February

8, 2013 Mme Louisette Cameron difice Pamphile-Le May 1035, rue des Parlementaires 3e tage, Bureau 3.15 Qubec (Quebec) G1A 1A3 cce@assnat.qc.ca Mme Cameron, Please accept this summary of our brief on behalf of the Lester B. Pearson School Board along with its submission to the Committee Culture and Education. To summarize, Lester B. Pearson School Board is, as was the case when Bill 103 and Bill 104 were proposed, opposed to all the provisions of Bill 14. We believe the proposed legislation is completely unnecessary and its basic premises unfounded. We find the education sections and regulations of the proposed legislation to be overbearingly bureaucratic, unacceptably subjective, unfairly restrictive, and detrimental to the growth and development of the constitutionally-guaranteed English school sector. The proposals contained in Bill 14 indicates to us the present government views the English-speaking community and its institutions as non-cooperative and non-collaborative sectors of the Quebec population as it pertains to the instruction of French in our schools and the use of French in the private sector. This could not be further from the truth. The facts contained in our brief attest to our collective will and enterprise to enhance the French language and culture. We state here with a firm and unequivocal voice that the English school system is part of the solution, and is not the problem. The repealing of Article 3 of the Regulation respecting the exemption from the application of the first paragraph of section 72 of the Charter of the French language, that may be granted to children of the Canadian Armed Forces members staying in Qubec temporarily is an abomination. It may literally cripple one of our school boards while adding very little to the French language school board and as a result add no value to the experience of either. Equally troubling to the proposed changes to the Charter of the French language are the proposed changes to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Bill 14 proposes to change the status of individuals from ethnic minorities to cultural communities under both Charters as a matter of remaining consistent

Page 2 of 12 or for concordance with other Quebec laws. We find this assertion rather disingenuous on the part of the government, as it knows very well minorities have rights and cultural communities do not. We believe that Bill 14 is an outright attempt to further inhibit and ghettoize the English community and to tighten the already overly restrictive regulations governing English language schools. We call on the leadership of Quebec, to have the courage to stand up and say that ALL Quebecers are equal and deserve the support, protection, and encouragement of its government, regardless of their language or ethnicity. The English community, and more specifically the Lester B. Pearson School Board, will continue to do its part and more to ensure that all students who graduate our schools are able to work, live, play, and stay in a French Quebec. We need the government to work with us not against us, and allow us the chance to grow and flourish in Quebec. In return we reaffirm our continued commitment to ensure our students are bilingual upon graduation and more than able to be good and productive citizens of Quebec On behalf of the Lester B. Pearson School Board and its Council of Commissioners, we would be pleased to attend the public hearings relating to this consultation and answer any questions you may have. Yours truly

Suanne Stein Day Chairman cc. Chairmen, English School Boards Quebec English School Board Association Lucie Charlebois, MNA, Soulanges Yvon Marcoux, MNA, Vaudreuil Geoffrey Kelley, MNA, Jacques Cartier Yolande James, MNA, Nelligan Pierre Marsan, MNA, Robert-Baldwin Francois Ouimet, MNA, Marquette Robert Poeti, MNA, Margeurite Bourgeoys Henri-Francois Gautrin, MNA, Verdun

Consultation on Bill 14 An Act to amend the Charter of the French Language and other legislative provisions

BRIEF
Submitted to: The National Assembly Committee on Culture and Education By: The Lester B. Pearson School Board 1925 Brookdale Avenue Dorval, (QC) H9P 2Y7

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The Lester B. Pearson School Board is the largest English school board in Quebec serving a geographical territory from Verdun, in the south center of Montreal, to the Ontario border. In school year 2012/2013 there were approximately 22,194 students registered in the Board's Youth sector, served in 40 elementary and 12 secondary schools. The Board is in the process of searching for land to build a new elementary school in the Vaudreuil-Dorion area to serve the growing western (mainland) sector of the Board's territory.

