Early childhood
Ontario has the opportunity to benefit from some momentum in the areas of French-language education and early childhood services. It can position itself on the “early childhood” component in the Official Languages in Education Program (OLEP) when the Roadmap for Official Languages is renewed in 2018.
In October 2016, the Commissioner of Official Languages addressed this important issue in his report entitled Early Childhood: Fostering the Vitality of Francophone Minority Communities.51 Mr. Fraser asked the federal government to include sufficient investments for early childhood initiatives in minority communities in its next five-year plan for official languages.
In this context, the Commissioner suggests that the Ministry of Education should develop its own policy framework to map out and fund French-language early childhood services in Ontario.
51. For more details, see http://www.officiallanguages.gc.ca/en/publications/other/2016/early-childhood-report (page consulted in March 2017).