Ministers of Education recognize and respect the distinct character of francophone education in Canada.
The Pan-Canadian French as First Language Project was established to promote, within francophone schools in minority settings, conditions for learning French as a first language that lead to enhanced student achievement.
The 2002 School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP), a national writing test, revealed that the performance of 13- and 16- year-old francophone students in minority settings was consistently below that of their anglophone counterparts across Canada and lower than that of francophones in Quebec. Research had shown that these results were linked to sociocultural and economic issues. To improve their educational achievement, francophone students in minority settings needed the sociocultural skills that would better enable them to use language as a tool for learning, communication, and personal development.
As a response to these results, provinces and territories have been collaborating on research projects and the development of resources for teachers and students:
Funds for both phases have been provided by participating jurisdictions through CMEC and by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage.