French immersion needed in more schools, says PC MLA

A Progressive Conservative MLA says it's time for the government to guarantee French immersion and better second-language education throughout New Brunswick.

Jake Stewart introduced a motion Friday that calls for a study of how immersion and second-language schooling can be put in place in areas where it doesn't exist.

Stewart represents Southwest Miramichi-Bay du Vin, a sprawling riding that includes many communities where French immersion isn't available in local schools.

"Look at me," he told reporters. "I have four children, ages two to nine. It's very difficult for me to go home at night and look in the mirror when it's 2015, and know that my kids are going to speak one language. I've got a problem with that. We're an officially bilingual province."

Stewart's motion comes in the wake of a series of controversies over language rights in New Brunswick, including complaints about duality in school busing and a backlash against a decision to reduce the hours of a unilingual commissionaire.

Stewart says bilingualism "isn't my debate. People get bogged down in arguing and fighting over it, but I don't think that changes anything. I want to make things better in the province."

Schools in communities such as Doaktown and Blackville don't offer immersion, which Stewart says deprives graduates of the ability to seek jobs that require bilingualism.

He says the Atlantic Institution, a federal penitentiary in Renous, has many jobs that require bilingualism, but local people don't have the education they need to apply.

We are an officially bilingual province. Why haven't we made the learning of two languages paramount?- Jake Stewart, PC MLA,SouthwestMiramichi-Baydu Vin

"When a job has certain qualifications where the person applying for the job has to be able to speak two languages, I have no problem with that," Stewart said. "The issue is that the people where I live are only learning one language."

Provincial policy says immersion can be offered if there is "sufficient interest" to create classes that are "of comparable size to other classes in the community at that level of instruction."

It also requires the school district to give parents the chance every year to say whether they'd like immersion classes established.

Immersion should be a right

Stewart says regardless of demand, any student whose parents want French immersion for their childshould be able to get it.

"To me, personally, it should be a right," he said. "It should be the right of a citizen."

Stewart also saysthere's no French training available for adults at the New Brunswick Community College in Miramichi.

The Liberal government's election platform promised a re-examination of French immersion in the wake of controversial changes to the program under a previous Liberal government.

The province is also developing a 10-year education plan and cabinet minister Victor Boudreau says Stewart's idea will be part of that discussion.

"It's very much something we're going to take a serious look at to see what improvements,what changes,can be made," Boudreau said.

Motion not binding

Stewart's motion is not a piece of legislation and would not be binding on the government if it passed.

The MLAsayshe's not an expert,and doesn't have a position on exactly when French immersion should begin, though he says it should be at a young age.

Many people are scared to discuss the issue because language rights can be a sensitive topic, Stewartadded.

"They think they're going to be called a bigot," he said.

"We are an officially bilingual province. Why haven't we made the learning of two languages paramount? That's where I think it went wrong."