Court considers French immersion legal challenge

New Brunswick may be going against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms with its decision to eliminate early French immersion, said a lawyer representing a group of parents fighting the move.

Thomas Christie told a provincial court in Saint John on Wednesday that eliminating early French immersion in the province violates the right to minority language education that is enshrined in the charter.

Parents have the right to have all their children taught in the same language, Christie said.

A group called Citizens for Educational Choice is challenging the government's decision to eliminate the program, which was offered to students entering Grade 1, and is calling on the court to delay the elimination of the program.

Education Minister Kelly Lamrock announced in March that come September, students in elementary school will no longer be able to enter the early French immersion program in Grade 1. The core French program, which makes the second language a mandatory subject in the province's English schools, will also be eliminated for students in early elementary school.

The province is instead introducing a program that will require all Grade 5 students to take a five-month intensive French program that will provide 315 hours of class time in French. In Grade 6, the students and their parents would then have the choice of moving into a late immersion program or continuing to take French as a single-class mandatory subject until they graduate from high school.

Christie argued that Kelly knew there should be more debate on the issue but that did not adequately take place.

The lack of consultation after the release of the French second-language report in February is a key part of the parents' argument, said Tim Jackson, a parent involved in the court challenge.

"The … commissioners' report was released on the 27th to the public. The minister said he was going to allow a period of public consultation, that he was going to have to consider before making any rash decisions. Then two weeks later he adopts the regulations in full," Jackson said.

The two weeks provided between the release of the report and the government's adoption of its recommendations was not enough time for parents to provide feedback, Christie argued in court.

The court challenge deals with two specific children who are currently enrolled in kindergarten and registered for French immersion in the fall but any decision in the case will have an impact on the entire province.

Christie argued that by allowing the parents to enrol their children in the program and then to cancel it amounts to a breach of contract.

The province's lawyers argued there is no breach of the charter and there was plenty of time for parents to have their say.

Because the minister was changing a broad public policy, there was no need for consultation, the court was told. The minister has the power to make the change without going to the public, it was argued.

Justice Hugh McLellan will return his decision on June 11. McLellan has the power to delay the cancellation of the program or to throw out the case.