SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Simon Cloutier, his wife, two children and German shepherd moved to Yellowknife after seeing a tourism bit about the city on TV while living in Quebec more than four years ago.

Simon Cloutier, president of the Commission scolaire francophone, said he is connecting with members of the department of Education, Culture and Employment after several years of silence between the two groups. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo

The two-minute promotional piece came at just the right time, as the family of four had been thinking about re-locating anyway.

Cloutier now takes the reins as president of Commission scolaire francophone, which operates Allain St. Cyr school in Yellowknife and Ecole Boreale in Hay River.

Aside from not knowing anybody when they arrived, the family didn't have an apartment when they arrived and spent their first weeks living at the Fred Henne Territorial Park Campground, but soon found their home in the French community.

"I didn't speak any English ... all my friends are French, my wife works at the French school. It was still hard. Even at work (at Midnight Petroleum), the other employee who was with me for a year was French, so the first couple years we were talking in French all the time."

After getting accustomed to the city then spending a year with the parent group intrinsically linked with the French district - the association des parents ayant droit de Yellowknife - and two years as a trustee, he takes on this new position. He does so as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and the French school district are communicating after a years-long dryspell, he said.

The long, drawn-out court battle that finally came to an end late last year put a strain on their relationship, said Cloutier.

"It's good to be communicating again," he said.

Jacques Lamarche, president of the parent group, which took the GNWT to court before the fledgling Commission scolaire francophone was prepared to do so, elaborated on the strife between the department and the district.

"In the past there has been some bad blood," he said, adding now that a new education minister has been appointed and a new president heads up the commission, he is hoping the slate has been wiped clean.

"They're both open to repairing those ties to establish new communications," he said.

Cloutier says he has reached out to the territorial government to negotiate following the court-ordered expansions at Allain St. Cyr.

In 2012, two NWT Supreme Court decisions ordered the GNWT to provide more space to the francophone schools. The decisions were partially overturned in 2015, and the French district lost the power to determine who is admitted into its school system.

The French district hoped the Supreme Court of Canada would hear their appeal, but the top court declined in November. The GNWT is still ordered to expand the gym and provide two classrooms at Allain St. Cyr School, said Lamarche, and while the district and the parents' group are not eager to go to court again, that avenue is open if the expansion aren't provided.

The French district lost power to control admissions in 2012, but Cloutier said the district hasn't given up and hopes the GNWT may be willing to budge.

"Our main thing is still the controlling of admissions," he said, adding the school most affected by that part of the court decision is Ecole Boreale. Cloutier said Metis students in Hay River were admitted to the French district on the basis that their ancestors spoke French, prior to the Supreme Court decision.

He said the GNWT - now in charge of admissions - won't allow students to attend the French school unless they have living relatives living in Canada who speak French. Metis students whose families haven't spoken French for several generations are barred, he said, which is causing enrolment to drop.

"It's killing our school in Hay River," he said.

Lamarche said he too is hopeful the conversation about admissions isn't over. He said every other province and territory delegates admissions to their school boards, which make selections based on approved criteria. He said he thinks it's time the NWT followed suit.

"We already have criteria for accepting students," he said. "So it's not that the school board accepts whoever."

"The way it is right now, even French-speaking immigrants from France wouldn't be able to put their kids in a French school," he said.

Cloutier replaces Suzette Montreuil.

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment didn't get back to Yellowknifer by press time.

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