Ombudsman to investigate elimination of N.B.'s immersion program

New Brunswick ombudsman Bernard Richard will investigate the provincial government's decision to eliminate the French immersion program previously offered in New Brunswick's English schools.

At a press conference in Fredericton Thursday, Richard said he has received more than 200 complaints from parents regarding the recent cancellation —the most complaints his office has ever seen on a single issue, he said.

Beginning in September, students will not be getting French language education until Grade 5, at which point they will go through a mandatory intensive five-month program. In Grade 6, the students will then have the option of continuing with an immersion program or taking French on its own within the scope of a more extensive core program that would make the language a mandatory subject until high school graduation.

"I may end up agreeing with the changes that are being proposed," Richard said. "I really don't know. But I think it's a huge gamble and the concerns that have been raised regarding the process are such that I think I'm obligated to look at it."

Within mandate, Richard says

Richard said that after carefully considering the issue, he decided an investigation fell within his office's mandate.

"For me, it's a matter for the ombudsman because it's a ministerial decision — not a cabinet decision or a legislature decision," Richard said.

Under Section 6 of the Education Act, matters of curriculum are defined as falling under the authority of the education minister.

Richard said that means the change becomes a matter of administration, which the ombudsman's office has the authority to review.

But St. Thomas University political science professor Tom Bateman said Richard's investigation also raises a lot of questions. It is not usually the ombudsman's place to weigh in on policy matters, Bateman said.
 
"Normally, opposition to a policy like this would be directed to an Opposition caucus," he said. "Ombudsmen don't normally involve themselves in political hot potatoes like this."

The government should at least delay the implementation of policy until September 2009 to allow more discussion and give families time to adjust to the change, Richard said.

Parents happy investigation will go forward

A number of points have been raised by the complainants, said the ombudsman, but the one he finds most compelling is the impact the decision will have on children who were accepted into the immersion program for September, only to have it eliminated.

Many people feel the decision was made without government transparency and that the public was not consulted on the matter, Richard said.

The ombudsman's decision to look at the new French second-language policy is a positive step, said Water Lee, president of the New Brunswick chapter of Canadian Parents for French.

"New Brunswickers need to know when a decision of this magnitude is made that the process that was followed was fair, and in this case I don't think it was," Lee said.

Investigation to be completed by June

Richard said language rights have always been important to him but the investigation by the ombudsman's office will be based on the scope of its mandate and not government policy or his own personal feelings on the issue.

Eliminating early immersion in New Brunswick's English schools could set back French and English relations in Canada's only officially bilingual province, he said.

The ombudsman does not lobby for a cause, said Richard, who served as education minister in Frank McKenna's Liberal government.

The investigation will be extensive, requiring disclosure from the government, he said, and it will have to be completed quickly because the changes are currently expected to be put into effect this fall.

"I would think a lot of documentation … would come our way [so] we'd have to constitute a team of investigators," Richard said.

Officials at the Education Department have told the ombudsman's office they will co-operate fully with the investigation, but have not said if they intend to delay the implementation of the new French program, he said.

The ombudsman said he hopes to have his investigation done and a report ready by June.