Joe Ortona

Ortona, team sweep EMSB election

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By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Joe Ortona was re-elected chairman of the English Montreal School Board by a wide margin and his entire team was elected, defeating challenger Katherine Korakakis and her team. The voter turnout was 22 percent and observers feel it would have been higher had registration rules not been changed in mid-campaign by the returning officer and Elections Quebec.

The election was contested vigorously, with some barbs at times as seen on social media. Volunteers called potential voters as late as this past Saturday night.

“Thank you to everyone who came out to vote today,” Ortona said Sunday night. “Your support means everything to us, and we’re proud to continue advocating for the needs of our English-speaking community. The journey to protect our schools never stops, and we’re honoured to have your trust. Here’s to a brighter future for the EMSB, our students and our community. Together, we’ll keep building something great.”

Ortona touted the board’s success rate of 95.9 percent graduation, and talked about the political battles the board is waging against the Quebec government over Bill 96, Bill 21, and Bill 40 – the contentious bid by the government to abolish school boards, as they did for the French sector (which some have blamed for the Ecole Bedford fiasco).

Ortona says the results send a strong message to the CAQ in terms of the community being in control of its own schools.

The results were:• For chair:Joe Ortona, Team Joe Ortona 13,289

Katherine Korakakis, Team Katherine Korakakis 4,674

• Ward 1 (Ahuntsic-Cartierville–Montréal-Nord)

Susan Perera , Team Joe Ortona 916

Franco Mazzariello, Team Katherine Korakakis 425

• Ward 2 (Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce)

Chelsea Craig, Team Joe Ortona 1,039

Howie Silbiger, Team Katherine Korakakis 631

• Ward 3 (Côte-Saint-Luc. Montreal West, Hampstead)

Paola Samuel, Team Joe Ortona 1,607

Samara Perez, Team Katherine Korakakis 1,110

• Ward 4 (Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve–Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie–Plateau-Mont-Royal–Anjou–Montreal-Est)

Maria Corsi, Team Joe Ortona 1,121

Viktoriya Grosko, Team Katherine Korakakis 333

• Ward 5 (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce)

Sharon Nelson, Team Joe Ortona 1,132

Joseph Lalla, Team Katherine Korakakis 853

• Ward 6 (Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles)

Pietro Mercuri, Team Joe Ortona 2,248

Tony Aversano, Team Katherine Korakakis 340

• Ward 7 (Saint-Laurent)

James Kromida, Team Joe Ortona 974

Vicky Pololos, Team Katherine Korakakis 471

• Ward 8 (Saint-Léonard)

Mario Pietrangelo, Team Joe Ortona 1,681

Antonio Zaruso, Team Katherine Korakakis 521

• Ward 9 (Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension–Mont-Royal–Outremont

Paula Kilian, Team Joe Ortona 938

Joanne Charron, Team Katherine Korakakis 310

• Ward 10 (Westmount–Sud-Ouest–Ville-Marie)

Julien Feldman, Team Joe Ortona 1,243

Shalani Bel, Team Katherine Korakakis 752 n

Ortona, team sweep EMSB election Read More »

The EMSB Election: The Ortona Team

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Dan Laxer
The Suburban

This year’s English school boards elections will take place on November 3. The English Montreal School Boards elections are contested. Incumbent chair Joe Ortona is seeking reelection, but is facing an opponent after being acclaimed in 2021.

Ortona was Vice Chair under former Chair Angela Mancini. Ortona, a lawyer, is also the president of the Quebec English School Boards Association.

Under Ortona, the EMSB has been fighting the province’s language and secularism laws, and fighting against the move to abolish English school boards.

His leadership is being challenged by Katherine Korakakis, president of the English Parents’ Committee Association of Quebec.

Ortona is running for chair with a full slate of candidates for commissioners.

Ward 1 – Ahuntsic-Cartierville–Montréal-Nord

Susan Perera, a political science student at Concordia University

Ward 2 – Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce

Chelsea Craig is Director of Operations for Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather, and a board member of the Quebec Community Groups Network.

Ward 3 – Côte-Saint-Luc, Montreal West, Hampstead

Paola Samuel is a former broadcast journalist who is active in Montreal’s Sephardic Jewish community.

Ward 4 – Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve–Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie–Plateau-Mont-Royal–Anjou–Montreal-Est

Maria Corsi has been a parent volunteer in EMSB schools, and on the EMSB Parents’ Committee.

Ward 5 – Notre-Dame-de-Grâce

Sharon Nelson is the 1st Vice President of the Jamaica Association of Montreal and Assistant Director for the Executive MBA Program at the John Molson School of Business (Concordia University).

Ward 6 – Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles

Pietro Mercuri is an educator, having taught both English and French before transitioning into the corporate world.

Ward 7 – Saint-Laurent

James Kromida has been a school board commissioner since 1998, and is the current vice-chair of the EMSB.

Ward 8 – Saint-Léonard

Mario Pietrangelo retired from the Montreal police force in 2016 after a 30-year career that earned him the Police Exemplary Medal.

