French school board fears small gym will lead to loss of students
Superintendent Yvonne Careen calls on territorial government to build sufficient facilities for Ecole Allain St-Cyr
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The superintendent of the NWT french school board is accusing the territorial government of trying to run it out of the high school business.
Commission scolaire francophone des Territories du Nord-Ouest superintendent Yvonne Careen said Ecole Allain St-Cyr is losing students to Sir John Franklin, operated by Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (Yk1).
"We do not have adequate high school facilities. Ten of our Grade 8 students who should be in Grade 9 elected to leave for Sir John because we don't have the facilities nor the programming that the other two high schools in Yellowknife can offer," she said. "The NWT Court of Appeal ordered the GNWT in 2015 to build us a new gymnasium."
Careen said the gymnasium the GNWT has offered to build at Ecole Allain St-Cyr would be too small and added the French board will continue to lose students to other schools unless the GNWT treats it and funds it in the manner she said the courts have ruled it should be treated and funded.
Careen's comments come about three months after the territorial government loosened its restrictions on who can attend Allain St-Cyr as well as the territory's only other entirely French school - Ecole Boreale in Hay River.
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states students have the right to French school outside Quebec if their mother-tongue is French or if either of their parents attended school in French. Children can also become rights-holders if an older sibling attended school in French.
The new GNWT directive replacing one issued in 2008 opens eligibility to attend a French-language school to non-rights holders who are francophone immigrants, immigrants who speak neither English or French and children whose families have lost the French language back to their grandparents.
Careen said the directive continues to deny access to those people in the Francophone community who attained French through immersion or post-secondary programs and who want to enrol their children in a French-language school.
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) will not consider applications from non-rights holders if a school's enrollment is at 85 per cent of capacity. Careen said that stipulation has led to a double standard.
"At Ecole Allain St-Cyr, our capacity is 160 students. Let's say we were close to 140 students - we were at 133 last year. If we gained eight students we would be maxed out at 85 per cent. None of those three categories that they added would come into play," she said. "How fair is that? As it stands, any French or Francophone or rights-holder can register at any English school in town. They take them with open arms, no questions asked. Why the double standard for Francophone schools?"
Careen said that the bulk of the French board's funding (about $4.3 million) comes from the GNWT with a contribution from Heritage Canada (about $1.1 million). She said that agency also provides funding to any English school with French immersion as well as core French programs.
The new gymnasium, which was awarded to the Commission scolaire francophone in a 2012 NWT Supreme Court ruling, was part of a $15-million expansion along with a science lab, a larger playground and a learning space for special-needs students.
Rita Mueller, assistant deputy minister for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, said the changes to the directive were made after a consultation process and are intended to better support the sustainability and growth of the NWT's French first language community.
 | Designed to prevent a free-for-all | 
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"The new directive creates three streams that have specific criteria guiding the admission of non-rights holders, she said, adding she didn't have an estimate of how many extra students that might mean for Ecole Allain St-Cyr.
As for the 85-per-cent ceiling, Mueller said that does not affect francophone students who are clearly rights holders.
It is designed to prevent a free-for-all in which too many people in the additional categories might be admitted to the detriment of rights holders' access to the schools, she said.
A GNWT decision that would have expanded Ecole Allain St-Cyr to a 250-student capacity led to a year-long discussion about whether Yk1 should surrender a school so the government could meet the court's demands. However, that 2012 ruling was later overruled in 2015 after an appeal.
Despite all this, the new ruling still calls for the construction of a suitable gymnasium and space that can be used to teach students with special needs.
Careen said that part of the problem in her mind is that the territorial government has stated it can't be seen to be favouring the Francophone population over the aboriginal population.
"We're supposed to be stagnant until all the aboriginal languages are revitalized. We can't be stagnant," Careen said. "We believe that the will is there on behalf of the minister. But there is still a part of the department that is fighting us tooth and nail."
