Investigation Report on the Cancellation of the Fellowships for Studying in French

Investigation ReportI just posted a news release as well as my report entitled Cancellation of the Fellowships for Studying in French: It pays to do your homework to follow-up on the elimination of this program in April 2012 by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. I encourage you to view these documents.

This investigation report contains an in-depth analysis of the issues arising from the elimination of the Fellowships for Studying in French program. It is based on the responses that the Ministry provided to my office, statistics concerning access to French-language postsecondary education programs in Ontario, and observations by associations and stakeholders.

In short, the government went against the principle of the active offer of service in French by eliminating the Fellowships for Studying in French program without first providing other specific measures to bring Francophones and Francophiles closer to genuine equal opportunity. I am nonetheless delighted that the government rectified the situation by broadening the eligibility criteria for the Travel Grant and the Commuting Grant to include Francophones and Francophiles. Nevertheless, I believe that this measure is not sufficient to make up for the inequality between the availability of French-language college and university programs and the availability of English-language programs, especially in Central-Southwestern Ontario.

Despite the good intentions demonstrated in the most recent Speech from the Throne, more than a year after the publication of my report entitled The State of French-Language Postsecondary Education in Central-Southwestern Ontario: No access, no future, the government has still not announced any action plan to remedy the situation.

Comment

  1. Christian Martel

    Je trouve votre étude pertinente, mais il manque un aspect important. Il y a déjà eu une bourse pour étudier en français au Québec lorsque les programmes n’étaient pas disponibles dans les universités bilingues de l’Ontario, pour aller étudier dans une université au Québec.
    Si vous regardez la traduction du guide Quick Index To Services, qui était publié par le ministère des services gouvernementaux en 1989 lorsque la loi des services en français a été mise en place.
    De plus, le manque de programme universitaire en français a un autre aspect qui n’est jamais mentionné, c’est le manque de recherches universitaires faites par et pour les francophones; n’ayant pas d’université francophone, il n’y a pratiquement pas de recherche qui se fait pour améliorer le sort des francophones de l’Ontario, comparé à ce qui se fait dans les unisersités anglophones.
    Bonne semaine,
    Christian

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