YOU ARE HERE: Spotlight - Let's step up for new immigrant students, Oct 2005

Thwarting Great Expectations

 By Rick Johnson, Charles Pascal and Marilies Rettig

You don't need a crystal ball to get a sneak peek into Canada's future. Just step into any one of the urban schools in the Greater Toronto Area, Windsor, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, or Ottawa and witness first-hand how immigration is set to become the driver of labour force and population growth by the end of the decade.

Already, in Toronto schools alone, one-third of the students were born outside Canada and more than 60 per cent of recent immigrants do not speak English or French at home.

Immigration is hardly a new reality in Canada. What is new is that our schools are becoming a microcosm for the growing gap between Canada's reputation for demonstrated and respectful support for immigrant communities and the reality that faces far too many of the newly arrived. 

So, as the federal and Ontario governments put the finishing touches on a settlement and immigration agreement, it is our sincere hope that Ottawa demonstrates its intention to play a significant role in addressing the vital educational needs of immigrant children entering the provincial school system.

Yes, we know about provincial jurisdiction regarding education. This needs to be an exception.

The biggest assault on our future is what's happening to immigrant students. Children of today's new arrivals from non-English or non-French language countries face a lack of critical second language support that is unpardonable.

Traditionally, schools in Canada have helped to ensure that the next generation will take off and thrive, building on the achievements of the previous one.

But, despite the resources mounted to respond to the need, shamefully the supports available in the school system are nowhere near enough.

And now the stakes have been raised because of a renewed federal plan to achieve the goal of raising annual immigration levels to 1 per cent of the population over the next five years. This ambitious target — about 340,000 new immigrants each year — has long been established as critical to Canada's success in the face of all-time low birth rates, an aging population, and a shortage of skilled workers.

It also means that thousands of additional immigrant students will arrive in schools in the major cities of Ontario over the next five years.

The stark reality is that our schools do not have the range of resources to respond effectively to this influx of new Canadians. For those requiring second language supports, and those already in the system who need far more than we can currently give them, an urgent response is called for.

We already know students with ESL needs are two to three times more likely to drop out of high school than the general student population. In Ontario, Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) tests indicate that ESL students lag far behind.

While Ontario has increased its level of funding for education, the needs of immigrant children present a pressure that requires major support from the federal government, which makes the decisions about the flow of immigration to the provinces (except for Quebec). The Canadian government must step up now to recognize the role of schools as a key point of opportunity for newcomers.

It is often said that our future depends on the life chances we provide for our children. It is time we treated our new immigrants as a resource to be supported and developed, and to focus with urgency, and as a matter of national priority, on the needs of their children. Their lives and futures are at stake.

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Rick Johnson is president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association, Charles Pascal is executive director of the Atkinson Charitable Foundation and a former Ontario deputy minister of education and Marilies Rettig is president of the Ontario Teachers' Federation.