In addition, there are over 8,000 individuals registered in the Adult Education and Vocational Training sectors of the Board. These individuals represent in excess of 3,400 ETPs. There are 2 Adult Education centres plus 2 Adult Education satellite centres. There are currently 4 Vocational Training centres with 2 additional satellite Vocational centres. The Board also has created an International Learning Centre and Residence which houses a variety of language programs, an international, multi-language, pre-school for 3 & 4 year olds, as well as up to 100 live-in students from more than 20 countries. 500 International students are also registered in our Vocational programs, representing an additional 225 ETPs. It has been instrumental in bringing Quebec to the forefront of global education in markets such as China and India. The Board is responsible for 4 Social Affairs schools in Verdun, LaSalle, Pointe Claire, and Beaconsfield. There is also 1 Administrative Centre located in Dorval. The Council of Commissioners is comprised of 21 elected community representatives plus 2 representatives of the Board's parents and 2 representatives from the senior student population. The Lester B. Pearson School Board has been one of the top performing Quebec school boards every year since 1998. The success rate has always been in excess of 80% and in 2010/2011 the rate was 83.7% ranking the Board 3rd in the province. The provincial average was, at the time 70.7% (65.6% for public schools) and the average on the island of Montreal was 63.7%. 86% of our elementary students were successful in the Elementary End of Cycle III English Exam results and 89% were successful in the Elementary End of Cycle III French Exam results. The Board has never operated in deficit, nor ever presented a deficit budget. Our position on Law 104, Bill 103 and now, the proposed Bill 14 has been consistently opposed to the provisions of all. The proposed legislation is completely unnecessary; the basic premises unfounded. We find the education sections and regulations of the proposed legislation to be overbearingly bureaucratic, unacceptably subjective, unfairly restrictive, and detrimental to the constitutionally-guaranteed English school sector.

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There are a number of troubling issues inherent in the proposed amendments to the Charter of the French Language since it presumes from the outset that within civil administration bodies, enterprises, municipalities, universities and colleges, the French language is under attack and is losing ground to English and other languages within those spheres. These assumptions, as outlined Bill 14s explanatory notes, could not be further from the truth particularly where it concerns the English-speaking communities of Quebec. Clearly, by the proposed amendments, the present government views the English-speaking community and its institutions as non-cooperative and non-collaborative sectors of the Quebec population as it pertains to the instruction of French in our primary and secondary schools and to the use of French in the private sector. Not only are these assertions erroneous on the face of it but they cannot be supported by the facts or by any other arbitrary measure on which the government may wish to base its assumptions. According to Statistics Canada, in the 2011 census of Canada amongst those citizens in Quebec claiming English mother tongue, over 70% are bilingual and are able to function and work in French and presumably, according to the government, are therefore able to flourish in Quebec society. No matter how you look at it the English sector is far more successful in producing public school graduates than its French language counterpart and presumably therefore far more successful in producing citizens that are, again, able to flourish in Quebec society. In fact, for those Allophone students educated in the French sector, only numbers 55.67% can also speak French. The amendments to the Charter appear to challenge the fact that the English sector of the Quebec education system is capable of instructing non-French speakers in French. However, statistics show that could not be farther from the truth. In fact, the Official Languages Support Programs figures for English mother tongue students between the ages of 5 years and 24 years in Quebec show that 77.45% of them are fluently bilingual and more than capable of functioning and working in French. The stats for the Metropolitan Montreal Area are even more impressive as 80.05% of these young people are fully bilingual. Our competency in French language instruction cannot be disputed given the fact that the majority are or were educated in the English sector. It is also hard to comprehend the governments thinking on language in the workplace when 73.1% of English mother tongue Quebecers between the ages of 25 and 65 years of age are bilingual. As for the Metropolitan Montreal Area that number for the same age group rises to 74.2%. Once again it is clear that the governments assertions that the private and public sectors of the Quebec labor force cannot adequately serve the French-speaking population in their own language are woefully inaccurate.

