New Brunswick’s education minister insisted change was still on the table for incoming French education reforms this fall.
“Changes are coming,” said Bill Hogan, during a virtual question and answer session Monday. “But let me be clear, there’s still a chance for New Bruswickers to have their say.”
“We need to hear about the strengths and challenges.”
The province’s in-person consultation tour will run from Jan. 17 to Jan. 25 in Bathurst, Moncton, Saint John, and Fredericton. Virtual consultation sessions will happen Jan. 31 and Feb. 2.
A provincial government online survey about the proposed changes will continue until Feb. 3.
Starting in September, kindergarten to Grade 1 students will spend half their school day taught in French and the other half in English. The change will end the French immersion program in Grade 1 this fall, where students currently spend 90 per cent of their day taught in French.
Students starting kindergarten and Grade 1 this fall will continue under the 50/50 model throughout their primary school years.
Monday night’s virtual question and answer session with Minister Hogan was moderated by Tiffany Bastin, the department’s assistant deputy minister in the Anglophone school sector.
Chris Collins, executive director of Canadian Parents for French in New Brunswick, was critical of the first session’s half-hour format of pre-selected questions and scripted answers.
“This isn’t a consultation process,” said Collins. “A consultation process takes place before the decision is made. The decision has already been made to abolish French immersion. It’s been made to cancel registration for French immersion. All they’re doing right now is trying to placate the people of New Brunswick.”
One of Collins’ questions directed to the government on Twitter, where he called the government’s process a “con job,” was featured in the virtual session.
“Wow, those are some strong words. But I appreciate the candour,” said Hogan on Monday night. “Thank you for the question, Chris.”
In response, Hogan said teachers, administrators, and learning specialists with the education department had been consulted formally and informally over the past year about possible French education changes.
“We have also benefited from the findings of the outstanding consultation work that was done through the official languages review and the report on second language learning,” said Hogan.
Don Wright, a political scientist at the University of New Brunswick, said it may be more difficult for government officials to “duck and cover” from direct questions at in-person sessions.
“You might get some very difficult questions from very frustrated parents who don’t understand what these changes are all about, or who believe the game is already rigged,” said Wright. “French immersion, I’ve often said, is the third of New Brunswick politics. It necessarily invites, despite all the research and all the expertise, it still invites a lot of passion and emotion.
“I don’t envy the minister. It will be a difficult process.”
Canadian Parents for French in New Brunswick released results Tuesday from a survey it commissioned through Leger Marketing.
According to the survey, 72 per cent of respondents believed it was important for Anglophone parents in the province to have the opportunity to send their children to a French immersion school, while 63 per cent of respondents were against ending French immersion programs in New Brunswick.
The web-based Leger survey was conducted with 500 New Brunswickers who could speak English or French from Dec. 15, 2022, to Dec. 23, 2022. The survey’s maximum margin of error for a sample of 500 respondents is ± 4.4 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
