[lg policy] New Brunswick: Ban bilingual daycares, watchdog urges

[Harold Schiffman]

Ban bilingual daycares, watchdog urges
CBC News
Posted: Oct 21, 2011 8:27 AM AT
Last Updated: Oct 21, 2011 12:52 PM AT
Video Content:
Play Video Harry Forestell talks with Michel Carrier the official
launguages commissioner about the release of the annual report.NB
Newsmaker Oct 203:56


New Brunswick's official languages commissioner is calling on the
provincial government to ban bilingual daycares by extending the
policy of duality that currently covers the education system. Michel
Carrier said in his annual report that was released on Thursday the
same rules that divide kindergarten to Grade 12 into French and
English systems in New Brunswick should also apply to daycares.
Carrier said experts have told him that in a bilingual daycare, French
preschoolers tend to lose their French and learn English instead.

He said that makes it harder for them once they get to French school.
“The French school system are facing challenges in accepting students
whose ability to understand and speak French is not all that great,”
he said.     'It should be remembered that bilingual settings often
spell assimilation for members of minority communities.'— Michel
Carrier, official languages commissioner

Carrier said he's raising this issue because the province is
considering proclaiming the Early Learning and Childcare Act. The act
would allow bilingual instruction for preschoolers at daycares.There
are 622 daycares registered in the province and of those, 349 (56 per
cent) are English, 199 (32 per cent) are French and 73 (12 per cent)
are classified as bilingual.

The provincial government has approved a curriculum framework for the
early childhood centres in each official language.

There is also the possibility that one centre could use both
frameworks, which sets up the chance that these centres could be
bilingual.

Carrier said a lot of francophones are worried about the growing
number of bilingual daycares.

“It should be remembered that bilingual settings often spell
assimilation for members of minority communities,” the commissioner’s
report said.

“This is also way New Brunswick has two public school systems, one for
francophones and one for anglophones.”
Bilingual daycares are common

In Moncton, an officially bilingual city where an estimated 40 per
cent of the population speak both English and French, bilingual
daycares are common.
Private daycare statistics
English	349	56%
French	199	32%
Bilingual	73	12%
Not specific	1	0%
Total	622	100%

Linda Babineau, who runs Garderie A Plus daycare, said a bilingual
daycare hasn't hurt her children.

“My children are French and they've been with English children all
their lives at daycare and around our neighbourhood and they haven't
lost their French language at all,” Babineau said.

Babineau said the earlier children learn both languages the better.

Carrier said it should be up to the school districts not daycares to
decide how best to offer second language instruction.
Challenging francization

The commissioner said in his report that his recommendation should be
viewed as a challenge to tackle the issue of francization.

The Department of Education has set up a policy that outlines the
schools where children can sign up. The official policy states that
children can attend a school if they speak the language of that
institution, both official languages or neither official language.

There is an exception for children who are considered to be an ayant droit.

Ayant droit refers to children who have one parent who was schooled in
French and has protection under the constitution's minority language
education clause. The constitution grants those children the right to
attend a French school even if they are not fluent.

School districts, particularly District 1 which oversees the French
schools in Moncton, Fredericton and Saint John, have set up
francization programs to help ayant droit become fluent in French even
if they come to school unable to speak the language.

Carrier said the heart of his recommendation could help end this issue
being faced by the school districts.

“Obviously, homogeneous nursery schools constitute an important tool
in order to meet the challenge of francization,” Carrier said in his
report.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/10/21/nb-bilingual-daycares-carrier-532.html

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