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Highlights:

• Academically Challenged Students and FSL;
• National CPF Programming
• French at Any Age
• Calls for Nominations to the CPF National Board of Directors

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CPF presented a brief which stressed the importance of linguistic duality by providing recommendations which could be incorporated in the planning of the celebration. Based on the success of various CPF events, Miss Perkin’s brief was able to draw on the organisation’s past best practices in order to present concrete recommendations.

These recommendations were based on three key areas, planning, legacies, and participation. Our recommendations touched on the importance of maintaining Canada’s linguistic duality throughout the events planned during the 150^th celebration of Canadian Confederation, the importance of youth participation, and using social media and new technologies to let Canadians connect with each other.

CPF’s recommendations and subsequent questions were well received by the committee.

Mr. Dionne Lebel noted that it was a shame that CPF was not part of the Canadian Heritage hearings on Canada’s 150^th Anniversary in 2017.  As he believes youth are moved through organisations such as CPF and it is important that the voice of organizations like CPF be heard to provide best practices on how to integrate youth in their programming.  Ms. Bateman, a CPF member, was very encouraged to hear CPF in the works of developing a contest centred on Twitter.

We hope that the Committee take note of our recommendations and include them as part of their report at the end of these hearings.

Click here to read the brief

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The 2012 report, the most recent in a line of publications exploring trends, challenges, and successes of French-second-language (FSL) education in Canadian schools, highlights the unique obstacles faced by students with learning difficulties in an FSL environment. The report features summaries of presentations by six researchers studying this subject in Canada to a round table of diverse participants in June. The round table included representatives from CPF, researchers, federal and provincial government officials, school board officials, academics, and other stakeholders concerned with accessibility in FSL programming.

“Too many FSL programs are closed off to students with learning difficulties, when these are the very programs that might be able to help such children really shine,” says CPF President Lisa Marie Perkins. “The majority of students — including many of those with academic challenges — can succeed in becoming bilingual, especially when adequate resources are in place to help with student academic development.“

The 2012 report includes comprehensive recommendations to facilitate better access to, and success in, FSL programs for students with learning difficulties that were developed by round table participants. CPF believes that given adequate resources, more awareness about academically challenged students’ abilities, and sufficient teacher support, more Canadians than ever before can become bilingual in both of Canada’s official languages. All FSL programs, and in particular French immersion—the FSL program best suited to the widest range of student ability—should be sufficiently resourced in order to offer all students the chance to become bilingual. CPF Executive Director Robert Rothon notes that preventing academically challenged students from full participation in a standard-curriculum program may in some cases amount to discrimination:

“For too long, and by too many, French immersion has been seen as a program for the gifted child or the child from the ‘right’ background or the child without any kind of learning challenge or difficulty,” says Rothon. “Actually, French immersion is a program designed for all children where the standard curriculum is taught in both official languages. Until we understand this and change discriminatory practices and policies identified by our round table participants and presenters, many—too many—children will never get a fair deal.”

There’s still time for you to take part in this national conversation that is crucial to the future of FSL education. The questionnaire is still online and to make it simple and easy for you, CPF has developed some suggested answers for our members to help you contribute to the dialogue before the end of September. You can download these answers in PDF below.

Note that each question has a 1500 character limit – you may have to edit the recommended answers to meet that limit. We suggest that you select the bullets in each answer that best match the situation in your community. In addition to the recommended answers, you may find CPF’s official position statements useful when answering the questions.

Click here for background on the consultations

Click here to link directly to the questionnaire

Download CPF’s Recommended Survey Answers

We encourage CPF members to complete an online government questionnaire to share your views about education and other priorities you think the government should focus on in the coming years. You will find the questionnaire at: pch.sondages-surveys.ca/s/OL-LO/?l=en

CPF has gone through the questionnaire and developed some suggested answers for our members. Note that each question has a 1500 character limit – you may have to edit the recommended answers to meet that limit. We suggest that you select the bullets in each answer that best match the situation in your community. In addition to the recommended answers, you may find CPF’s official position statements useful when answering the questions.

2012 Roadmap Consulations – Recommended Answers

Interested in joining the team that supports FSL education? Read More

The Concours d’art oratoire program draws students from across Canada in the competition that offers over $170,000 in scholarships to the University of Ottawa. This year, 34 national finalists in five different categories were welcomed to Ottawa after winning their provincial or territorial championships. The five categories that students compete in are based on linguistic ability, and range from Level 1 (Core French) to Level 5 (Francophone). …

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