(Quebec) A budgetary impasse that has been decried for months in Quebec is forcing school service centers to reduce or limit the number of French language classes for adults for the start of the school year, even though demand for these courses is exploding.
What you need to know
- Due to a budgetary impasse, school service centers are closing or limiting the opening of French language classes to adults.
- Meanwhile, demand for these courses has been exploding for years, with school administrators and unions fearing that waiting lists will grow longer.
- In Quebec, the Ministry of Education says it is continuing discussions with the Ministry of Immigration to find a solution for the school network.
With waiting lists growing longer, players in the education network met by The Press are devastated and consider the situation to be “dramatic”. They are urging the Legault government to rectify the situation and cannot explain its deaf ear, in a context where the fight against the decline of French is its priority.
Richard Bergevin, president of the Fédération des syndicats de l’enseignement (FSE-CSQ), explains that “it is an accounting problem” in the funding of adult education that is currently limiting the opening of francization classes. Furthermore, from 2019 to 2024, the amounts allocated to school service centres for adult francization have increased from $69 million to $104 million.
However, Quebec has decided to put an end to this increase, even though its own Commissioner of the French Language, Benoît Dubreuil, indicated last spring that the hours currently offered in francization were largely insufficient. Last June, stakeholders quoted by The Duty also warned that this decision would lead to the closure of thousands of classes. The government defends itself by recalling that it has invested an additional $320 million in francization over the next five years.
We made requests to the Ministry, to Francisation Québec, to the minister himself, nothing has changed. This means that some francization groups will not open because we are not subsidized. The waiting lists will grow longer. This is worrying.
Carl Ouellet, President of the Quebec Association of School Management Personnel (AQPDE)
“We need these people, workers who speak French, and we are slowing down the process. For us, on the ground, this is a very difficult decision to accept,” he laments.
The Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) even sent a letter in July to Prime Minister François Legault and the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, to denounce the situation.
“Considering that the issue of the French language is a priority for the government in place, [que] the population not knowing French has increased by 52% since 2011 [et que] only 43.6% of immigrants who declared that they did not know French upon admission took part in French language courses within three years of their admission, […] “It is absurd to see that school service centres do not have the resources necessary to do their fair share,” wrote the teachers’ union.
But the office of the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, responds that “the pressure exerted on our public and community services by temporary immigration is unsustainable and [qu’on] sees it in education.”
“Financial resources are the responsibility of MIFI [le ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration]which then mandates the Ministry of Education or other community organizations to provide the services. […] We continue to work closely with MIFI to find solutions for our network to meet demand,” they say, without specifying whether additional sums will be released.
Frenchifying parents to help children
On the last day of assignments in school service centres, last Thursday, teachers who were working until the spring with adults in francisation learned that they would not have a group in the fall. In some cases, they were offered to reorient their careers to elementary or secondary schools, where the needs are just as pressing.
This is the case of a teacher from the Lanaudière region who told her story to The Pressbut who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals from his employer.
I feel like I’m being gotten rid of, but it’s not because there isn’t enough demand, it’s just because the funding has been cut.
A French language teacher from the Lanaudière region
Benoît Giguère, vice-president of the FAE, does not understand why Quebec is inflating its waiting lists for francization. Last January, 36,204 people were waiting to get a place in a class.
Between 1er June 2023 and April 15, 2024, “only half of the people who sent a request to Francisation Québec [avaient] started their courses or received confirmation of enrollment in a course,” the union notes.
“In the last collective agreement, we improved the reception and French learning services for students from immigrant backgrounds, but on the other hand, we [pénalise] “Now there are parents who will not be able to keep up and support their children as they would like to do,” laments Mr. Giguère.
In Quebec, Francisation Québec is the sole government access point for registering for French language learning services. Courses are then provided in educational institutions, as part of adult education, or in community organizations funded by the MIFI.