Thank you.
Mr. Chair, dear members, on behalf of the Association francophone à l'éducation des services à l'enfance de l'Ontario, known as AFESEO, thank you for inviting us to contribute to the study on the minority-language education continuum.
Founded in 1993, AFESEO is a provincial organization mandated to be the voice of francophone early childhood education in Ontario. With its network of 350 French-language educational points of service, representing 36,000 licensed spaces, and its management of 25 educational laboratory centres across the province, AFESEO has a unique perspective on the context in which French-language early childhood education is evolving.
Before diving into the heart of the matter, allow me to clarify some of the terms I will be using. Since we're talking about education, we will use the terms “early childhood education services” or “early childhood education centre” instead of the term “day care”. We will also use the term “educational staff”, as it is inclusive, gender-neutral and independent of the educational background of individuals working in early childhood education. In Ontario, the term “early childhood educator” is a title reserved for staff registered with the College of Early Childhood Educators.
Let's dive right into the heart of the matter. Did you know that only 27% of eligible children 4 years and under have access to a space in an educational centre? This situation contributes to the assimilation of children of rights holders, excluding families whose only spoken official language is French, in other words, French speakers. These families make up a significant percentage of our francophone families, given the high number of families who are recent immigrants. The number of francophone spaces needed is even greater than the 22,000 spaces for eligible children.
Among the challenges related to the quality of early childhood education services is the issue of the funding structure for French-language education services. In Ontario, funding for the Canada-wide early learning and child care system flows through municipalities. Francophone early childhood education services are not considered official language minority services. As a result, accountability and data collection related to funding and the creation of francophone spaces are very difficult to achieve.
In Ontario, child care providers can decide whether to advertise their services as being francophone or bilingual. There is no designation system for francophone providers. What we know as bilingual spaces are actually spaces of assimilation.
Then there's the fact that municipalities that aren't officially francophone designated are not required to provide services in French to francophone providers. This puts the providers who struggle to or simply cannot understand or speak English at a disadvantage, especially in a context of ever-increasing red tape.
Municipal priorities for the creation of spaces do not always meet the needs of francophones, particularly in rural or remote areas. On the other hand, in Ontario, organizations such as AFESEO receive funding from the federal government's official languages road map. This funding, which flows through national organizations and the provincial government, is vital and enables professionalization by and for the early childhood sector. The early childhood sector's ability to be autonomous and to structure itself may be compromised if this funding isn't renewed in future road maps.
The shortage of child care workers is another challenge. In Ontario, the occupancy rate for francophone child care providers is 61%. One reason for this is that existing licensed spaces can't be filled due to a lack of workers to provide the service. Ontario is the only place in North America where the early childhood educator profession is regulated by a college, which is a good thing in itself. However, the college makes foreign and even interprovincial credential recognition impossible. This increases the time required for educators to register with the college, as they must obtain a degree from an Ontario college, which complicates recruitment.
Furthermore, funding doesn't reflect the existence of a college or the salaries offered in similar conditions by other systems, such as school boards. Retention is very difficult because salaries aren't competitive. Staff turnover due to working conditions is very high, which generates significant costs for the entire system. A workforce trained to operate within the sector's legal framework is necessary, not only to provide the service, but also to offer quality service to children whose parents have decided to enrol them in a French-language early childhood education program.
How can we retain this workforce? Here are some ideas to consider. We could set up structured, recurring funding that reflects official language minority status and offer improved working conditions for early childhood education workers.
Thank you.
