Extending Bill 101 would move 27,000 students to French system, Roberge says

QUEBEC — Extending the rules of the Charter of the French Language to adult and vocational education will result in 27,000 students migrating to the francophone network, the minister of the French language says.

Confirming new legislation to amend the charter is in the draft stage, Jean-François Roberge revealed the number during the annual review of his ministry’s spending estimates late Tuesday.

“This is why the premier (Christine Fréchette) made a promise in the leadership race,” Roberge said under questioning from the Québec solidaire MNA Alexandre Leduc.

“There are 27,000 people who are in the network who do not have historic rights (to English schooling). In reality they would not be allowed to attend anglophone elementary and secondary school but as there are no rules in adult and vocational education they go into the anglophone system.

“There people are in the public network, thus paid for by our taxes. I think as a nationalist government we have a duty to do something. Those 27,000 people would migrate to the francophone network which would be a fabulous step forward for francisizing the workplace too.”

It is the first time the government has floated a number on the number of students who could be affected by a change in the rules, an idea Fréchette used during her recent campaign to win the leadership of the Coalition Avenir Québec.

During the campaign, Fréchette said the change would result in 10,000 more students earning their diplomas in French every year.

Quebec has not spelled out how it would implement the measure or whether there would be exemptions or a grandfather clause for existing students.

But already minority groups and English school boards that offer such teaching have expressed concerns.

On Tuesday, it was Leduc who expressed surprise at the number.

“Tomorrow morning, the francophone system is ready to absorb 27,000 people just like that in the same kind of programs?” Leduc asked the minister during their exchange.

Roberge answered he is already in talks with Education Minister Sonia LeBel. He said there would be a transition provision in the plan to ensure students can make the move smoothly.

But time is short for the Fréchette government to act because the legislature is scheduled to recess for summer on June 12. And right now the house is embroiled in the annual two-week examination of spending estimates.

Roberge, however, made a pitch for the support of the opposition parties to push through his bill.

“I think all members of the National Assembly want to protect the French language,” he said. “Sometimes we don’t agree on the means but nobody wants to see French recede.”

He said in many cases the 27,000 students in question studied in French at the elementary and high school level before flipping to English in vocational training where they learned all the technical terms of their trade in English.

In turn they use English once in the workplace, leading francophones to pick them up at the same time, he argued.

“We’re not doing ourselves any favours,” Roberge said. “I think we should do it. It is completely legitimate especially when we see the decline of French in the workplace.”

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