March 28 1972

by ALICE KRUEGER Free Press Legislative Reporter Construction of a $1.5 million French language teacher-training institution at St Boniface College was announced Tuesday by Cultural Affairs Minister Larry Desjardins of Manitoba. Meanwhile in Ottawa, State Secretary Gérard Pelletier announced Tuesday a $1.2 million grant to the government of Manitoba for creation and operation of the institution. It is a joint federal-provincial venture, with classes to open this September in existing facilities at St. Boniface College before completion of a new wing in 1973 or 1974. Mr. Desjardins told a press conference in the Legislative Building that plans will be drawn with a view to constructing a fully modern wing to accommodate about 200 students. He said negotiations are nearing completion and that a written agreement will soon be signed between the federal government and Manitoba through its agent, the University grants commission. Capital costs of the teacher training institution will be shared on the basis of 75 percent or $1.2 million by the federal government, with the provincial government making up the balance. Ottawa will also share in the operating expenditures of the proposed school to the extent of 25 per cent. The institution will also be eligible for federal grants under measures announced last January, covering assistance for minority language education at the university level in the amount of 10 percent of the provincial operating grant. The remaining portions of the operating costs will be subject to the sharing provisions between the federal and provincial governments under the federal-provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act.

Senator Gil Molgat of Manitoba, who was present for the announcement, said the teacher-training institution will also get a $25,000 federal grant for the purchase of a basic collection of French language books. Mr. Desjardins said provisions have been made to enrol about 70 students this fall in existing classrooms in St. Boniface College, with total enrolment by 1975 expected to reach 200 in the three-year course. He said arrangements will be negotiated for the acceptance of teacher trainees from other western provinces who may wish to seek admission. Mr. Desjardins said the project was recommended by the royal commission on bilingualism and biculturalism in accordance with a report of a special committee of inquiry in French language teacher training in the western provinces, submitted to the various governments in August last year. The institutions will come under the control of the Manitoba universities grants commission, which has already allocated funds for the establishment of a specialized library to permit classes to begin this fall. Mr. Desjardins said St.-Boniface College will be responsible for hiring necessary staff, making the facilities available and informing prospective students of entrance requirements St. Boniface College is fully affiliated with the University of Manitoba, which will confer the required certificates and degrees. The new institution is designed to meet an ever-increasing demand for French language teachers in Manitoba, a demand created with the passage of legislation last year allowing for instruction in French where sufficient students request such instruction, Mr. Desjardins said. He said one of the major stumbling blocks in implementing that legislation has been the lack of sufficient numbers of teachers able to give instruction in French. He estimated that about 10 public schools in Manitoba are taking advantage of Bill 113, the legislation which permits instruction in French. This demand, he said is expected to double this year.

April 27, 1973 Cultural Affairs Minister Larry Desjardins said Thursday the provincial government may soon. initiate a study on thc French language and its instruction in Manitoba. He made the comments at a sod-turning ceremony for L'Instiut Pedagogique de St. Boniface, the teachers' training intitute. He said he wished "to warn the (federal) secretary of state we hope" to ask such a study be undertaken. In an interview later, Mr. Desjardins said it was too early to go into details about the, study, but that the government had received a request for it. "We are studying the possibility" of the study, he said.

If the Manitoba government decides to proceed with the study, then the federal government will be consulted for funding, he said. The proposed study would involve all those concerned with teaching: parents, professors, school divisions, and repesentatives of Franco-Manitobans. He said it would attempt to determine "where we are going with education" as it relates to, the French language. The study would also focus on certain problems arising out of the passage of Bill 113 which allowed all school subjects to be taught in French. Some pcople fear if they take advantage of this, their English will suffer he said. The study would involve the hiring of a person who understands the problems and who can give leadership, he said. Mr. Desjardins said a decision will have to be made soon, "before the year is up."

April 25 1973 A $1.6-million addition to St. Boniface College for a faculty of education will be officially started with sod-turning ceremonies Thursday. The addition to the 63 year old main building of the college is to be paid for with $1.2 million from the federal government, including $100,000 for a language centre, and $366,000 from the provincial government. The French-language education faculty, set up last fall, is the only one of its kind in Western Canada. It was conceived to provide teachers for the small pockets of French speaking residents in the West. Occupancy of the new wing is expected by March, 1974. An area of the college's three-storey stone structure was set aside last fall for the faculty. The college is affiliated with the University of Manitoba, and previously offered only arts and science programs. Rev. Jean-Louis Rocan, a lecturer at the college, said officials were surprised to register 63 students that first year. "We expected no more than 30 or so." Because it is becoming more possible each year to use French as a working language in the West, "our people are more inclined to develop their French," he said. Father Rocan says the bachelor of education degree will offer graduates advantages over similar graduates of English-language universities who do not have a facility in French. "Our graduates can teach not only in French in French schools, but they can teach French in English schools.

For that matter, they can teach any subject in which they have specialized in a French or English school." Father Rocan said the demand for bilingual teachers is expected to increase in Western Canada. The first graduates, those who enrolled last fall with a degree under their belt, will receive their bachelor of education degrees in the spring of 1974. For those who enrolled out of high school, it is a four year course. 300 ATTEND The majority of students in the education faculty, and in the arts and science faculties, are from Manitoba. But a few come from other provinces in the West, from Quebec and from foreign countries. The college's enrolment last term, excluding the high-school section, was about 300 students. Father Rocan says students at the college are not strong French-Canadian nationalists. "But the students who come here are becoming more and more proud of their French identity. They have no hang-ups about it. They are not afraid to speak French anymore. They get to love it. For many students of French background, the college provides an opportunity to improve their facility in the language. In most cases, their English is also improved enormously, he said.