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Leaving aside any discussion of the principle that inalienable and universal human rights cannot, by definition, be subject to limitation, and while agreeing wholeheartedly with the importance, for both Qubec and Canada, of ensuring the flourishing of French language and Qubecois culture, we state here with firm and unequivocal voice that the English school system is part of the solution, and is not the problem. While the proposed additions are seen as amendments, it must be noted that Quebec English public schools are already respecting and promoting, for all students, the right to learn French. In addition, we are providing effective environments for the reception of and integration into French culture. We clearly acknowledge the importance of learning French as fundamental to achieving success in Quebec. Our stakeholders, our families, a generation ago, made the decision to stay here to build and thrive in Qubec. Others left long ago, in the 1970s and 80s. Our schools pioneered and perfected the teaching of French through immersion, so much so that people come from the world over to learn our methods for acquiring a second language. Our students see and perform in French theatre, are visited by French crivains, enter and win in French language public speaking and debating, sing French songs at our schools holiday concerts, engage in a multitude of experiential activities throughout Qubec, and graduate bi-literate from our high schools, speaking, reading, and writing in at least two languages. Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) consulted our community in 2008 and 2009 on the direction it should take in the coming years, the parents spoke up overwhelmingly to say more French and more immersion in French culture because this is our childrens home. High school students spoke up overwhelmingly to say more conversational and practical French, so that we can be comfortable applying for, and working at, jobs here in Quebec". In our Major School Change decisions of 2009, the LBPSB applied many measures to address these requests, by increasing French content at both our elementary and secondary schools, by instituting French certification classes for young bilingual Anglophone teachers, an offering that has attracted three times the attendance than originally foreseen, by starting French conversation classes for administrators at our adult centres and our international centre, and by adding optional trade- specific French classes in our vocational centres. In the past few years, the Lester B. Pearson School Board increased the number of schools offering French Immersion from 50% to 66%. Several of our elementary schools are now offering our new Francais Plus program which extends the current elementary Cycle I

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immersion model of 80% of the curriculum taught in French into Cycle II. The content of the Cycle 1 curriculum will be conducted at least 50% in French in all our secondary schools. As an English public school board, the Lester B. Pearson School Board is hardly a threat to the French culture in Quebec. Au contraire, we are a significant employer of Francophones in Quebec, hiring Francophone teachers, in-school and head office administrators, and support staff. Fluency in French is a mandatory criterion for much of our hiring. We have established outreach programs to all of the major French university education departments in Quebec our Francophone recruiting efforts. That recruitment is done, of course, in French, to ensure that young teachers feel at ease during interviews. The hiring of French teachers ensures that the French being taught in all of schools is of the highest quality, thereby increasing our students ease and comfort when speaking French. Most of our internal communications are already bilingual; there will, however, always be communications, particularly those of a pedagogical nature, that need to be in English to serve their purpose. We are, after all, an English school board. These facts attest to our collective will and enterprise to enhance the French language and culture. We would like to do more. We would like to contribute to the success of more Quebecers. Surely accepting immigrant students whose parents first or common language is English into the English school system is the logical way to learn French and to benefit from reception measures and measures to facilitate integration into life in Qubec. Not only will the students success be augmented by the engagement of their parents in school life and homework help, the parents too will learn from their children and integrate more quickly as well. The new Quebecers will be surrounded by a population already in synchrony with the popular ethos, a scenario far superior to the current anomalous situation in many areas where immigrants tend to settle, where the receiving school has children of every mother tongue in the world but French and where there are no Quebecois de souche to serve as models. The government should therefore look to support us in our efforts and work collaboratively with our structures to allow for continued improvement. The English sector of Quebecs education system should not be viewed as an inferior system but as a strong partner in developing our young peoples future and by extension the future of Quebec. We believe we have done our part and will continue to do so but would rather do so in partnership than being coerced by law.

