Francophone school boards in Ontario have seen their number of students swell thanks to the arrival of asylum seekers from Quebec. A situation that makes many stakeholders happy, as the demographic weight of Francophones has been declining in the province for several years.
The director of newcomer services at the Hamilton/Niagara Community Health Centre, Bonaventure Otshudi, maintains that the Francophone community in his region is “rubbing their hands” when they see the number of new students. “Immigration is the cure for the declining birth rate in the region. In our francophone schools, we can have [un nombre d’inscriptions] dream, never seen. One school received 30 enrollments in three months,” he says.
” I’m very good. Some students are less francized, some are well francized,” explains Mr. Otshudi.
The schools are doing everything to help new students learn French, says the employee of the community health center. “In Ontario, we say that you can catch English, but you have to learn French. We therefore recommend that parents keep their children in the francophone system so that they can retain the language, otherwise they will lose it. »
Conseil scolaire Viamonde, which has five schools in the Niagara region, confirms that refugee students have been enrolled in all of its schools in the surrounding area. “We make sure that families are aware of our existence as a French-language secular education system,” says its director of communications, Steve Lapierre. The MonAvenir Catholic School Board has already received around ten refugee children in its establishments in the region.
The Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est, most of whose establishments are located in Ottawa, has welcomed more than 600 new students from immigrant backgrounds since the last fall. Between September 2021 and September 2022, the council had welcomed around half of them. “It is not possible to determine if these students come from immigration via Roxham Road,” however, specifies the school board.
The Conseil scolaire catholique Providence and the Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien did not provide data to the Duty.
Francophone population in decline
Despite the achievement in 2022 of the target for Francophone immigration outside Quebec set by the federal government, the demographic weight of Canadians speaking French continues to decline, Ontario and elsewhere. The arrival of Francophone asylum seekers “helps meet the target,” notes the president of the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada, Liane Roy. “All of our communities are very open to welcoming asylum seekers,” she says.
Immigration is the cure for the declining birth rate in the region. In our francophone schools, we can have [un nombre d’inscriptions] dream, never seen. One school received 30 registrations in three months.
In Cornwall, where approximately 20% of the population is Francophone, their arrival is already arousing curiosity and interest. Senator Bernadette Clément, former mayor of the place, says she has received calls in recent months from employers asking if some asylum seekers would be able to work at home. “It is crucial to be able to attract Francophone immigration [en milieu minoritaire]. And all of a sudden, in Cornwall, there are people coming in and wanting to work. »
Adrien Wilsonne, a pastor of Haitian origin working in Fort Erie, near Niagara Falls, where nearly half of the asylum seekers transferred to Ontario ended up, already salutes their “dreams and visions”. “These are people who, in a few months, will be able to give and contribute to the development of Canadian society. They are workers, people who want to do everything possible to be able to take care of their families,” he says.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.