N.W.T. government repeals enrolment rules French school board found too restrictive

N.W.T. Education Minister R.J. Simpson announced that a 2016 directive the French school board criticized as too restrictive on enrolment in French schools in the territory had been repealed.

The 2016 Ministerial Directive on Enrolment of Students in the French First Language Programs will be replaced by new regulations under the N.W.T. Education Act before the start of the next school year.

The new regulations are still being worked out, but according to a news release from the government of the Northwest Territories Tuesday, they "will not be more restrictive than the 2016 directive."

They will contain the same three categories for admission to French schools in the territory as the 2016 directive, but will include the possibility of a "fourth stream of admission that would take French-speaking non-rights-holders into consideration."

The other three categories include "reacquisition (those whose ancestors were rights-holders), new immigrant and non-citizen francophone streams."

"The government of the Northwest Territories is committed to supporting the protection of the French language through the provision of French first language education in the N.W.T.," states Simpson in the news release.

He said the new rules will "ensure greater clarity around enrolment in French first language schools."

French board pleased but anxious

The French school board — the Commission scolaire francophone des Territoires du Nord-Ouest — commended the government on its decision to repeal the 2016 directive in a separate news release on Tuesday.

It also "applauded" the government for considering a fourth category of admissions, but said this only brought the N.W.T. in line with long-standing practices in other jurisdictions:

"This is a practice already in place in the vast majority of school boards in minority settings to counter assimilation and cultural erosion," the news release states.

Consultations on the changes will continue over the summer. According to the government, the new rules will not apply retroactively.

The French school board had considered the 2016 directive unfair and too restrictive.

"Let us not forget that we are presently in a dispute over the issue of admissions, and given the history, we are anxious to see what the minister's new proposal will contain. We hope that it will truly respond to our needs," stated Simon Cloutier, the French school board president in a news release.