French-as-a First Language Education
“a
full and complete education not a limited, partial or truncated one...”
--Judge Sirois in Marchand vs.
Simcoe County Board of Education decision
Religion
and Language,
Potent Forces in Ontario Education
•
Alexander Galt's key constitutional compromise between
Upper and Lower Canada is embodied in Section 93 of the Constitution Act
–
no Section 93, no Canada--at least in 1867.
•
Section 93 protects
dissentient religious rights in publicly funded education--not language
rights...but
A Short-Lived “Simplicity”
Egerton Ryerson and Assimilation
Although
Ryerson authorised use of French text books in 1865, according to George W.
Ross, he believed that “surrounded as they were by an overwhelming English
majority, [francophones] would become Anglicised by English teachers and
English institutions, and that in this way a social revolution would take
place, without any irritation or agitation whatsoever.”
In
short, according to Ross, Ryerson believed that time and flexibility were
needed so that francophones would surrender their distinctiveness and accept
instruction in the English-language schools.
A Primer (very basic) on FFL education in
Ontario
•
1676 -- first French-language school in Ontario opens
its doors in Kingston
•
1851 -- Regulation under School Act specifies exclusive
use of French or English in Upper Canada
•
1871 -- High School Act promotes exclusively English
sec. schools
• 1912
-- REGULATION 17
A Primer (very basic) on FFL education in
Ontario (continued)
•
1927 -- Tiny township decision ends R.C.S.S. secondary
education beyond grade 10
•
1966 -- Instruction in French permitted for Latin,
history, and geography
•
1968 -- Instruction in French permitted for all
subjects in public S.S.
but...
A Primer (very basic) on FFL education in
Ontario (continued)
•
after 1969 amalgamations all Ontario school boards were
overwhelmingly anglophone
A Primer (very basic) on FFL education in
Ontario (continued)
•
anglophone boards
had little sympathy for French as a first language instruction and generally
did everything in their power to oppose and undermine it, including
–
refusing adequate
and appropriate resources
–
assuring, in
cooperation with the anglophone teacher unions, that very few courses were
available in French
–
opposing creation
of French-language instructional units, especially at the secondary level
–
promoting
anglophone admission to FFL programs (“deluxe” immersion).
A Primer (very basic) on FFL education in
Ontario (continued)
•
French Language Advisory Committees (FLACs) were purely
advisory--boards were required only to listen to them.
•
Long history of confrontation and alienation of FLACs
and boards
A Primer (very basic) on FFL education in
Ontario (continued)
•
Creation of Language of Instruction Commission of
Ontario in 1977 did little to improve situation—Commission was “toothless
tiger” whose only powers were to provide mediation and notify minister of
impasses (of which there were a growing number during the 1980's)
A Primer (very basic) on FFL education in
Ontario (continued)
•
1982 -- Charter proclaimed
–
Sect. 23--only clause in Charter that provides
“clearly” defined group rights!
A Primer (very basic) on FFL education in
Ontario (continued)
23. (1) Citizens of Canada
(a)
whose first language learned and still understood is that of the English or
French linguistic minority population of the province in which they reside, or
(b)
who have received their primary school instruction in Canada in English or
French and reside in a province where the language in which they received that
instruction is the language of the English or French linguistic minority
population of the province,
A Primer (very basic) on FFL education in
Ontario (continued)
have
the right to have their children receive primary and secondary school
instruction in that language in that province.
(2) Citizens of Canada of whom any child has
received or is receiving primary or secondary school instruction in English or
French in Canada, have the right to have all their children receive primary and
secondary school instruction in the same language
A Primer (very basic) on FFL education in
Ontario (continued)
(3) The right of citizens of Canada under
subsections (1) and (2) to have their children receive primary and secondary
school instruction in the language of the English or French linguistic minority
population of a province
(a)
applies wherever in the province the number of children of citizens who have
such a right is sufficient to warrant the provision to them out of public funds
of minority language instruction; and
A Primer (very basic) on FFL education in
Ontario (continued)
(b) includes, where the number of
those children so warrants, the right to have them receive that instruction in
minority language educational facilities provided out of public funds.
A Primer (very basic) on FFL education in
Ontario (continued)
But...
59. (1) Paragraph 23(1)(a) shall come into force in respect of Quebec on a
day to be fixed by proclamation issued by the Queen or the Governor General
under the Great Seal of Canada.
A Primer on FFL education in Ontario
•
1984 -- Ontario Court of Appeal Decision
•
1986 -- Bill 75
•
1988 -- Metro Toronto French-language board created
•
1988 -- Ottawa-Carleton French-language board created
•
1994 -- creation of Prescott-Russell French Catholic
board
A Primer on FFL education in Ontario (continued)
•
1997 -- Bill 104, 11 francophone boards of education,
but...1997-- Bill 160, potential reductions in funding, autonomy, and
especially marginalisation of small schools!
Bright hopes but another “lost generation”
•
control of FFL instruction remained in the hands of
anglophone boards
•
“mixed” language schools led to massive assimilation
•
lack of resources:
–
physical
–
learning materials
–
human--up and down the educational hierarchy
Francophone educators were always stretched to the limit
Bright hopes and another “lost generation” (continued)
•
no route to post-secondary education en français
A long journey only partly completed
•
Francophones are “ entitled to be provided out of
public funds for an education in French to...[their] children. That means the same education as is given the
majority but in the other official language.
This is to be a full and complete education not a limited, partial or
truncated one, which necessarily would be an inferior education, a second class
one.”
A long journey only partly completed
...section
23 should be viewed as encompassing a “sliding scale” of requirement, with
subs. (3)(b) indicating the upper level of this range and the term
“instruction” in subs. (3)(a) indicating the lower level. The idea of a sliding scale is simply that s.
23 guarantees whatever type and level of rights and services is appropriate in
order to provide minority language instruction for the particular number of
students involved.
A long journey only partly completed
...the English text of subs. (3)(b)
is perhaps ambiguous: the phrase
“minority language educational facilities” could either mean the facilities of
the minority, or the facilities for the minority. The French text, however, is clearer...
A long journey only partly completed
The French version of s. 23(3) reads:
23. (3) Le
droit...
(b) comprend, lorsque
le nombre de ces enfants le justifie, le droit de les faire instruire dans des
établissements de la minorité linguistique financés sur les fonds publics. [Emphasis added]
A long journey only partly completed
The underlined phrase in the
French text—which utilizes the possessive “de la”— is more strongly suggestive
than the English text that the facilities belong to the minority and hence that
a measure of management and control should go to the linguistic minority in
respect of educational facilities.
= a clear governance right on the part of the minority!
A long journey only partly completed
In my view, it is essential, in
order to further this purpose, that, where the numbers warrant, minority
language parents possess a measure of management and control over the
educational facilities in which their children are taught. Such management and control is vital to
ensure that their language and culture flourish.