ELIGIBILITY TO FRANCOPHONE EDUCATION
FrancoSud provides free, publicly funded education in 12 public schools and 4 Catholic schools.
Our mandate stems directly from section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This provision of the Charter grants certain Canadian citizens (the “rights holders”) the right to have their children educated in a French as a first language* school.
In addition to Canadian citizens who are rights holders, FrancoSud may also choose to accept exceptional cases that fall into one of the categories described on this page. Categories 3 (Francophiles) and 4 (allophones) have recently been added, in accordance with the most recent Supreme Court decisions on the subject.
Whether the registration request is for a right-holder or an exceptional case, at least one of the parents must:
- meet one of the criteria of the Charter OR one of the categories of the exceptional cases; AND
- be eligible to receive publicly funded education, in accordance with the rules of the Ministry of Education.
* A Francophone school teaches French as a first language. A French Immersion school teaches French as an additional language.
You will find on this page different scenarios that might give you access to Francophone education. Please read them before submitting a registration request to one of the FrancoSud schools.
CANADIAN CITIZENS - RIGHTs HOLDERS
You must meet one of the following three criteria in order to have a rights holder status :
- Canadian citizen whose first language learned and still understood is French; OR
- Canadian citizen who received primary school instruction in French in Canada, OR
- Canadian citizen whose child has received or is receiving primary or secondary school instruction in a French as a first language school in Canada.
CANADIAN RESIDENT - PARTICULAR CASE
A temporary or permanent resident whose child has received or is receiving primary or secondary education in French as a first language school in Canada has the right to have all of their children educated in a FrancoSud school, at the primary and secondary levels.
Example: A temporary resident has children who have already attended a Francophone school in Ontario. He or she does not need to go through the exceptional case process to have them admitted to FrancoSud.
EXCEPTIONAL CASES
IMPORTANT : When a request for admission of an exceptional case is studied, many factors are considered including, among others, the best interests of the child, the class, the school, the Francophone community, etc. Therefore, the admission of an exceptional cases is not automatic.
CATEGORY 1
Francophone Ancestor
Canadian citizen wishing to reintegrate into Francophone culture and identity, as their Francophone family heritage has been lost. This category is based on the remedial aspect of section 23.
- Ancestry is limited to the child’s grandparents.
This means that the child’s grandfather or grandmother would have qualified as a rights holder under section 23.
- The goal is to right the wrongs of the past by recognizing that generations of Francophones have been assimilated.
Example : A Canadian parent is Anglophone and does not meet any of the criteria under section 23. However, one of the child’s grandparents is Francophone and the child’s parent did not have the opportunity to access Francophone education themselves. French has therefore been “lost” for a generation.
CATEGORY 2
Francophone Immigrant
Permanent or temporary resident wishing to maintain the Francophone, culture and identity of their child. This is a parent who does not have Canadian citizenship but who, if they were Canadian and if section 23 did not limit the place of primary instruction to Canada, would qualify as rights holder under section 23.
Examples :
- A Cameroonian parent whose first language learned and still understood is French and whose child also speaks French.
- A Moroccan parent who received their primary school education in a French as a first language school in Morocco (or Canada), and whose child speaks French.
CATEGORY 3
Francophile
Canadian citizen who speaks French, who has chosen to join the Francophone community and wants his or her child to integrate and establish an authentic connection to the Francophone community.
- The child must be able to function in French before admission.
- The parent and child must demonstrate an interest in integrating the Francophone community and meet the other criteria established by FrancoSud.
Example : A Canadian parent is Anglophone. They do not meet any of the criteria in section 23 and do not have Francophone heritage. They worked in France for several years and speak French fluently. They wish to integrate the Francophone community and want their child, educated in French in France, to be able to continue their Francophone education.
CATEGORY 4
Allophone
Immigrant who speaks neither French nor English and who wishes to have their child educated in a French as a first language school and integrate the Francophone community.
Example : A Chinese parent who speaks neither French nor English, wishes to integrate the Francophone community and for their child to learn French.
CATEGORY 5
OTHER APPLICATIONS
Applications for admission that do not correspond to any of the situations described above: FrancoSud may choose to accept these applications if the admission is consistent with the objectives of section 23, taking into consideration the specific needs of a given FrancoSud community at that specific time.
Examples :
- A permanent resident of Spanish origin, whose first language learned is Spanish, who does not meet any of the criteria of the exceptional case categories. They have lived many years in French in Europe, their children attended Francophone schools and speak French.
- The parents are not Francophone, do not meet any of the above criteria but demonstrate a strong interest in the Francophone community, since their child has always shown a keen interest in languages, including French, which he has managed to master at an exceptional level.
LANGUAGE OF COMMUNICATION
Students evolve in an environment where the language of communication is French.
For this reason, all meetings, written communications and reports regarding the student’s progress are conducted in French. However, individual meetings concerning a student may be conducted in English.
Our schools are closed for the summer but it is still possible to submit an online application.
IMPORTANT: Responses to applications submitted during the summer will be communicated after August 20th only.