Education Minister Claire Johnson says the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD) is still reviewing where rightsholders are located and what land is available for a Francophone school in Charlotte County.
In December 2024, the Liberal government announced plans for two schools for southwest New Brunswick, including one in Charlotte County and Kings County.
It set aside $14 million for the provincewide ventilation program. The funding also allocated $2 million for a universal washroom program and $163.1 million for ongoing construction projects, equipment, improvements, repairs, and the dust collector program to ensure schools remain safe for students and staff.
Francophone Sud took legal action against the government over a lack of investment in the education sector in southwestern New Brunswick.
“The investments [are] needed to expand and renovate our existing schools and build new ones,” said a news release translated from French back in September 2024.
“After years of delays in crucial investments in school infrastructure, which are necessary to meet the rapid population growth of our district, our demands are met with a lack of action from the current government.”
Johnson said Statistics Canada added a question about rights holders in 2021.
“So that means for the first time, they were able to identify who had rights to a French education,” she said speaking with The Courier. “That was an area [Charlotte County] that was targeted.”
According to Statistics Canada, which is expected to collect data in May 2026, 2,390 identified as French without specifying a connection, in 2021.
Another 195 identified as French Canadian and 30 as Quebecois, while 570 identified as Acadian.
The statistics also included several other cultural identities that speak French. Additionally, children eligible for education in the minority official language is 255, which is about 17 per cent of Census respondents from 2003 or later.
The number of children eligible for instruction in the minority official language in Charlotte County is 200, but only 55 of eligible children who have been instructed in the minority official language at the primary or secondary level, between 2003 and 2015.
An examination of 2,372 surveyed individuals, in 2013, who were exclusively English was reviewed by Marc-Andre Bouchard and Sylvia Kasparian at the University of New Brunswick in 2019.
“We’re studying to find out where specifically in that area the interests are, where the rights holders are, and where land is available, and all of those different things will guide our decision making,” she said. “No decision has been made yet.”
In June 2025, Eastern Charlotte council wrote to Johnson and EECD to ask whether the school could be placed in St. George.
“Eastern Charlotte is geographically central in Charlotte County and the community of St. George is situated along (Route) 1,” the letter reads. “In addition, St. George municipal water and wastewater services could service a new school.”
The council’s letter also identified Pennfield as an ideal location but noted it is not serviced by the municipality.
The council asked the minister to meet with members to discuss the proposed location. The municipality confirmed there has been communication between it and the province on the proposed school.
“If a location is yet to be determined, we offer Eastern Charlotte as the most beneficial location to support a Francophone school in this region,” the letter went on to say.
The Municipal District of St. Stephen (MDSS) told The Courier that it requested a call with those involved in the Francophone school project which is expected to take place later this week.
The Town of Saint Andrews has not been in touch with EECD regarding the school and its council has not requested any communication.
