June 17th, 2021

Ford government refuses to fix French language teacher shortage: NDP

TORONTO / KAPUSKASING – Ontario NDP Education critic Marit Stiles (Davenport), and Francophone Affairs critic Guy Bourgouin (Mushkegowuk—James Bay), took aim at the Ford government’s failure to train and recruit French language teachers.

“Today’s announcement by Stephen Lecce is too little, too late. It doesn’t even begin to address the demand for French language teachers in Ontario,” said Stiles. “The Ford government has known for a long time that Ontario doesn’t have enough French teachers and isn’t doing enough to get more trained and recruited.”

For over six months, the government has refused to release a working group report with detailed recommendations on how to address the shortage of French language teachers in Ontario’s francophone education system. Now, thanks to Doug Ford’s inaction Ontario is far behind other provinces competing for the same pool of French-language teachers in Canada.

“Doug Ford has shown that he doesn’t care about Francophones in Ontario. He doesn’t care about our constitutionally protected right to educate our children in French. If Doug Ford were serious about fixing the French language teacher shortage, he would have acted sooner and provided the necessary supports, said Bourgouin. “Boards need immediate funding for recruitment and post-secondary institutions need more resources to train new teachers.”

New Democrats called for the immediate release of the working group report on the French language teacher shortage, and for Doug Ford to immediately accept all of the recommendations put forward.