Ward 9 – Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension–Mont-Royal–Outremont

Paula Kilian is a stay-at-home mom who dedicated time to the Family Association and the governing board at Dunrae Gardens, and to the EMSB Parents’ Committee.

Ward 10 – Westmount–Sud-Ouest–Ville-Marie

Julien Feldman is a former journalist who has served on the governing board at Bancroft School, a board member on the Royal West Academy Foundation, and on the EMSB’s Council of Commissioners.

More information on the Team Ortona platform can be found at teamjoeortona.ca n

The EMSB Election: The Ortona Team Read More »

New court victory for EMSB on Bill 96

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By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

The English Montreal School Board (EMSB) is pleased with two Court of Appeal rulings issued Friday pertaining to Bill 96.

Justice Geneviève Marcotte rejected the government’s challenge to an April Superior Court decision that gave the EMSB a partial stay of Bill 96 and Charter of the French language provisions, which also benefited other English language boards and the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA).

In addition, the court also granted the EMSB’s request to appeal the same decision that declared English-language school boards to be “school service centres” like their French counterparts and will be heard once the Superior Court has ruled on the rest of the EMSB’s Bill 96 challenge.

“The fact that the Charter of the French Language requires English school boards to communicate exclusively in French when interacting with other English-speaking community organizations, including the QESBA and the English Parents’ Committee Association of Quebec, never made any sense,” stated EMSB Chair Joe Ortona. “I am pleased to see this injunction remain in place while we await a trial on the merits of the case.”

In the April ruling, the Superior Court concluded that the term “school service centres” in Bill 96 applied to English-language school boards, but school boards are not subject to Bill 40 and therefore are not school service centres. Bill 40, An Act to amend mainly the Education Act with regard to school organization and governance, would have transformed school boards into English-language school service centres but the nine boards were granted a stay from Bill 40 in 2020, confirmed by three Court of Appeal judges. Last August, the Superior Court declared various provisions unconstitutional and an appeal on the merits will likely be heard next year.

“We are English school boards, not school service centres like the French sector,” said Ortona. “It was important to once again make this abundantly clear. Even the Office québécois de la langue française and the Attorney General of Quebec’s lawyer acknowledged that there were legal inaccuracies in the judge’s analysis on the question.”

The EMSB’s constitutional challenge to Bill 96 has been joined with challenges of other parties and is progressing through the court system and expected to be a lengthy process. “This is partly why winning a stay is an important development, in order to avoid suffering irreparable harm while we wait,” said Ortona.

The EMSB is challenging Bill 96 notably on the basis that it violates the English-speaking community’s right to management and control of its educational institutions under s. 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. n

New court victory for EMSB on Bill 96 Read More »

Ortona will run for re-election as EMSB Chair

Local Journalism Initiative / / / ,

By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

The fate of school boards, language rights, employees with religious garb and more may remain in the air for now but school board elections are still slated for November and EMSB chair Joe Ortona is not wasting any time.

A day after Ortona slammed Quebec French Language Minister Jean-François Roberge for scapegoating anglos by suggesting French instruction by school boards is insufficient, Ortona spoke to reporters in Mackenzie King Park in Snowdon to trumpet the board’s accomplishments and introduce a couple of candidates for the next elections and to confirm that he will be running again.

“In four years, we’ve rebuilt the credibility of the school board not only as an educational institution for which we always did an amazing job and a remarkable job, but also to rebuild the credibility of EMSB as spokespersons for the English-speaking community.”

The EMSB has been a strong defenders of “our rights for management and control of our school system, but also for our rights in other matters, and it’s part of the reason why we’ve launched court challenges against Bill 96 and Bill 21,” says the board chair. “I’m very proud of those and I’m confident that ultimately, we will be successful.”

The most important challenge, he added, is against Bill 40 which has already abolished French-language school boards but has been stayed pending a court ruling for English boards. “Because without school boards, there wouldn’t be any Bill 96 or Bill 21 challenges. There wouldn’t have been air purifiers installed in our classrooms, which we did on day one when we took office in 2020, and all of the other accomplishments that go with the English-speaking community’s local rights of management and control.”

Along with incumbent Ward 3 commissioner Julien Feldman, the sole elected member of the current EMSB council of commissioners in the current mandate as the office of chair and nine of the 10 available commissioners’ seats were won by acclamation. “I know everyone would like to be acclaimed,” Ortona told The Suburban, “but for the sake and strength of our democracy, I believe that all races should be contested.”

Ortona introduced Chelsea Craig as the candidate in ward 1 in Cote-des-Neiges, a seat held by longtime commissioner Ellie Israel. Currently director of operations for Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather, Craig is a board member of the Quebec Community Groups Network, and as she describes, “a proud product of our English public school system. And I know that our schools, they’re not just buildings, but they’re the nursery of our future and they’re also the heartbeat of our minority language community.” Craig says she believes strongly in an environment that celebrates bilingualism “and to me, that’s the EMSB.”

