Education Rights

Under section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadian citizens who are in the French or English-speaking minority in their province/territory have the right for their children to be educated in the minority language.

However, the Charter adds some criteria. In all provinces/territories except Québec, the eligibility criteria are:

• that the first language of the parent is French and that he or she still understands French, or
• that the parent had his/her primary education in Canada in French.

Once one child is enrolled in French school, all other children in that family may access French-language education.

In addition, there can still be variations from place to place. For example: exactly how the right is fulfilled may vary. Sometimes, a sufficient number of minority language children may result in a French-language school being built in a particular area. Other times it may only result in French-language instruction within a larger English–language school, or in a right for the children to be transported by bus to a French-language school in another area. On the other hand, if there is enough demand, the parents may have the right to the establishment of a school board to manage and control the delivery of minority language education in their community.

Also, each province/territory has the right to create education laws, or set conditions for access, to assert a Charter right to minority official language education. For example, the French school division in Manitoba (Division scolaire franco-manitobaine) requires the parent to have received four years of schooling in the minority language. In some other jurisdictions, a parent must have received a larger part of his or her schooling in the minority official language before he or she can claim a minority language education right for his or her children. However, as will be discussed below, under certain conditions, school boards also accept the admission of students whose parents do not have the Charter right to send their children to minority-language schools.

For the exact wording of section 23 of the Charter, see the link on our page of Additional Resources.

Last Reviewed: May 2011

No, it is not.

In French language instruction (also called French “homogenous” instruction) all subjects and school activities are carried out in French (expect for any course necessary for the instruction of other languages – and then it is a mix of French and that other language). Immersion programs, on the other hand, teach part of the curriculum in one language, and part in the other: the percentage can vary widely from grade to grade and from school to school.

The programs also serve very different purposes. “Immersion” is about educating a child in a second language that is not his or her mother tongue. “Minority language education” is about educating the child in the mother tongue he or she inherits from the parent, or in the language in which his or her parents or siblings were educated. Immersion programs encourage bilingualism, and they are often very successful at doing so. But the social environment of the school is one in which the majority language is spoken and used. The minority language may therefore not be fully mastered, and most students will become assimilated to the majority language. Education in French, on the other hand provides an important way to preserve and promote the minority group’s language, culture and community. It is meant to reinforce the minority language as the child’s default language and to provide a resource and focal point for the minority language community to which these children belong. It is designed to protect the minority from assimilation, to give recognition and encouragement to local minority language communities, and to allow for the survival, growth and vitality of the French language minority communities.

Last Reviewed: May 2011

Section 23 of the Charter speaks of a right for entitled persons to have their children “receive instruction” in the minority language. It does not guarantee a school in every community. As a result, you may not have the right to have a school built in your community. Instead, your children may be bused to a neighbouring community. Alternatively, the French-language education can be provided within an English-language school. However, as has been decided by the courts, if that bus ride is too long, and if the number of entitled children warrants, your provincial/territorial government may indeed have to provide a facility. The existence and location of schools must be determined on a case by case basis, having regard to all of these, and other, relevant facts. It should also be remembered that, where a French-language school is to be built, the province is usually allowed a reasonable time to respond to the demand.

For more information, contact your local French-language school or French-language school board, or a French-speaking lawyer in your area.

Last Reviewed: May 2011

Yes. The language spoken by the child is not what gives rise to the right to attend a French-language school: it is the parent’s right to register his or her child(ren). Given that you both received your schooling in French, you have the right to have your child enrolled in French language education where the number of children warrants at least a French language program. The same could be true even you had not attended French school. As long as at least one parent can show that French is his/her first language learned and still understood, that is enough to claim the education right on behalf of the child.

Last Reviewed: May 2011

Yes. It has generally been accepted that it only takes one parent to assert a minority official language education right. In any event, if either parent can claim that French is his/her first language learned and still understood, their language of education doesn’t matter.

To find out more information, you can contact your local French-language school or French-language school board.

Last Reviewed: May 2011

If neither parent can show that French is their first language learned and still understood then, there is no “right” to French-language education.

That said, the governing school board may decide that it is in the best interests of the programme/community to accommodate children with slightly more remote Francophone heritage. Although the admission of non–French–speaking children can present some difficulties, this does not generally forbid access. Instead, the children are often registered in remedial or bilingual classes within the French-language programme/school, with a view to integrating the children into the regular classes as soon as possible. The school or school board may also have additional requirements.

For more information, you can contact your local French-language school or French-language school board.

Last Reviewed: May 2011

Section 23 of the Charter pertains to minority language instruction provided out of public funds. There is no constitutionally–protected right to minority language instruction at a private facility.

Last Reviewed: May 2011