The Supreme Court of Canada will issue a ruling today on the scope of provincial governments’ obligations to fund French-language education systems.
The case revolves around a claim by some parents and a school board in British Columbia. They accuse the provincial government of denying their charter rights by systematically underfunding French-language schools.
Suzana Straus, who lives in Richmond, B.C., said it takes her Grade 9 son an hour to get to a school where he can take French instruction.
Straus said the provincial government’s policies are an obstacle for francophone parents who want their children to be fluently bilingual.
“It means, for many families, they will choose not to send their children to francophone schools,” said Straus, who is president of the Fédération des parents francophones de Colombie-Britannique.
“They will choose to go to the local school and that means assimilation. And that saddens me tremendously.”
The decision by Canada’s highest court is expected to have ripple effects across the country. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
Mark Power, a lawyer who works in Ottawa and Vancouver, is representing the parents and the school board — the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique. He said the case has implications for governments and minority language school boards across the country.
Minority language rights being tested
The parents and the school board allege the province violated minority language educational rights guaranteed under S. 23 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Power said the Constitution guarantees the right to publicly funded primary and secondary French education in Quebec, and publicly funded primary and secondary French language education elsewhere in Canada — where numbers warrant.
Approximately 64,325 people speak French as their primary language in B.C — a 21 per cent increase over 2006, according to 2016 data from the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages.
Lawyer Mark Power: ‘It’s hard to understand exactly how those minority rights can be ignored by the state.’ (Alex Lamic/Radio-Canada)
The parents and school board want the province to change its funding method for French-language education and compensate the board for inadequate funding.
They also want the B.C. government to address infrastructure issues with French-language schools that force them to divide classrooms to make room for all their students.
The parents and school board won a partial victory at the trial level, where a judge ruled some of the province’s procedures for deciding on minority language education funding unjustifiably breached charter rights.
But the judge also concluded that the high cost of building new francophone schools in some parts of B.C. justified infringing upon the charter right — and suggested that in some cases it would simply delay inevitable linguistic assimilation.
“That’s hard to grasp,” Power said. “It’s hard to understand exactly how those minority rights can be ignored by the state and what reason could justify that.”
The parents and school board appealed the decision. That appeal was dismissed by the B.C. Court of Appeal, which allowed a cross-appeal by the province. The appeal court also set aside the damages awarded by the trial judge.
Contacted by CBC News, a B.C. government representative said the government would not comment on the case until after the ruling.
No matter how the highest court rules, it will be too late for some parents and children who already have gone through the education system.
Still, Straus said she hopes it will make a difference for others.
“It would bring us all tremendous joy if they do rule in our favour,” she said.
“It will mainly be for future generations, for our culture to be able to thrive, for future parents not to make these difficult decisions that we had to make.”
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
