Unequal access to secondary education
As described above, the Ministry of Education provided funding to the French-language school boards to renovate schools. After that, it invested in the construction of new schools, most of them elementary.
However, these new facilities do not solve the problem of the shortage of secondary schools, specifically in the eastern part of Toronto, where access to French-language secondary education is nowhere near on a par with the access enjoyed by the majority.
Because of the lack of a local secondary school in eastern Toronto, some students switch to English school,53 often to avoid excessive travel times,54 or continue in French schools that are operating above capacity.
In 2016, the Commissioner noted in a follow-up to the 2011 report that unfortunately, the situation in eastern Toronto had not changed. He observed that the Ministry had done nothing concrete to address these needs. Parents are still having trouble finding a French-language high school within a reasonable distance for their children. And while a similar issue seems to be being resolved in Hamilton, another critical situation has arisen in the Kingston area, based on the many complaints the Commissioner has received from discouraged parents.
In the last few years, the Commissioner has suggested some possible solutions, including the idea that the Ministry could reorganize the attendance areas of the English schools in a district. While this example concerns Toronto, the survival of the entire Francophone community and the preservation of cultural heritage for future generations, as noted in the Act, depend on it.
53. The Commissioner referred to it as a mass exodus, as nearly 20% of the students of French schools are switching to the English system between Grades 8 and 9. (Ibid., note 54, p. 6)
54. According to the principals who were interviewed, transportation times can range up to an hour, or even more if a student decides to take the bus from eastern Toronto to the new high school in Scarborough.