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French Version

The Very Complicated Case of Cohen Parasiuk
By Rick Henderson, Executive Director, West Quebecers

All that Cohen Parasiuk wanted to do is what all other 7 year-old Canadian children do every fall and that is to go to school with his friends in the town where he lives; in Cohen’s case, Wakefield Quebec. And finally, after a two-year battle, Cohen has been allowed to do just that – temporarily at least, by a decision from the Quebec Court of Appeal.

By rights, Cohen should have been allowed to attend an English school in Wakefield because his father, Michael, received his education in an English school system in Canada. Under the Quebec Charter, that’s the guarantee given to Canadian citizens who move to Quebec.

But Cohen was being denied that right by an administrative tribunal, supported by a Quebec Superior Court, which had ruled that Cohen is ineligible because Michael Parasiuk’s own instruction was more than 50 percent in French in a French-immersion program in a Winnipeg English school. Cohen’s mother, Kathryn, was educated completely in English but in Australia. The Parasiuks’ lawyer, Brent Tyler, has filed an appeal, which won’t be heard until December.

What complicates this case is that a serious double standard is at play here. English children whose parents were educated in French-immersion programs in Quebec are granted eligibility to receive instruction in the English school system regardless of the percentage of French instruction. At least four court cases have established that right. But what the tribunal’s ruling is saying, in essence, is that Michael Parasiuk, by virtue of his French-immersion instruction in English schools outside Quebec, is a francophone.

So, French-immersion in Quebec is English instruction but French-immersion in Canada is French instruction … go figure!

Brent Tyler will have his hands full trying to win the appeal, especially if the English school boards don’t step up to the plate and intervene in the case on behalf of the Parasiuks but so far, they are nowhere to be seen. Where are they and don’t they realize that this case, if lost, will send a message out to the rest of Canada to never consider moving here, to Quebec? Don’t the school boards realize that losing this appeal means that all Canadians will begin to think twice about enrolling their children in French-immersion programs? Maybe the school boards are thinking that this is not their problem; that our English system is safe. But, if that’s what they think, they had better think again.

If the appeal is lost, clever lawyers may realize how easy it might be, then, to get a court to rule that French-immersion is French instruction in Quebec, as well. Once that happens, children in Cohen’s circumstances would then be eligible for enrollment in an English school’s French-immersion program – and so would every Francophone child in Quebec. That could very well be quite appealing to Francophone parents who want their children to receive better English instruction than the French system affords.

That situation, however, would put the Quebec nationalists backs to the wall and precipitate a new language war that would surely bring calls for everything from the abolishment of French-immersion programs to the shutting down of our English school system altogether. At the very least, the result would be that new legislation would be brought in that would further restrict access to Quebec’s English school system for Canadians moving here. Having so little growth potential already, due to the low birthrate in Quebec, this would further cripple it.

The Regional Association of West Quebecers has been supporting the Parasiuk family by bringing as much attention as possible to the unfair and unjust treatment that they have received in the hope that federal and provincial representatives will wake up to the fact that this case goes to the heart of linguistic rights and balanced minority relationships in Canada.

The Parasiuk case is complicated and it has the potential to create a significant negative impact on our country’s linguistic heritage. For this reason, our school board representatives should step up with Federal government representation and get behind Brent Tyler. For this reason, the Quebec Liberal party should also want to have their say so that they aren’t faced with a new cause célèbre that will certainly revive the sagging spirits of Quebec nationalists. But perhaps they should all get behind Tyler for another reason too: to help alleviate some of the terrible impact that language squabbles have on our citizens.

Young Cohen deserves to be able to go to school like every other kid in this country.

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