Maria Canton
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Nov 08/99) - The recent announcement that a French school will be built in Iqaluit will help secure the community's francophone population, says the president of the Association des Francophone du Nunavut.

"We've always had a problem keeping the francophone population stable because parents want French services for their children and because we haven't been able to offer them, they move south," said Daniel Cuerrier.

Announced in the Nunavut legislative assembly late last month, Cuerrier says the school is planned to be a kindergarten through Grade 9 school in which French is the first language.

"We have about 40 children in the French language program and about another 10 who will be starting school in the next year or two," he said.

Construction on the school will cost more than $5.5 million and is tentatively scheduled to begin in the spring.

Nunavut's Minister of Education James Arvaluk says the French school will not only offer the francophone community a new education facility, but will also free up space in the other schools as well.

"From a monetary point of view, it will relieve space and resources in other schools."

The school will receive $4.5 million in federal funding from Canadian Heritage, an additional $530,000 worth of federal money for program costs and a program co-ordinator, $500,000 from the GN and $600,000 worth of in-kind contributions from the Town of Iqaluit and the GN.