Lost opportunities for kids, an erosion of bilingualism for Anglophones, and yet another new language cohort in the school system. Those are some of the things Sackville parents are expecting to come about if the provincial government follows through on its plan to cut the French Immersion program starting next September.

Back in October, former education minister Dominic Cardy called out Premier Blaine Higgs for his “recent efforts to pressure EECD to abolish French Immersion by September 2023,” in a widely shared and highly critical resignation letter. Since then, new Education minister Bill Hogan has confirmed that Higgs’ plan to move up a phase-out of French Immersion would start next September, with kids going into grade one no longer eligible for the intensive language program.

Instead, Hogan is promising an enhanced French program as part of the regular English system.

Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton is one of the parents whose kids will be affected by the change. As someone who went through French Immersion herself, Mitton told CHMA that even though she finished in grade 10 and didn’t complete language proficiency tests at the time, her immersion education laid the foundation for her bilingualism today, something that is a key skill in her role as MLA for Memramcook-Tantramar.

“I can speak in English and in French to constituents, I can debate in French, I can do interviews in French and speak to the media. I don’t need a translator to be able to do these things,” says Mitton. “And so I think it’s hard to overstate the value of making sure that people have access to that… In terms of the work that I do, I think it’s really important that I’ve had French Immersion, because it gave me a good foundation for my French learning.”

Leveling down French second language learning

Sackville resident Molly Tomlik has one child who just started French Immersion this year, and another due to start in 2024. Like Mitton, Tomlik says her own French Immersion background in Nova Scotia helped her reach her current level of bilingualism, which means she can hold down a Federal job. “I’m really grateful to my parents for giving me that opportunity and putting me in French Immersion,” says Tomlik. “And I want to offer that to my children as well.”

Tomlik is concerned that her youngest child won’t have the same opportunity her older child has now. She says she understands the motive to improve French language instruction for everyone in the English system, but ultimately she’s concerned that the new goal amounts to leveling down what had been on offer in immersion programs.

“The solution they’ve come up with is to lower the bar,” says Tomlik. Her husband took French as part of an English school program, and has retained very basic phrases and vocabulary, she says. “That’s not what I’m looking for for my kids,” says Tomlik. “I’m looking for bilingualism. I thought they would have access to that in New Brunswick. But it honestly seems like they would have better access to that in a non-bilingual province.”

Tomlik has been exploring options such as trying to get her kids into the French system, or possibly moving to Amherst to access Nova Scotia’s immersion system, which begins a year earlier than New Brunswick’s.

The French school system is a viable alternative for Tara Albert, whose husband is French (and bilingual), which means both her young children will have the right to be educated in French according to Canada’s Charter of Rights. But Albert had been considering sending her kids to Sackville schools in the Immersion program, if only to keep them closer by for health and safety reasons.

“My oldest has a lot of allergies, and so keeping her close was a thought that was important for us,” says Albert. But not having the French Immersion program available will likely be a deal-breaker for the Alberts. “It’s just really important that she has a firm foundation in French if she wants to live and work in New Brunswick,” says Albert, “which isn’t possible if it doesn’t happen early.”

Albert is bilingual herself, another product of an immersion school system. “My parents are both very, very Anglophone,” says Albert. “There was no homework help even at home. But my ability to speak French has continued.”

“I just I really want that for my daughter,” says Albert. “I really want her to be fully bilingual, be very capable. Not having the ability to both speak and read and write in French, I think will really limit her and her future prospects if she chooses to stay in New Brunswick.”

Albert is happy that her kids will have the opportunity to learn in French, but also knows that same thing is not available to Sackville families without “ayants-droit” or the right to learn in French. She also wonders about the plan for universal French instruction, and how much time students will be able to spend immersed in the language.

“Immersion” or “immersive”?

The proposal to eliminate French Immersion and create a new universal program comes from a report on second language learning published in January by John McLaughlin and Yvette Finn, as part of the province’s mandated review of the Official Languages Act. The pair were clear with their conclusion that, “New Brunswick needs one strong, authentic, and engaging French second language program of studies for all students in the Anglophone sector.”

But on how to build that program, the commissioners were less clear. Recommendation 18 of their report reads, “That EECD [Education and Early Childhood Development] create an authentic, immersive, language-rich French second language learning program for all students.” And just in case there is confusion over the use of the word “immersive”, the commissioners later explain, “It is important to note that our use of the term “immersive” in this context is not to be confused with the current “French immersion” model, but rather is intended to describe an overall program approach which fully engages students for significant periods of time in their second language development.”

And that point, the abandonment of “immersion” for something “immersive”, seems to be a key concern for parents. The question seems to be whether the goal of the new system—a conversational level of French for all students by the time they finish high school—will be achievable without immersion.

Mitton says what she’s hearing from professional educators is that “immersion is the best practice.”

“So I hear Bill Hogan saying, Oh, well, you know, they’ll have options to take more difficult courses in high school, if they want to dig deeper. Well, that’s not good enough,” says Mitton.

“If we can make sure that students have deeper knowledge and exposure at a younger age, that is better. We know that the younger, the better,” says Mitton. “That’s what the evidence says. And so I have concerns that the government is not making evidence-based decisions.”

Another Sackville parent, Lori Ann Roness, agrees.

“There’s ample evidence to show that language acquisition from zero to six is the strongest period to pick up a language,” says Roness. “So suggesting late immersion, or just a French course here and there, it’s not going to foster bilingualism.”

Roness has an older child who started French Immersion in grade one, the year that the province made its latest change to the starting date for the program. Roness says the constant back and forth over immersion in New Brunswick has created a patchwork of cohorts in the public system, and she’s concerned that is adding chaos for educators and administrators. McLaughlin and Finn acknowledged as much in their own report, noting that the sheer number of different French second language programs offered was contributing to a shortage of qualified teachers.

Roness thinks targeting French Immersion as the “culprit” for the problems in the rest of the English education system has become a go-to for successive governments. “They have always come out with propaganda that suggests if we get rid of bilingualism and immersion, and get rid of the French programming, our English program will be miraculously better,” says Roness. “And the reality is, the English program is not going to be miraculously better.”

For Roness, allocating more resources to the education system is a better place to start. “When you claim to have millions of dollars in surplus, but then are producing generations of illiterate people,” says Roness, “then you’re not putting your money where it needs to go.”

Mitton seems to agree. “I would say what we need is to ensure there’s enough resources to support people,” says the MLA. “That we do need to increase access to French language learning, absolutely, for everyone. But diluting French immersion won’t help anyone.”

“Eroding bilingualism”

Mitton says the move to cancel French Immersion, currently the program of choice of just under 40% of New Brunswick children, will “erode bilingualism in the province.”

“There will be fewer people who can actually work at a high level in French,” says Mitton. “And what will that mean, in terms of having workplaces with bilingual people that come from an Anglophone background?”

Mitton says she will be pushing back on the 2023 end of immersion, and Molly Tomlik is hoping that parents, and others concerned about the impacts of losing French Immersion, will organize in protest.

“I think people aren’t fully aware of the implications of this,” say Tomlik, who is hoping there will be a community meeting or question and answer session to cast some light on what is happening and what the impacts will be.

“I don’t know what the solution is here,” says Tomlik. “What do we do? Do we march in the streets? I’m not sure how to make our voices heard.”

Five months before he resigned his position as Education Minister, Dominic Cardy put his name to a consultation strategy paper entitled, “Evolving French Language Learning: Overcoming Obstacles and Building Bridges.” The website accompanying the document is still live as of publication time, and includes a call for questions or comments on the project by November 30, 2022, at this email address: consultation.eecd.edpe@gnb.ca