Toronto (Ontario), September 11, 2023 — It has been nearly a decade since the province of Ontario has been facing a shortage of French-language teachers, which jeopardizes the quality of education provided to French-speaking students in Ontario. In June 2021, the Ontario Strategy for the Recruitment and Retention of French-language Teachers was unveiled by the government of Ontario. The government claims to be committed to taking measures to reverse this worrying trend and ensure a strong future for French-language education in Ontario.
The governments of Ontario and Canada have jointly announced their commitment to funding a total of 110 new positions for French-language teachers for the 2023-2024 school year. Out of this total, 40 positions will be funded at the University of Ontario in French (UOF), with an additional 70 positions available at the University of Ottawa for the 2023-2024 academic year.
The president of AFOCSC, Mrs. Johanne Lacombe, mentioned that «We particularly welcome the support of the Canadian government through the Canada-Ontario agreement, which enables the realization of this expansion. We also thank the honorable ministers Dunlop, Lecce, and Mulroney for their contributions to this very positive development. We are delighted to see these investments finally becoming a reality. It’s a starting point that will help increase the number of new French-speaking teachers in our institutions. »
As Caroline Mulroney aptly put it, «Education is a vital priority for all French-speaking families in the province. We share their determination to meet the needs of their children and support them directly within their communities. We look forward to welcoming all these new graduates into schools in Toronto and Eastern Ontario soon!»
Yves Lévesque, CEO of AFOCSC, notes, «However, it is important to remember that at least 500 new university spots are required to make a substantial dent in the shortage, and a full French-language university program in the Sudbury region is long overdue.»
AFOCSC welcomes this good news at the beginning of the school year and hopes that it is only the start of better initiatives to help address the crisis of the shortage of French-language teachers in Ontario.
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Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Franco-Ontarian Association of Catholic School Boards is the voice of the eight French-language Catholic school boards in Ontario and the Consortium Centre Jules-Léger, serving over 76,000 Franco-Ontarian students across the province. Our school boards employ more than 11,000 support and teaching staff members who work diligently in nearly 300 schools to provide the finest French-language Catholic education available.
For more information, please contact:
Naïssa Waché
Communications officer of AFOCSC.
nwache@afocsc.org
416 250 1754 Extension: 105
