Sarah Rennie – LJI reporter

The provincial government is weighing its options when it comes to Bill 40.

In an exclusive interview with The Gleaner, Premier François Legault confirmed that his government has not yet decided whether to appeal the April 3 judgment by the Quebec Court of Appeal. The judgment upholds a Superior Court ruling that several provisions of the beleaguered bill are unconstitutional.

“No decision has been made,” he stated, while acknowledging the courts had not ruled in the government’s favour. “We believe that English speakers have the right to go to school and to have services in English, but it is not threatening to have service centres instead of school commissioners, especially when the participation rates [in school board elections] are below 20 per cent,” he insisted.

“We are working on analyzing the judgment to see if we would have a chance of winning if we go to an appeal,” Legault said.

The appeals court sided with the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) and the province’s nine school boards – including the New Frontiers School Board (NSFB) – who argued that the legislation strips the English community of its Charter right to manage and control education services.

Legault said that no matter the eventual outcome of the court battle, it will not impact the government’s ability to work constructively with school boards and the English-speaking community.

Huntingdon MNA Carole Mallette pointed out that she works with three school service centres in her riding as well as the NFSB. She said her interactions with all four organizations was the same, before noting that she works particularly well with the NFSB due to the board’s vision of the community. “It is something that speaks to me,” she said.

For John Ryan, the chair of the NFSB council of commissioners, this broad sense of community is precisely what they are trying to protect by challenging the legislation’s constitutionality.

“School boards are the voice of the community. There is no one person who can have the impact or the same level of knowledge as the community, and this is always important when it comes to making decision than affect our community,” he said. “It makes a big difference, and this would be lost,” he maintains, in the event elected school commissioners were replaced with a service centre board.

“We have to protect this now. It is stressful and a lot of work, but it is not for today. It is for the tomorrows coming,” said Ryan, suggesting that challenges to English language rights are likely to continue.