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Court backs Vancouver French schools

Parents win petition

A ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada last week could see two new elementary schools established for French students on the West Side.

The court said francophone students in Vancouver lack access to educational services equivalent to those of students in English schools, a no-no under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

As a lawyer, Joseph Pagé is pleased the bench unanimously supported parents’ approach.

“But then when you take off your gown and you become a parent again it’s embarrassing that parents had to go through this process,” he said, noting provinces know what their responsibilities are under the Charter.

Pagé, on his own behalf and as a representative of parents with children enrolled in l’école Rose-des-vents kindergarten to Grade 6 school near 41st Avenue and Oak, filed a court petition in 2010 after two-and-a-half years of negotiations with the French-language school board for B.C. and provincial ministers about the need for better school facilities saw no success. The French-language school board for B.C., the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique, joined the parents’ case.

Three Francophone schools run in Vancouver. They include l’école Anne-Hébert, a kindergarten to Grade 6 school in Champlain Heights, l’école Rose-des-vents, and école secondaire Jules-Verne for grades 7 to 12 students, which was constructed next door to Rose-des-vents.

The Ministry of Education funded the purchase of the former Vancouver School Board site for Rose-des-vents in 2001 because Anne-Hébert was full. Rose-des-vents was intended to accommodate 199 students but accommodates roughly 350 with the help of portables.

“The washrooms are inadequate. The library is very small, and the classrooms are significantly smaller than those in other schools,” states the facts section of the Supreme Court of Canada case. “Two classrooms have no windows.”

Of 344 students attending Rose-des-vents in 2012, 293 were transported to school by bus and more than two-thirds spent more than 30 minutes per bus trip.  

“By contrast, most students attending English-language schools in the area live within one kilometre of their schools,” the facts of the case state.

The section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on minority language education rights says Canadian citizens have the right to have their children educated in French if their first language is French, they received their own primary education in Canada in French, or they have a child who has received or is receiving his or her education in French in Canada. Where sufficient numbers of eligible children exist, governments must provide the necessary facilities.

Mark Power, lawyer for the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique, says the CSF has been asking the provincial government to provide two French schools west of Main Street since 2009.

Main Street divides the two catchment areas for francophone students in Vancouver.

Power said figures from the 2011 Census provided to the CSF from Statistics Canada reveal there could be at least two or three times the number of students enrolled in French schools west of Main Street.

The CSF wants two kindergarten to Grade 6 schools, each with capacity for 350 students, west of Main. Power said the first judge that ruled on the case a couple of years ago said there should be space for 500 students west of Main.

Pagé says the CSF didn’t initially back the parents’ petition because it didn’t agree on the legal approach.

Parents filed a petition, instead of going to trial, because a petition is speedier and less costly.

But with a petition, the court doesn’t tell the government what to do.

“We went for the declaration that there’s a lack of equivalency [with English schools] because we wanted a quick resolution,” Pagé said. “There is a tradition in Canada of governments honouring declarations from the Supreme Court of Canada.”

The provincial government could try to justify a Charter infringement at B.C. Supreme Court.

“It’s been done before, but very rarely,” Pagé said.

He noted the Supreme Court of Canada awarded special costs to the parents and CSF.

If the B.C. government doesn’t honour the declaration, there’s another ruling to come in for the broader case the CSF filed in court two weeks after the parents filed their petition. Nearly 40 schools across the province with 5,500 students operate under the CSF, Pagé said.

Power expects a decision on the second case a year from now.

Pagé noted English schools in some parts of Vancouver run under capacity.

“There’s also the option of getting a school from the [Vancouver School Board], but that’s a political potato that probably the minister doesn’t want to deal with,” he said.
Education Minister Peter Fassbender says the government will continue to work with the French school board to meet the needs of francophone students, according to an emailed statement from ministry communications.

“We are currently reviewing the details of the decision and the implications, as well as the next steps moving forward,” the statement continues.

The judgement could have repercussions for other provinces and territories facing similar court challenges.

crossi@vancourier.com

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