Edmonton public school board wants Alberta to guarantee undocumented children a right to attend school
CBC
The Alberta government should change education law to ensure undocumented children have access to school in the province, Edmonton public school trustees say.
Following pleas from advocates who say children are being denied an education in Edmonton, the board voted to ask Alberta's education minister to change the legal definition of a resident student in the province.
"It doesn't matter what decisions their parents have made," Trustee Jan Sawyer said at a board meeting on Tuesday. "We have to do everything we can to see those kids are in school."
Whitney Haynes, executive director of the Alberta Workers Association for Research and Education, advocates for precarious workers and undocumented families in the province.
Hayne said a couple of years ago, a family approached her, saying their children had been removed from school after their immigration status changed. She said she now knows of nine children in Edmonton who were either refused entry to school or told to leave school because of their immigration status.
Each case is different, she said. A family may have come to Canada under a student visa, claiming refugee status or as temporary foreign workers. If their claim to stay is denied, the family is left in limbo while they're appealing to federal agencies, which can take a long time, she said. Many are scared to return to their home country for fear of violence or poverty, she said.
Haynes said education is a human right. She thinks Alberta's Education Act is discriminatory because it has a blind spot for undocumented children living in the province.
At a school board meeting last month, families and advocates urged the school board to keep undocumented children learning.
They pointed to other Canadian school boards, which have created sanctuary policies that pledge not to discriminate against students based on their immigration status, and resist sharing information with immigration authorities.
Student Areana Capata, 13, told trustees on April 15 she has three siblings who haven't been able to attend school for two years, and she worries that she is next.
Her siblings are denied the simple joys of making friends and learning, and Capata worries whether they will ever catch up with their learning.
"We're not asking for special treatment," she said. "We're just asking for a chance."
An administrative report to the school board says Ontario's Education Act requires schools to admit children, even if the child or their parent is illegally in Canada.
B.C. law says students are eligible for school enrolment and public funding if they or their guardian owns or leases property, are employed, have a driver's licence or pay taxes.
A Calgary dentist who defrauded five insurance companies over a decade should spend up to three years in prison, the prosecution argued Friday.
B.C. Conservation Officer Service says it has called off its search for a bear responsible for an attack on a group of school children in Bella Coola, B.C. on Nov. 20.
The union president called it a rally for solidarity as Iqaluit Housing Authority employees gathered Friday while negotiations are ongoing between the Nunavut Employees Union and the employer.
The federal government is stoking Quebec separatism by walking back its climate commitments — including in its recent deal with Alberta — Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault says.
Four more Alberta MLAs are facing recall petitions organized by their constituents, including the first NDP representative to be caught in the province's ongoing wave of recall efforts.
Frank Gehry, the Canadian-born renegade architect behind some of the world's most recognizable buildings, has died at 96.
Hundreds of P.E.I. parents can't find child-care spaces, especially for infants. The provincial government says expanding those spots remains a top priority — and it recognizes the concern.
An Alberta judge says a referendum proposal on Alberta separating from Canada goes against Charter and and Treaty rights, in a decision given less than 24 hours after the provincial government introduced legislation that would have ended the court proceeding.
The architect of Alberta's politician recall legislation says it was never meant to be used as a political weapon, but as an "ultimate tool of accountability" if a politician engages in illegal or unethical behaviour.
The Government of Saskatchewan has introduced its long-promised involuntary treatment legislation on the final day of the fall sitting.
The Law Society of Ontario has suspended the licence of Deepak Paradkar, one of seven Canadians arrested in connection with alleged drug lord Ryan Wedding’s cocaine smuggling ring.
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is getting rid of unlimited mental health benefits for staff, blaming ballooning costs and former administrators for implementing it without proper due diligence or oversight.
Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's TV and film studios and streaming division for $72 billion US, a deal that would hand control of one of Hollywood's most prized and oldest assets to the streaming pioneer that has upended the media industry.