There are several federal and provincial policies that mandate equitable services to ESL students. The following is a brief discussion of these policies with respect to ESL education:

Alberta School Act

Under this Act, school boards must provide every school age child with an education program. In addition, if a school board determines that a student has special needs, it must provide a special education program for that student. Section 4 of the Act grants every school age child the right to receive school instruction in English or French. For the child whose first language is neither English nor French, the appropriate form of English instruction would be English as a Second Language.

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Section 15 of the Charter guarantees to every individual the right to equality before and under the law, and equal protection and benefit of the law, without discrimination. "Law," for the purposes of section 15, is not limited to legislation, but includes regulations, policies, curricula, Minister's decisions and decisions of statutory boards. In order for a child who lacks English language proficiency to derive equal benefits from the law granting every child the right to an education, the child must be provided with ESL instruction.

Alberta Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act

This Act prohibits discrimination based on race, religious beliefs, colour, gender, physical disability, mental disability, ancestry or place of origin in the provision of services customarily available to the public, including education. If a child is denied effective ESL instruction, the child is being discriminated against, since a service available to English-speaking students- public free education- is effectively denied.

United Nations International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Convention on the Rights of a Child

These Conventions recognize the right of every child to free education provided by the state, and indicate that education must enable the child to participate effectively in a free society. Canada has ratified these two Conventions.

There are warning signals in Canadian society that call for more thoughtful investment in education, especially in ESL education. These signals include the following:

• Canada's relatively poor ranking (15th) in the OECD countries in terms of research and development, the foundation stone of future growth in the economy;
• a negative birthrate;
• the ageing and imminent retirement of the baby boomers; and
• the growing demand for language proficiency and bilingualism in order for Canada to effectively engage in trading with global partners.

In the light of these pressures, ESL learners can play important roles both in addressing Canada's new challenges and in ensuring its prosperous future. They possess the following characteristics that are critical in the global, knowledge based economy:

• Many ESL learners come from education-oriented cultures;
• Many ESL learners are academically competent and have university studies as a goal;
• ESL learners can speak languages other than English; and
• ESL learners understand cultures other than Canadian culture.

Conversely, failure to provide ESL students with equitable linguistic education will not only jeopardize Canada's advantage in the global, knowledge-based economy, but also risk our incurring social costs. Learners who are denied the opportunity to develop literacy and realize their full educational potential do not simply fade away. They may rely heavily on our social assistance programs and community services. Their issues may also be manifested in other forms of social costs, including crime and violence, unemployment, suicide, alcoholism, and so on. Community agencies have become increasingly alarmed by the high visibility in their services of youth from an ESL background.