Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, June 30, 2008

HAY RIVER - The territorial government is planning to order restrictions to the student admissions policy at Ecole Boreale, the French-language school in Hay River.

Earlier this month, the school board overseeing Ecole Boreale took the GNWT to court to force it to solve overcrowding problems at Ecole Boreale, by increasing classroom capacity.

But the government is calling into question the school's practice of admitting some students who are not of francophone heritage, said Paul Theriault, the superintendent of Commission Scolaire Francophone de Division, the French-language school board based in Yellowknife.

Theriault said Jackson Lafferty, the minister of Education, Culture and Employment, is about to issue a ministerial directive that the board make the school's admissions criteria much stricter.

School board policy allows some non-rightholders - those who do not have a constitutional right to education in French - to be admitted to the school.

Non-rightholders, along with their siblings, are deemed to be rightholders after attending the school for a year.

Theriault said about 10 per cent of the students at Ecole Boreale are non-rightholders.

In the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes for this coming September, Theriault said there will be nearly 30 students, but only three of them will be non-rightholders.

"What difference would removing three of them make?" he said, asserting that it would not address increasing demand.

Theriault said the French-language school board will have to take a "good second look" at the policy because of growth at Ecole Boreale.

However, he said the school board has the right to determine its own entry criteria.

"We find it strange the minister is taking this kind of action," he said.

Shawn McCann, the manager of public affairs with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, said the minister has advised the board he will be issuing a directive that no new students will be enrolled in a French first language education program.

The decision includes Yellowknife's Ecole Allain St-Cyr.

Under the policy, admission will only be allowed if the board verifies the student is entitled to be enrolled under Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or the minister has approved the enrolment of the student.

"We are implementing this directive to ensure students with Section 23 rights are accommodated by the school system that has been developed for them," she said.

"We will also continue to work with Ecole Boreale to find appropriate space for its classes."

McCann said the directive was initiated prior to the court case.

Theriault said the "vast majority" of students at Ecole Boreale are from families with French heritage, including some Metis children and others whose families may have lost most of the French language through assimilation.

The department's stance is a "red herring," he said.

A full hearing on the board's application to the Supreme Court for the GNWT to solve the overcrowding problem will be held on July 9 before Justice Louise Charbonneau.

It is projected Ecole Boreale will have 123 students in the fall when Grade 11 is added and a new crop of kindergarten students arrive, up from enrolment of 93 this year.

The school, which opened in 2005, was originally designed for 95 students in kindergarten to Grade 6.

The board has been discussing the overcrowding issue with the GNWT since November, but no solutions have been reached.

Options considered include leasing space in the community for several classes until a proposed expansion of the school can be completed, using portable classrooms or obtaining space in another school.