The Ontario government unveiled a project Oct. 24 dedicated to making French-language programs more accessible to college and university Francophone students.
Through its Action Plan for French-Language Postsecondary Education, the government granted $16.5 million to various universities and colleges. The funds will be distributed over the next three years to assist in expanding French-language programming and services.
Ottawa’s La Cité collégiale offers more than 90 French-language programs. But there still remains a demand for more French-language programming at the school, according to Mona Fortier, the school’s senior director of strategic marketing and communications.
“The increase in the Francophone population is very high, Fortier said. “Right now students have to go and learn in an English communication to pursue their post-secondary education.”
Fortier said the increased funding will assist in maintaining and expanding the programs at La Cité collégiale, allowing more students the opportunity to enrol at the school in French-language programs.
At York University’s Glendon College, funding will be going toward expanding the language training centre and French-language programming in its communications, business, biology, foundations of law and psychology courses, the university said in a press release.
With increased availability of programs being made available in the French language, Francophone students will not be limited to the choice of enrolling in English institutions for their studies.
“Working with our education partners, we want to ensure that all our youth have access to the same opportunities,” Brad Duguid, minister of training, colleges and universities said in a statement. “Helping Francophone students succeed in their own language means greater access to the training and education needed to land good jobs, diversify our workforce, and create a stronger economy.”
Aside from additional funds being allocated to post-secondary institutions, the plan is also encouraging French-language partnerships between bilingual post-secondary institutions and will be creating an advisory body for French-language education, according to a press release from the province.
The advisory body will consist of students at both secondary and post-secondary levels, community leaders from the employment sector, as well as those with backgrounds in college and university education.
The main goal of the advisory body will be to recommend research to be made and provide advice to the provincial government in order to enhance the French-language post-secondary system.
Research already shows that the Francophone population of central and southwestern Ontario is continuing to grow due to steady numbers of Francophone migration as well as new immigration, the government said in the release.
At present, there are 611,500 Francophone residents living in Ontario, making the province the home to the second-largest Francophone population in Canada, according to the ministry.
