The Honourable Shawn Murphy, Member of Parliament (Hillsborough), on behalf of the Honourable Hélène Chalifour Scherrer, Minister of Canadian Heritage, along with the Honourable Mildred Dover, Minister of Education of Prince Edward Island, today hailed the creation of a Bachelor’s Degree in Education with specialization in French immersion. The degree program will be offered at the University of Prince Edward Island in collaboration with the Université de Moncton.
“This program is of particular importance as it will be the first of its kind to be offered in Prince Edward Island,” said Mr. Murphy. “Born out of a collaboration between a Francophone and an Anglophone university, this program is a wonderful example of what the governments of Canada and Prince Edward Island can accomplish in the area of official languages by giving youth the chance to improve their knowledge of their second language.”
“I would like to congratulate all the partners who worked together to create this new program, which will respond to the special needs of immersion teachers,” said Minister Chalifour Scherrer. “Together, we are demonstrating our commitment to reinforcing our linguistic duality by ensuring that all young Canadians have the opportunity to receive quality education in their second language, no matter where they live across this vast country.”
“This new program will be very beneficial to the people of Prince Edward Island. For the first time, students will have the opportunity to pursue this academic specialization on the Island, where the percentage of students in French Immersion is the third highest in Canada,” said Minister Dover. “We hope to improve the quality of our French Immersion programs by enabling teachers to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to offer students the best possible education.”
The governments of Canada and Prince Edward Island have provided, respectively, $261,070 and $87,690 toward the project.
Financial assistance is provided by the Department of Canadian Heritage through its Enhancement of Official Languages Program. The program seeks to help provincial and territorial governments offer young Canadians the opportunity to study French or English as a second language.
Funding for this initiative was provided for in the February 2003 federal Budget.