More than 300k Quebec kids eligible for English school, 76 per cent attend: StatsCan
More than 300,000 Quebec children have the constitutional right to education in English new Statistics Canada census data shows.
Statistics Canada is collecting this data for the first time, giving Quebec's English education system a real picture of the situation.
The census found 175,000 school-aged children in Quebec attended an English primary or secondary school in Canada, representing 76.2 per cent of eligible children aged 5 to 17 in this province.
Proximity is an issue for English speakers in some regions of the province.
"There are pockets of English-eligible students for whom it’s just not practical to attend English schools — they’re just too far," said Russell Copeman, executive director of the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA).
StatCan says that more than 90 per cent of eligible children lived within 15 kilometres of a minority official language school in 2021. And those living in rural areas see an average distance that’s four times greater than in more densely populated regions.
"The analysis shows that the further eligible school-age children live from a minority official language school, the less likely they are to have attended a minority official language school," said Eric Caron-Malenfant, assistant director of Statistics Canada's demography centre.
Of the 304,000 eligible Quebec kids, nearly 74,000 are pre-school age. QESBA said that their records show about 81,000 children study in the English public sector.
That means there’s a big gap, showing that many students favour private schools or choose to study in French.
"It still leaves about 230,000, according to Statistics Canada, who are eligible for English instruction. And that’s a high number. It’s quite frankly higher than many of us anticipated," said Copeman.
Despite that, the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) has seen a slight uptick in enrolment this year.
"We have schools in certain parts of our sector that are bursting at the seams and then we have some schools that are not in that situation and their numbers have decreased," said EMSB spokesperson Mike Cohen.
MINORITY LANGUAGE CHILDREN OTHER PROVINCES
In provinces and territories other than Quebec, 593,000 have the right to attend regular French public schools, nearly 64.7 per cent of those eligible.
Ontario has the largest number of children with French-language rights — 350,000 — while New Brunswick has the largest proportion with 36 per cent of all children.
With files from The Canadian Press
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
Investigators have finally revealed the identity of an unknown victim nicknamed 'Midtown Jane Doe,' who was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City two decades ago.