Parents Want Bill 101 Loophole Left Open
Published by Cynthia Turpin on 2010-03-09
by Brenda Branswell
With the provincial government promising to show its hand by the end of spring about its remedy for Bill 104, a parents group plans to launch a petition asking Quebec not to further restrict access to English schools.
The central parents committee at the English Montreal School Board is to vote on the petition proposal Wednesday night.
It follows a similar online petition launched in mid-January by the Central Parents Committee at the Lester B. Pearson School Board, which calls on the government "to protect our rights and freedom of choice for the language of schooling of our children."
The Supreme Court of Canada struck down Bill 104 in October, but suspended its effects for a year to allow Quebec's National Assembly to review the legislation.
Bill 104 closed a loophole in Bill 101, which some people had used to gain the right to attend English school. They did so by going to an unsubsidized, private English school for at least a year. Many then switched to English public schools.
The EMSB and Pearson are the two English school boards most affected by Bill 104. Both say they each lose 400 to 500 new registrations a year because of the law.
"We do see that there is a declining enrolment and this is one way of sustaining ourselves at least temporarily," said Angie Bertone, a parent commissioner at the EMSB.
The Pearson parents group also wants to make sure Quebec doesn't come up with a more restrictive solution. It would like to see the loophole that was closed by Bill 104 remain open.
The Conseil supérieur de la langue française proposes just the opposite, recommending that the government extend Bill 101 to unsubsidized, private schools.
Just under 400 people had signed the Pearson petition as of last week, which is far short of the thousands of signatures its parents committee hoped to have by this month.
"I hope that we're really going to put a push on after the March break and try and get the numbers up," said committee chairperson Nan Beaton.
bbranswell@thegazette.canwest.com
