Sarah Rennie – LJI reporter
Students attending French classes through the government’s francization program at area school service centres and school boards are looking for alternatives to learn French.
The courses are provided for free to immigrants through Francisation Quebec, a government-mandated agency run through the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation, et de l’Integration, on a full- or part-time basis.
As government funding for the program ran dry, the classes offered by the New Frontiers School Board (NFSB) at the NOVA Career Centre in Chateauguay were closed as of November 8. The courses being run by the Centre de services scolaire de la Vallée-des-Tisserands through the Centre de formation générale des adultes des Tisserands (CFGAT) will also end, effective November 29.
This will affect 33 full-time students and 63 part-time students at the NFSB, as well as more than 150 students currently studying at the CFGAT.
“We have maintained the francization program for as long as possible to meet the demand,” said François Robichaud, the assistant director general for success at the CSSVT. “This difficult decision is based on the budgetary framework and the terms and conditions for using the funds,” he explained.
In past years, the government based its program financing on demand reported in the previous two years. New budgetary rules determining the financing for the 2024-2025 fiscal year are based on numbers pegged to 2020-2021 demand, when numbers were lower due to the pandemic. This was also the year during which the francization program was integrated with the CFGAT.
The Syndicat de Champlain confirmed to the Journal Saint-François that all five francization teachers on contract in the Vallée-des-Tisserands’ territory have been let go.
According to NFSB director general Mike Helm, the continuing education team worked extremely hard in terms of redirecting staff to ensure no jobs were lost.
“For us, it was about trying to support the community and its needs in terms of francization and the improvement of the French language,” said Helm. The NFSB did not offer any francization courses in 2020-2021, so is no longer able to offer the courses.
“It is really unfortunate that due to budgeting parameters, we are not able to provide this service,” he added, before suggesting that if the rules were to change, the NFSB would be open to restarting its program.