The Municipality of Whistler, situated 130 kilometres north of Vancouver, has a population of almost 10,000. This population quintuples every year during the tourist season. As it is a resort village, Whistler’s infrastructure provides a primary source of income to many of its residents.
Obtain a new kindergarten to grade 12 school on a site large enough to allow for future enrolment growth.
According to Justice Russell, Francophone parents in Whistler have the right to have their children educated at the elementary level in French in Whistler with “proportionate” access to the basic facilities needed to offer this education, as is currently the case.
Francophone parents in Whistler have the right to have their children educated in French at the secondary level and to access basic facilities necessary to offer secondary programming, which is not currently the case in Whistler, again according to the judge.
The implementation of section 23 of the Charter in Whistler 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 Whistler 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 Whistler has an immediate right to a homogeneous kindergarten to grade 12 school that is substantively equivalent (and not just “proportionate”) to the competing English-language schools.
The CSF is constantly looking for property to build a new homogeneous school.