New census data from Statistics Canada shows more than one-in-three children in New Brunswick are eligible for instruction in a francophone school.
Those numbers are part of a national survey that indicates nearly one million Canadian children have a constitutional right to education in an official minority language.
New Brunswick had the largest proportion of school-age children eligible for instruction in the minority language, according to the data, and the largest proportion of children attending a school in that language.
The minority language in New Brunswick and all provinces and territories outside of Quebec is French.
Charter criteria
For a child to be eligible to study in the provincial minority language, according to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, they are required to have one parent meet at least one of the following criteria:
- A parent whose first language, which is still understood, is the province’s minority language. This criterion does not apply in Quebec.
- A parent who did their primary schooling in Canada in French for all residents outside Quebec. This only applies to French-language schools and not French immersion programs.
- A parent whose child has received or is receiving instruction at the primary or secondary level in Canada in French for all residents outside Quebec. This also does not apply to French immersion programs.
Statistics Canada said new questions were added to the 2021 census after “extensive consultations with Canadians, experts, and provincial and community representatives.”
Michelle Landry, a sociology professor at Université de Moncton and a Canada research chair on francophone minorities, said having this data is important for researchers and minority communities alike.
“Historically, many communities had to really advocate and even had to go to court to get French-language schools outside of Quebec in Canada,” said Landry.
“They had to prove there was a certain number of children that had the constitutional right to these schools. But we didn’t really have reliable data. They had to rely on estimates.”
Why do 20% of eligible New Brunswickers not choose French?
New Brunswick has 49,000 children under the age of 18 who are eligible for a francophone education. While Quebec and Ontario had the highest number of children eligible to study in the minority language, at 350,000, New Brunswick had the largest proportion of eligible children at 36 per cent, with Quebec in second at 18.1 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
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New Brunswick also had the largest proportion of school-age eligible children who actually attend or attended a minority language school at 80.6 per cent.
Landry said that means around 20 per cent of students who have the Charter right to attend school in French are not in the francophone system.
She said there are a few things that might contribute to a parent choosing not to enrol their child in a francophone school, despite having the right to do so.
She said distance to a school could be a factor, but francophone areas are “quite concentrated” in the province.
In New Brunswick, 24.5 per cent of eligible children under the age of 18 live less than one kilometre away from a minority language school, and 20.1 per cent are one to two kilometres away, according to the Statistics Canada data.
Landry said if parents aren’t speaking French in the house, this could also contribute to the choice not to put their child in a French-language school. She said some parents will also opt for a French immersion program instead.
“There’s also sometimes in certain areas, rural areas for instance, there’s sometimes a question of quality or choices that children have, especially in high school for like special programs like music or sports, then the children want to shift to a larger school, even if it’s in English,” said Landry.
“So there are a large number of factors.”
This story was originally published in CBC News on Nov. 30, 2022.
Hannah Rudderham Portfolio 