EMSB recruitment trips to France raise Bill 101 red flag with Quebec

Quebec's education ministry is concerned English Montreal School Board officials' trips to France to persuade parents there to send their children to English schools in Quebec might be a breach of the language law, Bill 101.

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In October 2014 and then again in February 2015, EMSB staff travelled to France as part of a continuing effort to beef up lagging school enrolment through international recruitment.

The school board is given ten per cent of tuition fees paid by international students to the Quebec government.

Board spokesman Michael Cohen said those fees are needed to supplement the EMSB's coffers, which have been shrinking along with the decline in enrolment.

"There's no secret enrolment has been dropping at the English Montreal School board over the last ten to 15 years," Cohen said.

However, a spokeswoman for Education Minister François Blais, Julie White, said the ministry is concerned that the EMSB's recruitment efforts don't respect Quebec's language law, Bill 101, which requires students with French-educated parents to study in French.

Language loophole for international students

Cohen said the school board isn't breaking any rules.

Students from France are technically allowed to study English in Quebec, he said, so long as the students and their parents are only temporary residents of the province.

"The rules are what they are. We're not going out on a mission. We don't have posters or video campaigns or videos trying to do anything contrary to Bill 101," he said.

The total cost of the two trips was about $8,000, but Cohen said the board more than recovered those costs through its share of tuition fees collected from international students.

He would not say how many students from France are now enrolled at the board.