Third, those of us who deliver English public schooling in Quebec need to know that our federal government and our fellow Canadians across this country understand some of the particular obstacles that we face in discharging our duties each day in the province we call home. The QESBA insists at every public occasion that our English school network is an ally in Quebec's legitimate and constant effort to ensure the future stability of the French language in Quebec. We are a constructive participant in those efforts.
Still, the QESBA and its member boards must continually battle against further threats to English public school access in Quebec, as expressed most recently by Bill 14. If our French immersion success story is to have further chapters, there must be a solid English public school network moving into the future. Our graduates are among the most bilingual of Canadians, embodying the economic and social opportunities that will mark our entire country's future. Our English-speaking community institutions, starting with our school network, must remain strong or that future will be compromised.
Each part of this puzzle must fit. If our French second language programs are not fully effective and if the system that offers them is not fully secure, the QESBA's member school boards will see a further worrisome trend continue, and that is the loss of students to French public and private schools. Statistics indicate that anywhere from 25% to 35% of English eligible students—and that's a restricted category already, under Quebec's French language charter—are not currently enrolled in English schools. For all of these reasons, the health of French immersion and intensive French second language programs in Quebec truly matters.
Fourth, we would conclude that the future of French immersion in Quebec is somewhat linked to its future in every province and territory of this country. Our circumstances are different, but the potential rewards are there across the country. Mastering Canada's two official languages must always be championed as a pillar of our economic strength and potential, as an imperative for national unity, and as a promise that each of us can choose to build our futures right where we live, be it in a minority or majority language situation.
Thank you. We look forward to discussing these points with you.