Influx of new Canadians shifting education in Manitoba

It’s a diverse population that speaks dozens of different languages — and it’s providing a set of challenges for Manitoba schools.

A growing number of immigrants and refugees are choosing to call the province home, with the percentage of new Canadians in Manitoba doubling over the last five years.

That means terms that weren’t used decades ago, like after-school integration programs and intercultural support workers, are now commonplace to educators.

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The increasing population has also meant an increased number of specialized programs and workers for education institutions.

Jonathan Askholm, who is a team leader at Winnipeg’s N.E.E.D.S, helps refugee students prepare for school. In his classrooms, staff have grown from the 24 members just two years ago, to 80 now.

“These are pretty heavy transitions if you think about what that must be like to have your whole world views changed very suddenly.”

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The shift doesn’t look to be slowing down.

In the Winnipeg School Division, one of every six students takes English as an additional language (EAL).

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“We place them into these program to kind of catch them up on the skills that they would have missed,” Eric Sagenes, the division’s EAL consultant said. “It’s a lot of work.”

The division was able to add new teachers, school psychologists, and a social worker in 2014. They also added new classes that act as a bridge between regular classrooms and added-learning classrooms.