Good morning. This morning, I'm going to provide you with an overview of the board. I have in my hand some statistics on francophone immigration within the board. Then I'm going to summarize the highlights of a consultation that we've conducted with board stakeholders.
Let's look at a picture of francophone immigration at the Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est. Twenty-five per cent of students have at least one parent who was born outside Canada. We're talking about approximately 4,194 students. In addition, 7% of students were born outside Canada, which means approximately 1,399 students.
With regard to the countries in which those students were born, the majority come from Burundi, Congo, the United States, Haiti, Lebanon, Rwanda, China and France. They are scattered across the territory. As for the dates on which those students arrived in Canada, 50% of them arrived in 2004 or later. So these are recent immigrants. If we do a calculation and distribute by school the number of students who have at least one parent who was born outside Canada, we note that 11 schools in the board would not exist without the contribution of francophone immigration. The face of the board is changing.
On the other hand, with this new face come challenges that we must meet. One of the major challenges is to welcome the students and their parents. We have to give them a good welcome. In a consultation on intake, we noted some highlights when we consulted the parents and students. I'm going to give you some information on that study. We consulted them in order to write a protocol for welcoming the students and the families of our students.
From January to March 2010, we consulted 11 groups, including two groups of students and two parents groups. The purpose of the consultations was to determine best intake practices and barriers to inclusion in the school. Here are the highlights of that consultation.
Parents and students want a personalized welcome and quick integration. Parents need information on the school system, the school and everything concerning the their children's instruction. This is often a barrier to integration. We often need a glossary to break down the educational jargon used in Ontario. We often have to deal with the various school systems—this is a new school system for students arriving in Ontario. They've left their country of origin where the school system was very different. The suggestion was often made that there should systematically be a reception committee at the board and at the school. We believe that would facilitate the reception and integration of students and their parents.
People want a reception even before school registration, when the parents or families arrive in Canada. The spoken language is often a barrier. Everyone has his or her own accent. Sometimes it's hard for people to understand each other. For the students, being welcomed by peers is more important. They want to be welcomed by other students with whom they can share the challenges and successes.
What often surprises newly arrived parents and students is that English is spoken in the halls because school is a francophone minority environment.
Lastly, the students mainly have to deal with a culture at school that is at times different from the one at home.
These are highlights that emerge from the consultations. The board's intake protocol will be developed and submitted to the Ministry of Education in November.
Thank you very much for listening to me.