Sackville parents weigh in on loss of French Immersion program and ‘erosion of bilingualism’
Lost opportunities for kids, an erosion of bilingualism for Anglophones, and yet another new language cohort in the school system. Those are some of the things Sackville parents are expecting to come about if the provincial government follows through on its plan to cut the French Immersion program starting next September.
Hear this story as reported on Tantramar Report:
Back in October, former education minister Dominic Cardy called out Premier Blaine Higgs for his “recent efforts to pressure EECD to abolish French Immersion by September 2023,” in a widely shared and highly critical resignation letter. Since then, new Education minister Bill Hogan has confirmed that Higgs’ plan to move up a phase-out of French Immersion would start next September, with kids going into grade one no longer eligible for the intensive language program.
Instead, Hogan is promising an enhanced French program as part of the regular English system.
Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton is one of the parents whose kids will be affected by the change. As someone who went through French Immersion herself, Mitton told CHMA that even though she finished in grade 10 and didn’t complete language proficiency tests at the time, her immersion education laid the foundation for her bilingualism today, something that is a key skill in her role as MLA for Memramcook-Tantramar.
