Cardy’s letter puts French immersion reform back on N.B.’s front-burner

Dominic Cardy’s messy resignation from New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs’ cabinet is setting the stage for French immersion reform to recur as one of the province’s signature controversies.

The perpetual discussion and debate about French education in English schools has simmered in the province for decades, and Cardy’s revelation (and Higgs confirmation) of reforms coming as early as Sept. 2023 has put some parents on alert.

“And parents are frustrated,” said Don Wright, a parent and political scientist at the University of New Brunswick. “It’s very frustrating to not know what is coming down the pipe.”

The acceleration of recent developments began in February, with a report from provincial court Judge Yvette Finn and former deputy education minister John McLaughlin, urging officials to make changes to French-language education in New Brunswick’s English schools.

The report said most Anglophone students weren’t in the French immersion program and were lacking conversational second-language skills as a result.

February’s report also urged officials at the Department of Education and Early Childhood Education to take a slow approach to any sort of reforms.

In May, Cardy, as minister of education and early childhood development, announced the launch of a provincial government website which would collect ideas on how to strengthen French second-language learning.

Thursday’s letter from Cardy accused Higgs of ushering in reforms that weren’t mentioned in any party platform or government throne speech, nor developed through any consultation with cabinet or caucus.

"Change requires care, not a wrecking ball,” said Cardy, in the letter.

On Thursday, Higgs acknowledged saying “data my ass” to a civil servant, as claimed in Cardy’s letter, when given information at a meeting about French education. Higgs told reporters he made the comment because the information presented to him was “irrelevant.”

“The numbers did not reflect any real value in information that we were trying to understand,” said Higgs, hours after the release of Cardy’s letter. “Are we getting better? Are we implementing the program?”

Cardy said the information presented to Higgs was a requested binder of details about reform plans that were completed, underway, or planned for in the Anglophone school sector.

“Unfortunately, all he was interested in talking about was the knee-jerk cancellation of French immersion and that’s subsumed all other concerns in his mind for awhile now,” said Cardy, in an interview on Friday.

Higgs said the initial target was to have a new French program for all English students by Sept. 2023.

“The details of what it was going to be and how it was going to be, and I don’t want to debate those in this situation, but the plan just needed to have a way to execute and work with teachers to make it happen,” Higgs told reporters Friday.

“For some time it has been presented as the end of September of (20)24,” said Higgs, referring to Department of Education staff. “Well, we all know that in an election year, if you think you’re going to implement something significant, it’s not going to happen. It just won’t happen.”

New Brunswick’s next provincial election is scheduled for Oct. 21, 2024.

Higgs re-stated his goal on Thursday to see French education reforms within Anglophone schools take effect in Sept. 2023.

Both the Liberals and Green Party are preparing for French immersion to lead exchanges in the legislature when daily sittings resume at the end of October.

“Another fundamental change in curriculum planned for next fall is not something that an already strained system that is short of resources should be put through,” said New Brunswick Liberal leader Susan Holt, in an interview Saturday.

Green Party leader David Coon said Higgs had a long-term “obsession with getting rid of French immersion.”

"We’ll continue to raise that as an absurd policy choice,” said Coon, in an interview Saturday.

In 2008, the Liberal government under Premier Shawn Graham announced the creation of a universal French program for all Grade 5 students, with the choice of immersion starting in Grade 6. After a court-ordered public consultation process, the government altered its plan and made Grade 3 the immersion entry point.

In the fall of 2017, the Liberals under Premier Brian Gallant changed the French immersion entry point back to Grade 1.

“It’s kind of like the third rail of New Brunswick politics,” said Wright. “Touch it and you're dead.”