Official languages commissioner weighs in on French immersion debate

New Brunswick's official languages commissioner says it's important for the province to help people become bilingual.

Shirley MacLean says her office takes precedence over all legislation in the province — except the Education Act. So she doesn't have a direct say over pending changes to French immersion in the province.

Education Minister Bill Hogan has said changes are coming next year, and different programs are still being considered. 

MacLean contends immersion is a "very important, very vibrant part" of contributing to bilingualism in New Brunswick. It has allowed many people in the province to be able to speak in both official languages.

"If there are changes to the system that will facilitate more access, in my view that can't be a bad thing," she said. "But also my view, I don't think we can, as we say, throw the baby out with the bathwater, because there's been positive, very many positive things that have come through the immersion system, and those cannot be forgotten."

In addition, immersion is an important mechanism for the government to meet its obligations under the Official Languages Act to provide services to the public in both official languages, said MacLean.

"Obviously, the more of us that are bilingual, the more readily government is going to be able to hire people to be able to provide those services."

Awaiting response to review of act

MacLean said it's concerning there are no details available about the new plan, given the looming implementation date.

It "hearkens back" to her concern that the Higgs government still hasn't responded to the independent review of the Official Languages Act, completed last December, she said.

"It leaves the public with the impression that there's a lack of importance given by the government to the Official Languages Act."

On June 10 Premier Blaine Higgs told reporters: "We'll be responding in the month of June. … We are committed to having a response this month and we will do that."

But on June 30, he announced an extension on his self-imposed deadline to decide how to update the act.

Following that review, the commissioners filed a report in February on second-language training in the province. Former deputy education minister John McLaughlin and provincial court Judge Yvette Finn concluded French immersion is serving fewer than half the students in anglophone schools and should be replaced with a program for all students.

Although 90 per cent of students who stick with immersion through Grade 12 achieve a conversational level of French, more than 60 per cent of anglophone students aren't in immersion for one reason or another.

"We anticipate that if the above recommendation is approached strategically and with careful planning, it may take a number of years to be fully implemented," the report said.

Former Education minister Dominic Cardy's dramatic resignation last week was sparked by the premier's insistence that immersion be replaced next fall by a yet-to-be-defined new program.

Cardy said cabinet approved a 2024 timeline and a more cautious, detailed process, and Higgs was overruling it on his own — without any substitute program on the drawing board.

Higgs told reporters the fall of '23 was the original target date, "and then it got moved." He's frustrated that, in his view, the program isn't working for everyone and that Cardy and his department were not moving fast enough to change it.