Official Languages

The committee studied the minority-language education continuum, hearing from representatives of early childhood, K-12, and post-secondary institutions in francophone minority communities. Witnesses included Martine St-Onge (AFESEO), Judy Romaric Sessua Kuengou and Zoya Martin (Commission scolaire francophone du Nunavut), Martin Normand and Catherine Rousseau (ACUFC), and Isabelle Côté (Simon Fraser University).

Martine St-Onge said only 27% of eligible children under four in Ontario have access to a francophone early childhood space, and that the lack of a provincial designation system for francophone providers means bilingual spaces often become sites of assimilation. She noted that municipal funding flows through non-francophone-designated municipalities, creating language barriers and data gaps, and that the College of Early Childhood Educators blocks recognition of out-of-province and foreign credentials, worsening a staffing shortage where occupancy sits at 61%. She recommended structured, recurring funding that reflects official language minority status and improved working conditions to retain staff.

Judy Romaric Sessua Kuengou and Zoya Martin described the opening of Nunavut’s first French-language high school in September 2024 after a legal battle, but said only 20% of eligible children territory-wide attend francophone schools, with 0% outside Iqaluit. They reported chronic underfunding, a lack of transparency from the territorial government on federal education transfers, and severe housing shortages that make teacher recruitment nearly impossible. They asked for federal checks to ensure territorial governments fully implement section 23 of the Charter, and for direct federal engagement with the school board rather than only through the territorial government.

Martin Normand said a recent ACUFC study projects a need for 22,000 francophone early childhood educators by 2035 but only 11,000 available, and that training capacity is limited by a shortage of internship placements. He recommended sustainable federal investment in initial and ongoing training, support for evidence-based data collection, and strengthened capacity of francophone post-secondary institutions to offer programs tailored to regional needs. He noted that a promised $80 million annual federal investment in post-secondary institutions was delivered at only about $20 million for three years, not permanently.

Catherine Rousseau added that federal funding has enabled the creation of programs designed specifically for minority francophone communities—such as a new early childhood education program at Collège Éducacentre in British Columbia—rather than simple translations of anglophone curricula. She said the main barrier to expanding training is the lack of internship placements in communities already short of qualified educators, and that continuing education is a key factor in staff retention.

Isabelle Côté said Simon Fraser University’s French programs rely entirely on federal funding through the Official Languages in Education Program (OLEP), which has been frozen for 10 years despite rising costs and growing community needs. She noted that one-time federal funding for teacher recruitment and retention in British Columbia was not renewed, and that teachers report its loss is hurting retention. She stressed that 75% of future French teachers in her programs are former French immersion students, making immersion a critical pipeline for the workforce.

The committee briefly discussed procedural matters, agreeing to hold a future meeting with seven witnesses—three for the Liberals, three for the Conservatives, and one for the Bloc Québécois—with witness lists due by Friday, November 7.