Groups of smiling teenagers in a school hallway.
Éducation en langue française en Ontario

A welcoming and inclusive environment

The French-language education network aims to make establishments more accessible and facilitate admissions procedures, whether via programs for newcomers or early childhood services.

The rights to a French-language education in Ontario is enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as Ontario’s Education Act. Members of the French-language education network work to facilitate access to their institutions in each community that they serve.

Admission

Admissions to French-language school are achieved in either of the following two ways:

  1. According to section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a child is admissible without any further requirements if their parent meets one of the following criteria:
  • their first language learned and still understood is French;
  • they have received their primary school instruction in Canada in French;
  • one of their other children has received or is receiving primary or secondary school instruction in French.
  1. Furthermore, in adopting Ontario’s Education Act, the Ontario Legislature recognizes the importance of expanding rights for admission to children of parents who do not meet the basic requirements laid out in section 23 of the Charter. A mechanism for admissions by way of section 293 —a selection committee—was devised through which it is possible to admit these students.

A rights holder choosing not to have their child educated in a French-language school is at risk of depriving their descendants of this right. In order for their children to receive an education in French, these descendants would need to submit an application to the admissions committee of the relevant school board for review.