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Our students, though, are the real measure of how well Lester B. Pearson School Board schools prepare young Quebecers for success here in Quebec and for integration into the French Quebec culture. They have participated in competitions and events in the French language each year with admirable degrees of success. Amanda Ghandi is a Secondary IV student at Beurling Academy in Verdun. Last November, she was invited to speak to the Conseil suprieure de lducation. Her presentation on bullying in schools was done completely in French, and while she was the only student speaker on the agenda, she was clearly one of the highlights of the day. She has since been asked to repeat her presentation at the Regroupement des organismes communautaires qubcois de lutte au dcrochage at their national meeting after their Director saw her presentation. Last Fall, for the first time, an English Cegep represented Qubec at the 2012 Prix Goncourt des Lycens. The six Vanier students reflected not only the rich cultural diversity of their school and of modern-day Qubec which is more and more cosmopolitan, but also the French world of the future. The students read 11 French novels in preparation for the regional deliberations. There can be no better compelling evidence about the ability to live and work in Quebec as two of our more well-known graduates, MNAs Geoffrey Kelley and Yolande James, from the ridings of Jacques Cartier and Nelligan respectively, both graduated from English public schools. The continued restrictions on English eligibility, exacerbated by the provisions of Bill 103 that applied highly subjective criteria to the review of eligibility dossiers has not served Quebec in any positive way. With private schools not only accepted in Quebec, but financially and morally supported by the government, English speaking immigrants and ineligible Quebecers are more than likely to go that route. Many do not have a choice. Families relocated here from the United States with young teenagers, for instance, would have to send their students to private school, since it is unlikely these students would succeed in a French school. In English public schools they would have the opportunity to continue learning the basics while also learning the French language in an ideal environment. The repealing of Article 3 of the Regulation respecting the exemption from the application of the first paragraph of section 72 of the Charter of the French language that may be granted to children staying in Qubec temporarily is an abomination. To put such restrictions on the children of the men and women who have bravely devoted their careers to the defense, protection and assistance of Quebec and Canada, during the Richelieu flooding, for instance, is beyond comprehension. Forcing these children to attend French schools will do nothing to bolster the use of French in Quebec as they are likely to be leaving after 2 3 years. What it will do is lower the success rates of Quebec schools in general and the French sector in particular. These students are doomed to fail. Their confidence will be reduced, their ability to

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learn and thrive in the future will be compromised and their mental health will be jeopardized. Imagine a young teenager, educated in English most of his life, already having trouble making friends, dealing with new terms and different curricula, and knowing that when they leave Quebec, they will probably have lost 2 or 3 years of schooling and will have to repeat with students several years younger than they are. How can we as parents, educators and as a society, not do everything we can to ensure the well-being of our children? The crippling effect of the above on a school board such as the Central Quebec School Board, who would lose up to 16% of its students, would do nothing to serve the French system, except to perhaps increase the already excessive dropout rates is currently has. One could have hoped that, in the spirit of compromise, the new regulations would be clear, concise, and allow for a reasonable number of parents, the choice of opting for English public schooling as an authentic educational pathway while still maintaining the basic principles of Bill 101. The regulations of Bill 14, as proposed, present no compromise. In fact, they disregard the major successes of the English public school network in meeting the education and budgetary challenges presented by MELS over the years. The Lester B. Pearson School Board has complied with all the budget compressions demanded of us, without exception, without compromising the quality of education delivered. Our 2011 graduation rates represent a 3% increase over the previous year. The proposed amendments continue to empower bureaucrats to interpret the application of the law and confine parents and school boards to the difficulties and frustrations of dealing with subjectively-applied bureaucratic regulations in assuring the quality of education, or the French language, taught in our schools. Equally troubling to the proposed changes to the Charter of the French language are the proposed changes to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Bill 14 proposes to change the status of individuals from ethnic minorities to cultural communities under both Charters as a matter of remaining consistent or provisions for concordance with other Quebec laws. We find this assertion rather disingenuous on the part of the government, as it knows very well minorities have rights and cultural communities do not. In a recent article on Bill 14 published in the Montreal Gazette, written by Pearl Eliadis, a human rights lawyer at McGill University, she stated that replacing ethnic minorities with cultural communities may seem relatively innocuous given that the term cultural communities in Quebec is well known, However, cultural communities does not follow any accepted international usage, nor does it draw on human-rights principles and norms.

