STEPHEN RICCIO
PONTIAC Aug. 10, 2020
English school boards in Quebec will currently remain unaffected after the Quebec Superior Court ruled on Aug. 10 that proposed education reform would not . . .
turn English boards into school service centres.
The court ruled a stay on Bill 40: An Act to amend mainly the Educated Act with regard to school organization and governance as it contained questions about its constitutional legitimacy, meaning that it would not apply to the minority-language boards after the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) and its co-applicants filed for an injunction in May with that goal in mind.
QESBA President Dan Lamoureux said in a statement that the association is “very pleased” with the ruling, especially with school board elections scheduled for Nov. 1 to prepare for.
The QESBA’s main concern was that if Bill 40 were to take full effect, English school boards would transition to what the French boards now are: service centres wherein elected positions were replaced with a board of directors.
On Aug. 13, Premier François Legault announced that his government will appeal the Superior Court ruling.
“We think Bill 40 is well founded and that we are allowed to change the school boards into service centres, especially since anglophones will continue to have elections for members of the board,” Legault told reporters.
While the bill changes the election process for French-language service centres, it would maintain “universal suffrage” for the elected positions in English-language service centres.
Mike Dubeau, Western Quebec School Board director general, chose not to comment on the political nature of the court’s decision.
However he was quick to point out that he stands for minority rights in whatever context in which they might be under attack.
“From a citizen perspective, I think regardless of Bill 40 or any other bill I think it’s important that minority rights are protected or guaranteed,” he said. “Whether Bill 40 infringes upon that I can’t say and that’s up to the courts, but regardless of that I think it’s important that minority rights are respected.”
