Montreal, September 17 2020 – The Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) is very pleased with the Québec Court of Appeal’s judgement in favour of maintaining the stay for Bill 40: An Act to amend mainly the Education Act with regard to school organization and governance.
QESBA and its co-applicants filed for an interlocutory injunction or a stay in May of this year to suspend the application of Bill 40 to English school boards arguing that the new governance model does not respect section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to manage and control our minority language educational institutions. Justice Sylvain Lussier of the Quebec Superior Court granted the stay on August 10 and the government immediately filled for an appeal.
“We are very pleased with the decision today by the Québec Court of Appeal that maintains the stay on the suspension of the application of Bill 40 to English school boards pending a decision on the merits of the case in Superior Court,” said QESBA President Dan Lamoureux.
The Court of Appeal ruling means that if school elections proceed on November 1st as scheduled, they will be on the school board model of elected school commissioners in wards and the Chair elected board wide, not on the Bill 40 governance model.
“Given the urgent nature of this file and its importance in the protection and enforcement of the Constitutional rights of the English-speaking community to control and manage our school system, we will fully cooperate with all parties to speed this case along in as timely a manner as possible,” concluded the President.”
QESBA is the voice of English public education in Québec and represents 100,000 students in 340 elementary, high schools, and adult and vocational centres across Québec.