French-language education was first offered in the Nanaimo region in September 1979. L’École Océane opened 20 years later, in 1999. Today, a French-language program is offered from kindergarten to grade 12. There are 116 students enrolled at École Océane, and 49 enrolled in the French-language secondary program at Nanaimo District Secondary School.
Obtain a new kindergarten to grade 12 school on a site large enough to allow for future enrolment growth.
Francophone parents in Nanaimo have the right to a homogeneous school with elementary facilities that are substantively equivalent to those of the majority, as is already the case according to Justice Russell.
Francophone parents in Nanaimo have the right to have their children educated in French at the secondary level with “proportionate” access to the basic facilities needed to offer this secondary education, as is currently the case, again according to the judge.
The implementation of section 23 of the Charter in Nanaimo will be supported by the order requiring the provincial government to establish a separate long-term funding envelope for the CSF’s capital projects, by the order requiring the provincial government to help the CSF acquire sites to meet the CSF’s needs, and by the order requiring the provincial government to fund the CSF’s leases where a program is offered in leased space. The implementation of section 23 in Nanaimo may also be aided by the order for damages regarding the decade-long freeze of funding for the CSF’s transportation budget.
The CSF and the Fédération des parents francophones will ask, as regards Nanaimo, that the Court of Appeal remedy the errors of law made by Justice Russell, pronounce the correct interpretation of the law, and set aside the conclusions of the trial judge.
École Océane has been reassessed as a seismic priority, so the school could potentially receive funding from the Ministry of Education’s seismic renovations/replacement envelope to bring the school up to standard (renovations).