Quebec seeks leave to appeal school board reform ruling to Supreme Court of Canada

Quebec will ask the Supreme Court of Canada for permission to appeal a ruling that found a provincial law abolishing school boards violates English-language minority education rights.

A spokesperson for Quebec's justice minister confirmed Friday the province will appeal a ruling from the Quebec Court of Appeal rendered in April.

That ruling upheld a Quebec Superior Court decision from August 2023 which found the province's law abolishing school boards violates linguistic minority education rights, guaranteed in Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The law, known as Bill 40, was adopted in February 2020 and transformed French school boards, which were governed by elected commissioners, into service centres run by a board of directors overseen by the provincial government.

While the French boards went along with the government, the English boards chose the legal route. The law's measures affecting English school boards were stayed in 2020 pending the outcome of the court challenge.

The English boards have maintained that Section 23 gives them the constitutional right to manage and control their school boards.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Sylvain Lussier ruled in August 2023 that the province's law abolishing school boards was unconstitutional and violates linguistic minority education rights, guaranteed in Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

He wrote that several sections of the law cannot be applied to English school boards, including those that set limits on who can run for election and sit on the boards.

"The minority is having the vision of the majority imposed on it as to who can represent it, whereas for more than 200 years, all members of the community have been eligible to take care of school management," Lussier wrote.

The Court of Appeal said last month that the law "radically alters the mission of these school service centres compared to school boards."

In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel, the appeal court wrote the law infringed on rights guaranteed in the Charter and upheld most of the constitutional conclusions of the Superior Court decision.

The Quebec English School Boards Association said in a statement Friday it was disappointed by the province's decision to appeal to the Supreme Court and that it will continue to defend the constitutional rights of English school boards before the high court.

"We had hoped the government would accept the Court of Appeal's unanimous decision and finally respect the rights of the English-speaking community," said Joe Ortona, president of QESBA, in a statement.

"At a time when Quebec is facing significant financial cuts, it is disappointing to see public funds being used to pursue a legal battle that so clearly infringes on the rights of minority communities."