"They talk a lot about diversity," says Van Ngo, "But they (governments) are reluctant to move to the next step, which is to integrate diversity into the way they work, and to give our children a meaningful education."

In Ontario, a survey published in September, 2003 by the parent advocacy group, People for Education, showed that 76 per cent of urban elementary schools reported having ESL students, but only 26 per cent had ESL teachers. The number of elementary schools with ESL programs has declined by 33 per cent since 1997-98 despite the fact the number of immigrants in Ontario has increased annually by an average of 13.5 per cent during the same period.

It means in elementary schools, ESL students are often being taught by parent volunteers or by special education teachers, says Annie Kidder, a spokesperson for the group. It also means regular elementary teachers are having to play a much larger role in the language development of ESL students.

At the York Region District School Board, for instance, the number of elementary school ESL teachers has been slashed during the past decade despite a steady increase in the number of immigrant students. About 1,700 new immigrant students enrol each year in York Region public schools. But the board now employs 60 ESL teachers in elementary schools compared to the 120 that it employed in 1994.

In Toronto, librarians and ESL teachers bore the brunt of staff cuts that were ordered to reduce the board's $100-million deficit in 2002-03. ESL staffing has been reduced by about 30 per cent over the past two years.

Toronto board assistant director Gerry Connelly says provincial laws that mandate class sizes left officials few other targets. Mainstream classroom teachers had to be retained, she says, to keep classes within legal limits.

Each province makes its own rules for what constitutes adequate ESL services. Although ESL experts say it takes immigrant students five to seven years to acquire the English skills required to succeed in high school, most provinces do not fund ESL classes that long. British Columbia is the most generous province, paying for up to five years of ESL assistance; Ontario recently increased its funding to cover four years from three. Nova Scotia earmarks no funding for ESL.

In the complicated world of education financing, the province grants school boards money based on the size and the make-up of their student population. Supplementary grants, for instance, are issued for students who require special education, French immersion and ESL. In Ontario, the province gives boards $3,960 for each elementary school student and $4,771 for each high school student annually. Each ESL student now attracts an additional $7,847 over four years.

"When school boards are really in a bind about money, like the Toronto District School Board has been, and at the same time, they're told they have to maintain class sizes, they have to find the money somewhere," says Elizabeth Coelho. "If you tried to close the swimming pool, you're going to get a lot public awareness and criticism. You would never dare cut special-ed programs; they wouldn't let you. If you tried to abandon French immersion, you'd hear about it from the parents. But you can cut ESL with relative impunity."