FÉDÉRATION NATIONALE DES CONSEILS SCOLAIRES FRANCOPHONES
Federal budget 2024 : measures that could benefit students!

The Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones (FNCSF) would like to highlight the promising measures for students contained in the recent federal budget.

This budget includes initiatives in key areas of concern to the school community: housing, food insecurity, mental health and the ethical and benevolent use of artificial intelligence.

Parents, students and school staff stand to benefit from several recently announced budget measures.

Housing

A series of investments of over $600 million is designed to increase funding for housing construction and to reduce project approval times. This measure is welcomed by French-language school boards, which are facing staff shortages and often struggle to find housing to accommodate new staff members.

Youth mental health

Ottawa is also announcing financial support for youth mental health of $500 million over five years to help community health organizations offer more care to young people and refer them to resources. As we emerge from the pandemic, students' academic success is more than ever linked to their well-being!

Food insecurity

The national school nutrition program, which aims to counter food insecurity, plans to serve 400,000 children annually. The most vulnerable group in this respect are single-parent families, 77% of whom are headed by women. It's worth remembering that nearly one in four children do not get enough to eat, which hinders their ability to learn and thrive.

Supervision of AI

Funding of $50 million dollars over 5 years was also announced to create a Canadian Institute for Artificial Intelligence Security to better understand and protect against the risks that could be posed by generative and advanced AI systems, a measure welcomed by the FNCSF.

However, the implementation of most of these measures is conditional on agreements with the provinces and territories.

FNCSF President Simon Cloutier explains that close collaboration between the federal and provincial/territorial levels of government is more important than ever: "School issues are increasingly complex and affect students across the country. The various levels of government must therefore be able to work hand in hand, while respecting their areas of jurisdiction, for the well-being and success of our students."

Other promising measures include:

• The Canada Learning Bond to be awarded automatically to less affluent families.

• Linguistic clauses for French-speaking children in conjunction with the national childcare service, the cornerstone of which is access at $10 a day. Since the program was rolled out, eight provinces and territories have been able to offer this competitive rate.

• The launch of a new loan program for the expansion of childcare services, the waiving of student loan repayments for early childhood educators in rural and remote areas, and increased training for these workers. 

• The creation of a digital safety ombudsman to help and defend users and victims of online harm. In 2019, one in four teenagers aged 12 to 17 reported being a victim of cyberbullying in the previous year. Aboriginal youth, youth of diverse gender and non-binary identities, youth with disabilities, as well as girls, remain the most vulnerable.

• Implementation of the new Official Languages Act with a budget of $26 million over five years. 

You can view the entire budget here.