Former Quebec Premier Jean Charest to speak
Emcee for the event Terry DiMonte
Montreal, October 18, 2024 – The Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) will hold a cocktail to honor former Liberal MNA and cabinet minister Kathleen Weil and her husband, former Chambre de Commerce de Montréal President Michael Novak, on Thursday, October 24 (5 pm to 7 pm) at Entrepôts Dominion (3970 Saint-Ambroise) in Saint-Henri.
Former Quebec Premier Jean Charest will be the keynote at the event, which will support the necessary legal costs to challenge Bill 40, the provincial legislation aimed at abolishing Quebec English public school boards. Funds are being raised be the Notre Home Foundation, who contributes to initiatives by groups and organizations that empower the English-speaking community of Quebec.
Bill 40 was adopted in the National Assembly in 2020 and turned school boards into school service centres. Less than six months later, parts of the bill that applied to English boards were suspended by the Quebec Superior Court with a stay of legislation while a legal challenge made its way through the court. On August 2, 2023, the nine English boards won the first round in Superior Court, where the legislation was deemed unconstitutional. In his ruling, Justice Sylvain Lussier said English school boards in Quebec have the right to manage their own schools and that the bill went too far to try to abolish them. The government appealed the judgement and the appeal will be heard in January in the Quebec Court of Appeal.
In order to attend the October 24 cocktail, donations of $200 to the Foundation are being requested. A tax receipt will be issued. Go to: https://www.notrehome-qc.ca/donationsandgrants/