Francophone education council to sue N.B. government over insufficient schools

A francophone education council is suing the New Brunswick government, alleging it has failed to build enough new schools or renovate existing buildings.

The Francophone South district education council voted unanimously in favour of pursuing the case at its meeting Tuesday.

Education council chair Michel Côté said the province has failed to meet the district's needs as enrolment has climbed by about 2,500 students over the last six years. Côté said the lack of action threatens vitality of the francophone community by seeing students who could enrol in the francophone district instead go to anglophone schools.

"We're really worried that we're going to get a point that we're not just not going to be able to offer the service to our francophone children within our school district," Côté said in an interview.

Côté said the paperwork was filed at the Moncton courthouse Wednesday.

Education Minister Bill Hogan did not provide an interview.

The case seeks to force the province to accept a 10-year plan to build seven new schools across the district and renovate or expand others. Côté said they would rather negotiate than face a long court battle, but were no longer willing to keep waiting.

Francophone South, with about 17,500 students in 38 schools, is one of seven school districts in New Brunswick. The district covers a broad area, stretching from Charlotte County northeast to Miramichi, including the cities of Moncton, Saint John, and Fredericton.

The new schools are sought in St. George or Saint Andrews area, Saint John's west side, Sussex, Miramichi, Fredericton, Moncton and Riverview.

Côté said a lack of schools or overcrowded schools in some of those areas could result in more students going into the anglophone system and overcrowding its schools.

He said census figures suggest there are about 5,600 students who could be eligible to attend a francophone school in the Saint John region.

The problem with that is, said Côté, if a child "doesn't come to francophone school, his children or her children will lose their right to go to francophone school."

Côté pointed to a 2020 Supreme Court of Canada decision that ordered the government of British Columbia to pay millions to its sole French-language school board for underfunding its school bus transportation system for a decade.

The country's top court ruled B.C. violated section S. 23 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees education in one of Canada's two official languages.

"The [Francophone South district] is facing a situation where our students are suffering the consequences of a lack of political will and continued underfunding," Côté's statement said.

"The New Brunswick government is constantly delaying crucial real-estate decisions, compromising the educational future of thousands of Francophone students."