The Court’s decision

According to the judge, francophone parents in Chilliwack have the right to have their children educated in French and the right to the basic facilities necessary to offer this education, which is currently the case at École élémentaire La Vérendrye. Despite the judge recognizing that there are multiple problems with the facilities at École élémentaire La Vérendrye, she determined that the numbers do not justify that the government correct the problems.

Francophone parents residing in the Fraser Valley (Mission, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack) have the right to have their children educated in French, in their region, at the secondary level. According to the judge, once a secondary program has been established (a program that would likely be established in leased space for approximately 29-40 students) and has grown, parents in Chilliwack, Mission, and Abbotsford will have the right to have their children attend a homogeneous secondary school in Abbotsford that is able to accommodate approximately 120 students with facilities that are “proportionate” to those of the majority. Currently, there is no French-language secondary program in the Fraser Valley. Secondary-aged students in Chilliwack, Mission, and Abbotsford must attend either École Gabrielle-Roy in Surrey or École des Pionniers in Port Coquitlam to continue their studies in French at the secondary level. According to the judge, the great distance between these communities and the French-language secondary schools discourages parents from choosing secondary French-language education for their children.

The implementation of section 23 of the Charter at the secondary level in Chilliwack, as well as in Abbotsford and Mission, 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 at the secondary level in Chilliwack, as well as in Abbotsford and Mission, 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 community has an immediate right to a homogeneous elementary school in Chilliwack that is substantively equivalent (and not just “proportionate”) to the competing English-language schools, as well as a homogeneous kindergarten to grade 12 school in Abbotsford that is substantively equivalent (and not just “proportionate”) to the competing English-language schools.

No new developments.