Overview: This page looks at the success and popularity of the program throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It is intended to serve as a conclusion to this examination of the French Immersion program in Mission.
Despite all of the controversy and uncertainty that seemed to plague Mission’s French Immersion programs in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, (see An Uncertain Future for French Immersion in Mission, The Controversial Relocation of the French Immersion Program at École Edwin S. Richards to Mission Central, and More Controversy at ESR) the community of Mission displayed a fiery passion and endless support to keep this program in their schools. The Canadian Parents for French even called Mission’s French Immersion program an educational success story.
The uncertainty about the French Immersion program was not only present in Mission, but also across all of British Columbia. The program had experienced many hardships in the province from low enrolment, lack of funding, staffing shortages, and program caps. Ultimately, the program across the province could be deemed an educational success. Enrolment in the French Immersion program had seen an immense amount of growth across British Columbia, despite a province-wide decline in school enrolment in general. Over a 23 year period, 1977-2000, French Immersion enrolment across the province had increased from 1,301 students in 1977 to 30,423 students in 2000. In a report published in 2001, titled The State of French Second Language Education in Canada, found that British Columbia was the only Canadian province where there had been an increase of students studying French in the 1990s, which is demonstrated by the enrolment statistics from 1977-2000. Education Minister, Christy Clark, was quoted in 2001, stating:
Over the past 20 years, the French Immersion program has been an important part of British Columbia’s school system and its popularity continues to grow. I am confident that today’s ‘global community’ will see language programs take the lead as students are offered more choice. And, I believe French Immersion will continue to be a popular choice to prepare students for enhanced career opportunities in Canada.
hon. christy clark, minister of education, september 2001
The French Immersion program in Mission was no different, and was actually exceeding the provincial enrolment averages. Where the province had seen an increase of enrolment by 3.9% between 1999 and 2001, Mission was seeing an increase of nearly 10%. This growth, in Mission and across British Columbia was projected to continue to increase over the next decades; and their projections had been correct. The table below, from a BCTF Research Report published in 2018, shows that the French Immersion has nearly doubled its enrolment numbers from the start of the 1991 school year to the start of the 2017 school year. This increase is despite an overall decline in student enrolment across the province over the same time period.
French Immersion has earned its place as a successful program in the British Columbia education system, as seen by its increasing popularity over the last 40 years. French Immersion continues to be a choice program for British Columbians, despite the provinces’ distance from the French core of Canada. With English and French as the official languages of Canada, it is no surprise that this program saw success as a way for students to engage with Canada’s cultural identity, even though this has changed drastically over time.
References:
BCTF. “French immersion in BC: Growing demand amid an ongoing shortage of teachers.” BCTF Research Report, October, 2018. https://bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/Publications/ResearchReports/201810-3/FrenchImmersionInBC.pdf.
Canadian Parents for French. “The Future of French Immersion in School District 75 (Mission): A Response to the Board of Trustees Decision to Cut the French Immersion Program at Edwin S. Richards Elementary.” May 28, 2002. Mission Community Archives, Mission, BC.
SD75. Report on the French Immersion Program. Mission, BC: SD75, August 2002. Mission Community Archives, Mission, BC.