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Economic Vitality

Education: a Continuing Challenge

Even though Francophones now enjoy better access to higher education in their own language in many regions, education levels are still below the national average. The proportion of Francophones who go to university (19.6%) is rising and could soon reach the national average of 22.3%, nonetheless the gap is still significant.

There are significant differences in this regard between regions. In the Evangeline region, 58% of the adult population did not finish high school. This situation is hardly better in southwest Nova Scotia, in Cape Breton Island, in counties with a substantial French population, or in the majority areas in New Brunswick, in northeast Ontario, in rural Manitoba and in Saskatchewan. Francophones in these areas are generally employed in industries requiring less skilled labour.

Francophones in the metropolitan areas are better educated. In terms of university graduation, Francophone numbers are as good as, if not better than, the Anglophone population. This better education contributes largely to maintaining Francophone vitality.

Regional Differences in Participation in the Labor Market

Rates of participation in the labor market vary a great deal between regions. Francophones are more active economically in regions with a diversified economic base and, as a result, less subject to unemployment, under-employment, and seasonal shifts. There are fewer people in the labor market in regions where emphasis is on the development of natural resources, there is a moratorium on fishing, or where there are reforms currently underway in the mining and pulp and paper industries.

The Atlantic provinces are the most seriously affected by this under-representation in the labor market. Rates of labor participation are low in northeastern Ontario and in British Columbia outside of metropolitan Vancouver/Victoria. Because there is a large proportion of Francophones in most of the regions where there are fewer employment opportunities, the average rate of participation in the labor market of Francophones (64%) is somewhat lower than the national average for Anglophones (69%). In the three territories, participation levels for Francophones are higher than the one for the population in general.

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