um, no definitely not. Ontario does it as well. look up LINC. she will have to take an assessment (Which I believe is 4 hours), then will be assigned to a level and can choose classes. she will need to prove residence in order to get assessed.
AND if you are a pr, or a new Canadian, I *think* you can get free classes too. I don't *think* there is a time limit on it.
I am fully fluent in French. It is a very good asset in the East, not in the West, unless you are looking at working in federal works or french community type of work.
I don't think it is an absolute necessity. There is one person on this forum who immigrated from the US to rural Quebec and learned enough French in a year to be fully functional and is now working for a hotel in rural Quebec where her bilingual skills are put to use.