Experience has shown, together with some studies, that in minority language communities, access to preschool was a determining factor with regard to the school which the children would then attend. But there is today a gap between the number of young people who have the right to attend a minority language school and the real number of students who actually go to such a school.
The Government of Ontario created a certain number of French early childhood education centres in minority communities outside Quebec, such as Windsor. We noticed that almost all the children who attended a French preschool then went on to attend a French school. However, it is clear that if a child who is just learning to speak French attends an English kindergarten or pre-kindergarten, chances are that child will go to an English school. I think it is very important for parents, and more particularly exogamous families, to be able to send their children to these early childhood centres.