Concluding Remarks      by Joan Weinman,  President, Canadian Parents for French  New Brunswick

It is our intention to see that this report is delivered to our elected officials, department of education policy makers, public servants, and teachers. It is also our intention that this report not sit on government desks collecting dust.

There are some serious concerns about how French second language programs are delivered in New Brunswick and we intend to see that these concerns are addressed ... that problems are acknowledged and that solutions are found.

And we will be vigilant in our efforts.

We didn’t need this report to learn that there are teacher shortages in French second language programs. We hear this from parents throughout New Brunswick. Parents who are forced to settle for teachers whose skills aren’t quite adequate but who put up with what they are given because some French language training is better than no French language training.

And we didn’t need this report to discover that there is insufficient remedial assistance for kids who need some help along the way. Our phones ring incessantly from parents who are desperate to keep their kids in french immersion but whose schools don’t have the resources to provide the help their children need to keep them in the program.

We didn’t need this report to point out to us that more transparency is needed in the way funding is allocated for French second language programs. Telephone calls and meetings to obtain this information have proven fruitless and Right to Information requests we have made shed little light on where the money goes.

We didn’t need this report to learn that special interest groups in New Brunswick claim that French Immersion programs attract only the elite and leave behind a ghetto of problem students - an argument that is unsubstantiated, unproven and, in fact, untrue.

And we didn’t need this report to learn that while comprehensive support and guidelines for FSL are provided in Policy 309, that there is insufficient political, bureaucratic and administrative will to see that the policy is adhered to every step of the way.

We didn’t need this report to point out any of these problems. They are brought to our attention almost daily by parents who genuinely believe in the value of French second language education yet feel their children are not receiving optimum learning opportunities.

What we did need this report for is to inform all stakeholders who have a hand in developing and administering FSL programs that these problems exist. That they are holding us back from offering our children the highest quality French second language opportunities because of these flaws in program delivery.
  We are the only officially bilingual province in the country. We have a policy in place which ensures that every child is entitled to French Immersion schooling. It is a policy which was well researched in its development and which, with the political will to implement it to its fullest extent, would make New Brunswick the envy of the country.

Instead, the program is under attack. It is under attack by a government which appears not to truly understand the benefits of French Immersion. A government which, on one hand, laments the fact that our kids have to leave the province to get jobs and on the other, embarks upon a review of the program which we fear will ultimately dilute its effectiveness, disabling our students from becoming bilingual. A government which credits large companies with foresight for locating to a province with a bilingual workforce and yet has set its sights on ‘reviewing’ one of the only programs which actually produces future bilingual employees..

Go figure.

Armed with this thoroughly researched and documented report, we intend to hold decision makers accountable. It is our hope that in partnership, we can make our French second language programs second to none.

Our challenge to the government and to the Department of Education is this: show us that you truly understand the benefits of French second language learning by reading this report, addressing the problems and turning them into solutions. Not by dismantling an opportunity of a lifetime for our children but, rather, by enhancing our programs and in doing so, turning our province into the one that leads the rest of the country.