The number of students living in Quebec on temporary permits and attending English-language schools has increased by almost 90% in 10 years, figures obtained by The Press. These are young people often from Asia or the United States, but also from France.
Between the years 2012 and 2015, there were, year after year, around 1,750 students with temporary residence permits enrolled in school in English. Last year, more than 3,200 students from outside Quebec were educated in English.
Over the past two years, it is mainly from South Korea, India, China, the United States and France that these students have come to school in English-language establishments.
Unlike other types of immigrants (asylum seekers, for example), newcomers who have a temporary residence permit have the right to send their children to school in English because of a provision of the law 101.
Thus, the number of students with temporary immigration status in English schools “tends to increase with the number of temporary permits issued by Quebec,” observes Russell Copeman, president of the Quebec English School Boards Association ( ACSAQ) and former Liberal MP.
Precisely, the number of those arriving in Quebec with this type of residence permit has increased in recent years. For example, in 2022, 51,260 people had obtained a temporary permit under the International Mobility Program, whereas five years earlier the number was 34,400.
At the English-Montreal School Board, 564 new students arrived in 2022-2023 with temporary status. In 2021, there were 100 fewer students to register with this status.
At the Riverside school board, on the South Shore, it is indicated that for the current school year, 5% of students have this temporary status, or about 400 students. They come mainly from India (12%), South Korea (11%), France (8%), the United States (8%) and Brazil (6%).
“A drop in the sea”
For Russell Copeman, the number of students with temporary status who are educated in English is “a drop in the ocean” represented by Quebec students.
As soon as they apply for permanent status, the temporary certificate to study in English is revoked at the end of the school year. It’s not really a problem.
Russell Copeman, President of the Quebec English School Boards Association
The sociolinguist Béatrice Rea is also of this opinion. In the long term, she says, these immigrants cannot remain “temporary,” so they join the French education system.
“The threat to French is when we start to touch Bill 101 and allow people to send their children to English-language schools. As long as we control the language in which the children are educated, for example among newcomers, we make sure to perpetuate French, ”believes Ms.me Rea, a graduate of the University of Oxford and research professional at the University of Sherbrooke.
A wealth “
Attending an English-language school is an option that few Quebecers can take advantage of. For a child to be eligible, for example, one of his two parents must have received the majority of his primary education in English in Canada.
Arriving from France with her husband a few years ago, Nathalie Meissner was able to send her two children to school in English because of her temporary immigration status. It was while chatting with friends that she learned that such a thing was possible. She opted for a school where teaching is bilingual.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Nathalie Meissner chose to send her children to an English-speaking school when the family arrived from France.
The first idea was to learn a foreign language at an early age so that it would be as easy as possible for them. For me, it is a real wealth.
Nathalie Meissner
She and her husband have just obtained their permanent resident status. “We got it much faster than we thought, it caught us a little off guard. We thought we could leave our children longer in the English school,” she laughs.
His son and daughter, who also speak German, will have to go to a French-speaking school from the next school year.
On social media, the issue of English education for immigrants with temporary status is frequently raised in expat groups.
“Many see the advantage of learning foreign languages when you are young, whether for the French or people of other nationalities,” says Nathalie Meissner.
The arrival of these new students can be beneficial for English school boards, which have had to close many schools, says Russell Copeman.
“We have a network of 75,000 primary and secondary students; 3,000 students is not negligible. It is in the overall portrait of Quebec, but for school boards, it is not,” says Russell Copeman.
English schools, he says, have lost 60% of their students since Bill 101 was passed.