Even though adult francization classes closing, CAQ argues that the budget has increased

A union representing French teachers in Quebec is protesting cuts to the francization budget, but the government is pushing back — arguing instead that the budget increased.

Last month, the government launched a $2.5 million ad campaign to promote the French language. But some teachers were learning they wouldn’t have a job for the school year, and immigrants who signed up for classes were blindsided.

Amelie Girard, who works at the Centre de formation continue des Patriotes in the Laurentians, said about 90 per cent of the francization classes in her school centre were cut. The number of French classes offered to adult immigrant went down from 10 to just three. Girard worries that soon there won’t be any classes offered in the lower Laurentians.

“We have money until January, and then on Jan. 24 I don’t know what I will do because they will cut all the services,” she said.

The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) is being criticized for cancelling francization classes and offering courses that no longer meet demand. Official Opposition leader Marc Tanguay argued that “nothing was going well” in terms of francization at the National Assembly Thursday.

Richard Bergevin, president of the FSE-CSQ, which represents the teacher wrote an open letter protesting the cuts, said the government “seriously affected adult education centres by decimating teams who have developed expertise over the years and formed strong human bonds with our new arrivals.”

François Legault pointed the finger at school service centres, saying they are the problem for spending their yearly budget in six months. The government’s yearly francization budget was increased from $217 million to $251 million, including the same $104 million for school service centres as last year, he argued.

French Language Minister Jean-François Roberge said the claims that the budgets were being slashed are “simply not true.” He added that new francization classes are opening every week and that more people will be francized this year than last.

Education Minister Bernard Drainville backed Roberge, and said demand for francization courses has surged and brought the debate back to the number of immigrants Quebec welcomes.

“The number of people that need these classes, the immigrants that need these classes has exploded,” he said.

“We’ve been saying for quite a long time that we are reaching the limits, or we have gone beyond the limit of the number of immigrants we can have on our territory.”

But Girard warns that if people stay on wait lists for classes for too long or have to travel too far, many will simply give up on learning French — the opposite of what the CAQ says it wants.

“It's really the integration of the immigrants to the society. You know, the teachers, they will find new jobs because we have a lack of teachers in Quebec,” she said.

“It’s really, really sad for French in Quebec.”

Another protest led by the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE) is planned for Friday in Granby.

With files from The Canadian Press