Message from Anne Kothawala
President of French for the Future and
President and CEO of the Canadian Newspaper Association
RE: The New Brunswick Government’s Decision to Scrap its Early French Immersion Program
We support all New Brunswickers who are devoting their time and energy to have this hasty and drastic decision reversed. We can see that a shrewd strategy is in play to deflect your arguments, pigeonhole your position and skew the issues. Should one report have the power to dismantle over 40 years of program development? Should one report hold the power to refute all of the experts in the field who have proven that Early Immersion is the most effective way for children to learn French? Why is the provincial administration of Canada’s only officially bilingual province in such a hurry to chop a world renowned program model?
As President of French for the Future – an organization supporting Immersion students from Coast to Coast to Coast – I share your dismay and find it hard to believe that this situation is actually occurring. As an immersion graduate with every facet of my professional life influenced by my bilingualism, I can understand why New Brunswick would want to make the gift of bilingualism available to more students, but I cannot fathom the logic of cutting Early French Immersion to achieve this goal.
Millions of Canadians have graduated from this gateway to Francophone culture, and in turn, to the world. Early French Immersion has had an enormous impact in shaping the character of our country. The elitist argument so broadly used to discredit Immersion advocates carries no weight. Many of the high school students who participate in our events are from immigrant families who come to Canada believing it to be a bilingual country. However difficult their circumstances they want their children to have the two national languages. And they want to live in places which this education is available.
Any parent can enrol their children in Early French Immersion. In many cases, they have to camp out for days outside a school to reserve a space for their children. Demand in most parts of the country far exceeds our education systems’ ability to meet it. The real problems French Immersion faces are first a crisis level shortage of teachers. For decades now, provincial governments have not taken action to train the teachers necessary to keep up with the growing popularity of the programs among all Canadians. The result in many cases is oversized classes. Either that or students are simply denied access to one of the country’s official languages. The second tier of problems involves a lack of books and a lack of the necessary cultural activities which need to accompany language learning. Technical language training is worthless without real content. These and other problems relating to the quality of education have always resided in the hands of provincial governments to mend. Instead of taking measures to address a problem of teacher shortages, the government is choosing to ignore the fundamental problem. Is a complete dismantling of the program the answer? Absolutely not!
This is an issue that extends far beyond your borders. You are fighting for the preservation of all Immersion programs that could be compromised by a “domino effect” of irrational decisions. French for the Future hopes that more Early Immersion graduates will make their voices heard and share their reflections on how their lives would be vastly different without having had access to Early French Immersion. This shortsighted decision could happen in other provinces. We will encourage our national network to be vigilant and to take proactive measures to ensure that their Early Immersion programs are properly protected.
French for the Future is a not-for-profit organisation which encourages and promotes linguistic duality in Canada by highlighting its positive social and career benefits and by forging linguistic and cultural links among secondary school students who are enrolled in French first and second language courses.French for the Future celebrates local Francophone and Francophile communities and emphasizes the positive career potential resulting from French language education in Canada.