L’École La Vallée is situated in a valley surrounded by coastal mountains, in the heart of the Village of Pemberton, about 50 kilometers north of Whistler. L’École La Vallée shares facilities that belong to an English-language school, Signal Hill Elementary. École La Vallée’s school principal is also responsible for l’École La Passerelle in Whistler.
Obtain a new kindergarten to grade 7 school on a site large enough to allow for future enrolment growth.
According to Justice Russell, Francophone parents in Pemberton have the right to have their children educated in French, in Pemberton, at the elementary level with “proportional” access to the basic facilities needed to offer this education. This right is not currently being respected in Pemberton. However, according to the judge, due, in particular, to the cost of the construction of a French-language school for the number of students likely to attend such a school in Pemberton, remedying the problem would not be justified.
The implementation of section 23 of the Charter in Pemberton 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 of the Charter in Pemberton 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 that the Court of Appeal recognize that the Francophone community in Pemberton has an immediate right to a homogeneous school that is substantively equivalent (and not just “proportionate”) to the competing English-language schools.
The CSF has identified a number of potential sites and is currently in discussion with the site owners. Rapid changes are expected in this region.