to be completed in 2008.
Prince Edward Island began building a schoolcommunity centre in the West Prince region, which is expected to open at the beginning of January 2007. The centre will help meet the French-language learning needs of some 100 students (grades 1 through 12) from the region's Acadian and Francophone communities. It will be part of a network of some 20 centres across the country that play a vital role in helping Canada's French language and culture develop and thrive.
Newfoundland and Labrador offers specialized services to help improve student's grades in French first-language schools. The services include those of resource persons, additional resources and pedagogical materials.
Josée Verner and New Brunswick Premier and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Bernard Lord, at the start of construction to expand the Centre communautaire Sainte-Anne.
Teaching Staff and Support Services
Funded projects impact the recruitment and training of teaching staff and specialists and the integration of new technology into teaching practices.
Nunavut set up a school board to manage its only French-language school, L'École des Trois- Soleils. This measure will gradually allow the region's Francophone community to take full responsibility for managing its education, with the support of Nunavut's Department of Education. There are nearly 400 eligible Francophone students in the territory, many of whom speak English or Inuktitut at home. Thus, it is important to offer them francization initiatives. Canadian Heritage also supported the efforts of school library staff to establish reading and conversation activities for students with language impairments.
Improved Access to Post-Secondary Studies
Improving access to post-secondary education involve: creating new programs, introducing measures to ease the transition from high school to post-secondary education, providing access to distance education, and implementing new institutional infrastructures.
For three years, post-secondary distance education courses have been available to Yukon residents who wish to further their education and ensure their competitiveness on the labour market. These courses ultimately help stem the exodus of members of the Francophone community. The Yukon's Services d'orientation et de formation aux adultes (SOFA) also offers a single window for professional development services.
Increased Access to Distance Learning in Western Canada
Alberta conducts research and development for interprovincial and territorial minority-language education initiatives, to develop multimedia projects and technology to increase post-secondary distance-learning opportunities. For example, the University of Alberta's Saint-Jean campus has developed online Master of Education courses for students from the Yukon, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. The Saint-Jean campus also helps Alberta participate in various multidisciplinary research activities directed by the Bureau de recherche et d'expansion of the Centre d'enseignement et de recherche en français (CERF).
In Ontario, a range of initiatives seeks, among other things, to increase Francophone enrolment in French-language postsecondary education. Projects underway are intended for, among others, new immigrants and students learning trades. Special attention is paid to promoting the new sectors of health, social and community services, and technology. Sudbury's Collège Boréal, which celebrated its 10th anniversary has awarded more than 7,300 diplomas and certificates in a range of programs. Ottawa's La Cité collégiale, which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary, offers training to more than 10,000 full-time and part-time students each year.
In New Brunswick, Université de Moncton's Shippagan Campus has developed a Bachelor's program on Integrated Coastal Zone Management, which will be offered in September 2007. To meet regional needs, the program will train professionals to promote the socio-economic development of coastal communities while respecting their natural environments.
Quebec plans to establish 15 Community Learning Centres by 2007, through agreements with English-language schools. These centres will offer a wide range of after-school services and activities to help meet the needs of students, families, and members of the community. The project, modelled after other school community centres in Canada, England and the United States, will help enhance the vitality of Quebec's Anglophone community.
Complementary Support for Language Learning
In 2005-2006, a total of 355 young people took part in these French enrichment and official-language monitor programs.
Summer preliminary data in support of minority-language education objectives:
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Destination Clic – 136 young minority Francophones enriched their French. French enrichment program exclusively for Francophones outside Quebec, which gives participants the opportunity to exchange views and discover the reality of various Francophone communities throughout Canada. Theme-based courses are offered at four institutions, Université de Moncton, the Centre linguistique du Collège de Jonquière, Université du Québec à Trois Rivières, and the University of Ottawa.
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Accent – 123 young Francophones from across Canada worked part-time in minority-language schools.
A part-time language monitor program, offering jobs that allow participants to gain classroom experience as teaching assistants while continuing their studies in another province. This program allows young people from across Canada to learn about another culture while discovering their own. It also gives young people learning French the opportunity to discover the richness of the French language and culture.
Odyssée – 96 young Francophones and Anglophones from across Canada worked full-time in minority-language schools.
A nine-month, full-time language monitor program that allows young people to discover a region of Canada while gaining teaching experience. By assisting teachers, language monitors help promote the learning of French as a first or second language while contributing other cultural perspectives.
Association franco-yukonnaise.
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