Higgs's comments on French immersion raise questions, critics say

Critics of Premier Blaine Higgs say his recent comments about French immersion raise questions about whether he'll try again to replace the program if his Progressive Conservatives win next month's election.

Higgs told a PC audience in Bathurst recently that he remains preoccupied by what he considers a low rate of bilingualism among graduates of immersion and then pledged to do something about it.

"We'll fix that,in education," the PC leader said to applause. "We'll find a path to fix that."

Questioned by reporters after the party meeting, Higgs said his comments were "nothing new," and he was merely repeating his view that all anglophone students should graduate with a conversational level of French.

But he wouldn't rule out trying again to replace the immersion program, something he proposed in the fall of 2022.

"We're not proposing that during the campaign, and that's not an election issue. For me it's a goal that Ithink every citizen in this province should be striving for," he said.

He avoided saying whether he'd try again to replace immersion if he's re-elected, saying his government does not have "any preconceived notions of what it should look like."

He suggested teachers, and the New Brunswick Teachers' Association, could play a role, but wouldn't say whether his "fix" would be within the existing immersion program.

WATCH | 'What we need to do is expand it': Immersion advocate responds:

Higgss promise to fix French immersion slammed

1 month ago

Duration 0:59

Canadian Parents for French says PC leader should be more concise about future of immersion if hes re-elected.

Higgs pushed to speed up the development of a new French second-language program in the fall of 2022, prompting Dominic Cardy to resign as education minister over what he said was a lack of consultation and a dismissal of expert evidence.

Cardy also said Higgs had not campaigned on the idea in the last election in 2020.

Hundreds of people turned out to pack public meetings to oppose the plan in early 2023, with dozens of parents and teachers lining up at each meeting to speak.

The government withdrew the replacement plan in February 2023, but Higgs said in December 2023 that dealing with immersion "needs to be more" than the recommendations his own government was adopting on improving the anglophone school system.

Cardy, now an independent MLA, said Thursday he's convinced Higgs still wants to replace immersion.

"It's the classic thing with Premier Higgs, where he desperately tries to avoid saying what he's actually thinking, but is never quite able to," Cardy said.

In Bathurst, Higgs said that 70 per cent of students who graduate from Grade 12 after following immersion are not able to have a conversation in French.

"Don't tell me the program works," Higgs said. "That's not success for me."

But those measurements have been disputed.

A February 2022 report by an independent commission on French second-language learning said 90 per cent of students who stick with immersion through Grade 12 achieve a conversational level of French.

"Seen in that light, French immersion has been a very effective program," it said, arguing the problem was the 60 per cent of anglophone students who aren't enrolled in immersion.

The proposed replacement program would have seen all kindergarten and Grade 1 students spending half their time learning French less instruction time than immersion, but more than what students not in the program receive.

Liberal Leader Susan Holt called Higgs's comments "more of the same."

"He didn't have a mandate to change French immersion in his last mandate, and yet he went about and did it anyway without consulting anyone," she said.

"Now he's making vague statements that sound like he's going to go after French immersion again, and what are parents and teachers to think? He won't be clear, he won't commit to supporting it, he won't say what he's going to do that would be better."

Cardy said he agrees with Higgs that immersion is not working,but said it's because many students don't have access to the program and there's a lack of teachers to teach it.

"Looking for ways to make it better is entirely appropriate. What isn't is the premier's constant playing around with the file," Cardy said.

Chris Collins, the New Brunswick executive director of Canadian Parents for French, said his organization has sent a survey on immersion to the four main political parties asking them for their views ahead of the election campaign.

Collins said he thinks the issue will be important during the campaign, and he was disappointed Higgs "would not be more concise" in Bathurst.

"I think the premier can't avoid what happened. It was very upsetting to the people of New Brunswick, and he's hinted that he wants to revisit it," Collins said.

"I think that it's going to be a big issue, and he has the opportunity to set this straight in the first week of the campaign by coming out."