Feldman said the EMSB has managed to hold Quebec’s feet to the fire on constitutionality and creating a bilingual economic motor to serve the city of Montreal and Quebec while delivering for young families “an unshakable confidence that their children and young adults have the tools as Montrealers” to thrive and contribute. n

Ortona will run for re-election as EMSB Chair Read More »

Court limits on Bill 96 a “significant win” for EMSB

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

The Quebec Superior Court has provided a partial stay of provisions of Bill 96 and the Charter of the French Language following the EMSB’s challenge to the application of amendments brought into force in June 2023, without any consultation of the English-language community.

EMSB Chair Joe Ortona called the ruling a “significant win,” noting that the Superior Court stayed parts of the law that would require English school boards to communicate exclusively in French when corresponding with key institutions of the English-speaking community, such as the Quebec English School Boards Association. Many critics and even some proponents of a more robust French-language charter found it unreasonable that English educational bodies were forced to communicate with other English educational bodies in French.

While Ortona reiterated the board’s commitment to teaching French, so students “can live and work in Quebec, it is important to emphasize that we are an English-language school board and a key institution of the English-speaking community.”

In the ruling, the court concluded that the term “school service centres” in legislation applies to English-language school boards, despite the fact that Bill 40 does not apply to English-language school boards, which are also not school service centres. The EMSB’s council of commissioners will decide whether to appeal this part of the ruling.

This ruling also benefits other English language boards and the Quebec English School Boards Association.

As for Bill 96 provisions that were not stayed by the Court, the status quo will generally be maintained until there is a final judgment on the law’s constitutionality, Ortona adding that the EMSB can continue to use English exclusively in many situations, “which is good news.” The board challenged the constitutionality of some provisions the day Bill 96 gained assent. The EMSB’s constitutional challenge has been joined with court challenges of other parties and is progressing through the court system and expected to be a lengthy process, he noted. “The EMSB applied for a stay to avoid suffering irreparable harm while the EMSB waits for a final decision on the constitutional challenge.” n

Court limits on Bill 96 a “significant win” for EMSB Read More »

EMSB heads to Supreme Court on Bill 21

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

The English Montreal School Board is heading to the Supreme Court over Bill 21.

The school board is asking the country’s highest court to hear an appeal of the Quebec Court of Appeals February judgment that the Act respecting the laicity of the State is constitutional.

The Legault government’s Bill 21 came into force in 2019 and prohibits certain state employees such as police officers, judges and teachers from wearing religious symbols on the job. The EMSB challenged some of its provisions, claiming that they violate minority language education rights guaranteed under Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as gender equality, protected under Section 28.

The Quebec Superior Court had earlier agreed that the law violated section 23 by preventing English-language school boards from hiring teachers wearing religious symbols. That ruling was struck down by the Appeals Court.

“We maintain our original position that Bill 21 conflicts with our values and our mission and with those of all Quebecers as expressed in the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms,” said EMSB Chair Joe Ortona. “Its very adoption was contrary to our societal goal of promoting our peaceful co-existence in a pluralistic Quebec.”

Ortona also said the law prohibits future primary and high school teachers, school principals and vice-principals from wearing religious symbols in the exercise of their functions, while limiting the career advancement of current employees. “It prevents the EMSB from hiring teachers- including French teachers- in the context of a teacher shortage. Most importantly it sends a message of intolerance and exclusion to our students and their families.”

At a special council meeting convened Wednesday night, the elected and unelected members of the board’s council of commissioners voted to mandate the Power Law firm to file an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

In February, the board slammed the appeal court ruling, noting the law’s particularly disproportionate effect on “Muslim women with university teaching degrees” and said the ruling tacitly allows “the provincial government to continue chipping away at the last bastion of the English-speaking community’s autonomy in our province.” n

EMSB heads to Supreme Court on Bill 21 Read More »

EMSB proposes new school for students with disabilities

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

The English Montreal School Board has launched a consultation process to open a new school for students with different disabilities. The board is proposing to house the new school at Nesbitt Elementary School in Rosemont for the 2025-26 academic year, coinciding with the closure of St. Raphael Elementary in Park Extension.

St. Raphael presently welcomes students with severe socio-emotional and behavioural difficulties and is at full capacity with a waiting list. The new location will serve neurotypical and neurodivergent students with severe behavioural difficulties and provide specialized resources and space to address the needs of both groups. The school would welcome 112 students overall, with each class having from six to eight students.

Over the last five years, the EMSB has opened numerous self-contained classes in mainstream schools to address the needs of students with specialized needs, causing overcrowding in some schools and extended resources across the system. As the EMSB has limited numbers of self-contained classrooms due to lack of space, students with complex needs are often placed in regular classes. Moreover, some students need specialized services that self-contained classes in regular schools cannot offer.

EMSB Chair Joe Ortona says the public hearings to take place in September 2024 will explore the need to consolidate resources in one location and create a centre of expertise to better serve students with different disabilities. “Having the students with exceptional challenges in a building where there is an existing school with joint activities, such as concerts, carnival days, welcome back festivities, just to name a few, would help facilitate the integration of neurotypical children into a regular setting,” he said.

“The integration of students with particular needs into a regular setting offers equitable opportunities and improves the learning outcomes for all children.” n

EMSB proposes new school for students with disabilities Read More »

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