Learning centres suspend new francisation enrolments
Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
editor@qctonline.com
Three Quebec City-area centres offering subsidized French language classes for newcomers known as francisation have announced that they will be forced to stop accepting new students due to a funding shortfall.
The Centre Saint-Louis (CSL) in Loretteville, the Le Phénix adult learning centre in Sainte-Foy and the Cen- tre Louis-Jolliet in Limoilou, which has the largest francisation program in the region, are all expected to stop accepting new students when the new semester begins on Nov. 4, unless a funding solution can be found.
The QCT independently confirmed this information, first reported by Le Soleil, with the Centre de services scolaire (CSS) des Découvreurs, which oversees Le Phénix, and the CSS de la Capitale, which oversees the two other centres. Several similar programs in other regions of the province have also announced plans to close or suspend new student enrolments in recent weeks.
Law 14, better known as Bill 96, the reform to the Charter of the French Language which was passed by the Coalition Avenir Québec government in 2022, opened francisation classes, previously reserved for new immigrants, to newcomers from the rest of Canada and longtime Quebec residents. It also imposed a six-month deadline beyond which new immigrants would have to ac- cess most government services in French only. Demand for the courses increased after the new measures took effect.
However, as Carl Ouellet of the Association québécoise des directeurs d’école previ- ously told the QCT, the funding model used by the Ministry of Education and Higher Learn- ing (MEES) to finance the courses is based on pre-2022 student numbers.
“For reasons related to the MEES funding model, new student registration in francisation at Le Phénix has been paused since July,” CSS des Découvreurs spokesperson Marie-Ève Malouin said.
“When the MEES filed the 2024-25 budget rules, we learned that we will have to limit the number of students in francisation in order to comply with the funding granted for this sector,” said Malouin’s counterpart at the CSS de la Capitale, Jade Thibodeau. “We are currently receiving the same number of groups that we had last June. For the next session, it is impossible for us to welcome new students in order to respect the budgets granted.”
Brigitte Wellens, executive director of Voice of English-speaking Québec (VEQ), said she “almost expected” to hear that the programs would suspend enrolment. “I know there have been very significant delays for people wanting to access courses, and I can’t say I’m surprised.” Wellens said she had a co-worker who had been on a waiting list for a francisation course for a year, and three others who were expected to start courses this fall but would not. She said it was common for a newcomer to wait six, seven or eight months to enrol in a class.
“When someone has to wait for a year to learn French, it delays a whole bunch of other stuff. You can speak whatever language you like at home … but if you want to get a job, make friends, shop for groceries, you have to learn French. You can’t get by without it. That’s the first thing we tell people,” she said.
Wellens said the free classes offered at Le Phénix, Louis- Jolliet and CSL “fill a hole” for newcomers who can’t afford university courses or private lessons.
She called on the govern- ment to suspend the six-month deadline for accessing govern- ment services in French until it could make good on its initial promise of subsidized classes for all Quebec residents who need them. “With the passage of that bill, we were assured that francisation would be available for everyone for free. If we can’t make good on that, we need to remove the requirement … and to communicate that clearly with all the agencies responsible for providing services,” she said. “No one is walking around saying they don’t want to learn French.”
Malouin and Thibodeau said students already enrolled in francisation classes at the three centres would be able to continue their classes.
No one from the MEES was available to comment at press time.