By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
Quebec’s English-language school boards are preparing to defend their continued existence before the Supreme Court of Canada. After a Quebec appeals court ruling earlier this year found the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government’s school governance reforms infringed on the English-speaking community’s charter right to oversee its education system, the Quebec government has applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, multiple sources reported on Friday.
In February 2020, the CAQ government passed Bill 40, which replaced elected school boards with government-run service centres overseen by volunteer boards with limited power. At the time, English boards argued the law infringed on the anglophone community’s charter right to control its education system. The Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) took the government to court, obtaining first an injunction which suspended the law’s application to English boards, then a Superior Court ruling which found the law did infringe on the community’s charter rights. The government appealed that decision, and in April of this year, an appeals court panel unanimously upheld key elements of the Superior Court ruling. At the time, QESBA and its member boards hoped the government would accept the ruling and lay the groundwork for a new working relationship with English school boards. That hasn’t happened.
In a statement, the association said its members were “deeply disappointed” by the government’s decision to ask for leave to appeal.
“We were hopeful that the government would accept the unanimous ruling of the Court of Appeal and finally respect the rights of the English-speaking community,” said QESBA president Joe Ortona. “At a time when Quebec faces serious financial pressures, it is disappointing to see public funds used to continue a legal battle that so clearly infringes on the rights of minority communities.”
Eastern Townships School Board (ETSB) chairperson Michael Murray called the government’s decision to appeal a political decision. “We hoped that they would see sense, we invited them to sit down and discuss and possibly negotiate, but they’re not interested.”
Murray noted that the government was pursuing the case with public funds. “Taxpayers are paying for both sides of this.”
He pointed out that the government’s decision to request leave to appeal to the Supreme Court didn’t necessarily mean the court would accept to hear the case. “I expect they will decide to hear the case, because it has implications for francophone minorities in the rest of Canada.”
“All of the reporting on this case has focused on school boards, but we’re protecting not only school boards but other rights that can’t be trampled on. If this judgment stands, these rights become clearer for the pleading of other cases around Bill 21, Bill 96 and other bills that infringe on the rights of minorities,” he said.
The timeline is uncertain – Supreme Court cases can take years, but the federal government also has the right to ask the court for a ruling to settle the issue, short-circuiting the full litigation process.
Murray said the ETSB had not yet discussed how to fund the ongoing legal battle; he said the board had raised money for previous court proceedings thanks to philanthropy and to commissioners making donations out of their personal savings.
“Given the two previous judgments, I think it’s likely we’ll receive a favourable judgment,” he said. “In the meantime, we’re carrying on our business as we did before. We might have a long future of just living with the status quo.”
The Quebec government does not generally comment on ongoing court cases.