5.1 Investigation Report – No access, no future

French-Language Postsecondary Education in Central-Southwestern Ontario

The current concern certainly lies in the alarming gap between French and English program availability in Central-Southwestern Ontario (CSO).

As the Commissioner has shown and repeated many times, the government is facing an unavoidable problem. According to projections, nearly half of the province’s Francophone population will be living in CSO. Access to French-language postsecondary education must expand to deal with this situation and to close the yawning gap in program availability, which paves the way for assimilation.

All this has generated complaints to the Commissioner’s Office. In the past, complainants pointed out that the small number of French-language postsecondary institutions located in CSO offered so few programs and services that it was difficult to take on the highly regarded English-language competition. The complainants told the Commissioner that this lack of access to quality higher education in French in CSO hurts students interested in pursuing a French-language education after high school.

The Commissioner launched an investigation. In 2012, he published a report entitled The State of French-Language Postsecondary Education in Central-Southwestern Ontario: No access, no future, in which he made recommendations⁵⁵ for improving access to French-language postsecondary education in CSO.

Excerpts from the 2012 recommendations for improving access to French-language postsecondary education in CSO

The Commissioner recommends that the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities create, by March 31, 2013, a new secretariat or a similar structure to identify the need for postsecondary programs and services for the Franco-Ontarian population in Central-Southwestern Ontario, especially in the Greater Toronto Area.

The Commissioner further recommends that this new structure have the ability to negotiate with postsecondary institutions in order to facilitate the implementation of new programs and services for the Franco-Ontario population in the Central-Southwestern region, starting in the Greater Toronto Area.

Furthermore, the Commissioner recommends that this new structure include representation from the following non-exhaustive list:

• Professionals in the education domain
• Administrators in the education sector
• School board administrators or professionals
• Community organizations and members of the public
• Students
• University and college administrators or professionals
• Chambers of commerce and other business leaders
• Public officials from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

The Commissioner recommends that the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities take all necessary measures, by March 31, 2013, in order to negotiate with York University greater autonomy for Glendon College, so that this university campus could serve as a potential base for new postsecondary programs and services aimed at the Franco-Ontarian population of the Central-Southwestern region.

Effectiveness of the intervention

Following the publication of the Commissioner’s investigation report, the government announced the establishment of the Expert Panel on French-Language Postsecondary Education in Central and Southwestern Ontario. The Panel submitted its report, entitled Moving Forward,⁵⁶ to the government in 2013. The Commissioner welcomed the Panel’s conclusions, as they were consistent with his own recommendations.

The same year, the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development (formerly MTCU) announced grants of $16.5 million, split primarily between Collège Boréal, York University’s Glendon College and La Cité, to increase program availability in Central-Southwestern Ontario. This announcement brought to fruition, in a sense, part of the Commissioner’s position that the availability of French-language postsecondary programs and services in CSO should be expanded.

In February 2014, the government created the Advisory Committee on French-Language Postsecondary Education for Central and Southwestern Ontario. The Committee, chaired by Diane Dubois, submitted its conclusions⁵⁷ to the government two years later, in February 2016, the same year that the government formed the French Language University Planning Board.

Beyond all these announcements, however, the most important thing is the dialogue that has started between the community and the government on the issue, which is certainly broader than expanding programs in CSO, as it will also cover a future French-language university. This debate is not new. Nevertheless, the Commissioner is proud to have played an active part in rekindling the fire on the university project.

Thus, a great deal has happened since the Commissioner’s investigation report was published in 2012. The Commissioner is pleased with the addition of new French-language postsecondary programs and continues to encourage this solution to unequal access to postsecondary education between Francophones and Anglophones in CSO. He is now awaiting the results of the work of the Planning Board, chaired by former Commissioner of Official Languages Dyane Adam.

55. For more details, see https://csfontario.ca/en/articles/189 (page consulted in March 2017).

57. For more details, see http://www.tcu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/reports/time_to_act_eng.pdf (page consulted in March 2017).