Francophone parents score ‘partial victory’ in court
A lawyer for francophone parents in B.C. who have been lobbying for better schools for their kids is hailing a court ruling released Monday as a “partial victory.”
An association of parents and the French School Board went to court alleging that the B.C. government had failed to provide the province’s francophone linguistic minority with the resources and facilities mandated by the Charter of Rights.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Loryl Russell noted in her 1,600-page ruling — which she said may be the biggest ever ruling released in the province — that most of her decision dealt with the parents’s demand for new or improved schools in 17 communities and a claim for a new school board office.
The judge concluded after 238 days of trial time that in four of the communities — Abbotsford, Penticton, Sechelt and the west side of Vancouver — the French minority did not have adequate facilities, the provincial government was responsible and the Charter breach was not justified.
In Abbotsford, the judge said the province failed to fund any new projects to construct new spaces for students between 2005 and 2011.
“The lack of funding and the defendants’ policy of ranking the linguistic minority’s capital project proposals against the projects proposals by majority school boards with more resources materially contributed to the rights breaches. None of the breaches is justified in a free and democratic society,” Russell wrote.
The judge found however that in Nelson, Richmond, southeast Vancouver, Nanaimo, Kelowna, Chilliwack and Whistler, francophone elementary students had adequate facilities for the number of children that would avail themselves of a program.
“I likewise deny the plaintiffs’ claim for a new school board office for the (French School Board).”
Russell also found that in a few communities — including Squa- mish, Burnaby and northeast Vancouver — minority language educational facilities were nonexistent or substandard, but she concluded that the government was not responsible for those shortcomings.
Mark Power, a lawyer for the plaintiff Federation of Francophone Parents of B.C. and the French School Board, said while focusing on schools in particular was important, what’s just as important is what he called the “systemic change” the judge addressed.
He emphasized that the judge had decided that it was not acceptable for Victoria to weigh the French School Board’s capital funding requests against those of all other school districts.
“The judge said today that Victoria either needs to amend the School Act or develop completely new policies. That’s unique. That’s groundbreaking.”
He also pointed to the judge’s finding that school transportation for the province’s 5,700 francophone kids, who are dispersed around B.C., was “chronically underfunded” and ordered the government to pay $6 million in Charter damages.
“That’s very significant. It’s significant for the clients, but it’s also significant for the case law surrounding Charter damages.”
In response to a request for comment, the education ministry sent an email saying the ruling was under review and there would be no further comment. The two sides have 30 days in which to decide whether they wish to launch an appeal.