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In fact, in Article 27 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCP) provides rights to States or individuals and not to communities. Ms. Eliadis also pointed out that in 2010, the UN High Commissioner stated It is now commonly accepted that the recognition of minority status is not solely that of the State to decide, but should be based on both objective and subjective criteria. Ms. Eliadis went on to say The subjective criteria now include how minorities decide to define themselves. In Quebec, this argument is particularly compelling she states since Quebec has defined itself as a nation and that brings with it certain responsibilities. Clearly, the protection of minorities whether linguistic or ethnic, is the responsibility of the State under international law, specifically the ICCP of 1976 to which Canada is a signatory, states minorities should enjoy the equal right to establish, control and manage their own charitable, religious and social institutions, schools and other educational establishments, with the right to use their own language and to exercise their religion freely therein. Clearly, the government has its own agenda by trying to change the status of ethnic minorities to that of cultural communities because cultural communities do not need to be respected and minorities do. One can only hope these proposed changes are not a part of a larger plan to limit the religious and cultural rights of minorities. Ethnic and other minorities have the right to define themselves as such in their quest for equality and they cannot do so if they are deprived of their institutions or are compelled to renounce that which constitutes their being a minority or have it taken away from them by the State. English schools, and their predecessors, have always been an important part of the Quebec education system. The English schools of Quebec have always outperformed the average of all Quebec schools in terms of graduation rates, retention rates, and lower dropout rates. English schools have always been leaders in programs, in technological innovation, in global awareness, and in the integration of immigrants into Quebec society. In addition, Quebec English schools have always been at the forefront of second language teaching and learning and were responsible for the development of internationally recognized French language immersion programs. We are not the enemy. We are a committed, proud and very capable ally. We have done more than our part to ensure that our students, youth and adult, learn to read, speak and write French. We should be working together, in full respect of the majority and minority language groups to develop programs that will maintain the high standard of education pursued by all school boards while protecting the long-term existence of the French Language. Breaking down the English school system does not ensure the future of French or the French language.

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Education and schools are the cornerstones of any community and we will continue to pursue all avenues to maintain our constitutionally-guaranteed right to operate and manage our own school system. It must be understood that we do not do so in isolation of the rest of Quebec society. We have always been an active partner with our English school community across Quebec and with our French school board partners, on and off the island of Montreal. The LBPSB actively participates in the CGTSIM, the Island of Montreal DGs Association, the CRE Montreal, the Forum des partenaires socio-economique de Montreal, the West Island CLD, CDSV, CLD Monteregie, and at the Commissioner and Administrative level with the other Montreal school boards, French and English. We share ideas, buildings, programs, staff, transportation networks and are as helpful as possible in times of emergency or specific need. We are active in our communities and have contributed to the successes of Quebec, in business, in health and social affairs, in education, and in community and political life. In the year 2013, Quebec should be rightly proud and confident of its place in Canadian society. There needs to be recognition of the changes that have occurred in the English community over the past thirty years. Most Anglos are now bilingual, some to a greater extent than others, but almost all capable of speaking and understanding French. Our schools today are not the English schools of the 1970s, or 1980s, or even the 1990s. Our programs have been transformed and the makeup of our staff has changed dramatically. Head office operations are at a minimum bilingual and in many cases staff will be speaking French for most of the work day. Our students perform well in at least two languages. We are proud of what we have accomplished and it is about time that the Quebec majority accepts and celebrates this fact. We have proven that we are able to teach French as a second language better than anyone and ensure that those learning the language will be able to take a productive place in Quebec society. We are prepared to do whatever is needed to convince you that we are doing so. We believe that the time has come to allow all parents the choice of sending their children to school in an English school board. We do not expect that this will affect the balance of French and English school boards in a major way. We know that many parents will continue to choose to send their children to French schools. It should be their right to make that decision. Having more bilingual Quebecers, Anglophones, Francophones and Allophones will only improve Quebecs standing in the global environment that our children will be expected to work in. Quebecs future growth, both demographically and economically, will depend on the arrival of new Quebecers from foreign countries. We can encourage both immigration and investment if we allow those people, arriving from certain regions of the world, an option. It is so difficult to attract immigrants from the US, Britain, or Australia, and other such countries, to move to Quebec as permanent residents. We want people to choose Quebec as a place to work, set

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down roots, bring up their families, invest in the future, and to become Quebecers and Canadians. Parents need to be able to assist their children with school work. They need to be able to have comprehensive discussions with teachers, the administration and, if required, with their school board. As educators we all can attest, that the more a parent is involved in the education and school life of the student, the better their success rate. If they cannot be comfortable having those discussions in the language they best understand their involvement in their childs education will be limited, student success will be jeopardized and they will not chose Quebec to live and grow their families. The needs of our students and parents can best be served only when both parties can express themselves meaningfully, particularly in areas that affect the safety and well-being of children and we cannot allow this to be compromised. We believe that Bill 14 is an outright attempt to further inhibit and ghettoize the English community and to tighten the already choking restrictions on English schools. We call on the leadership of Quebec have the courage to stand up and say that ALL Quebecers are equal and deserve the support, protection, and encouragement of its government, regardless of their language or ethnicity. The English community, and more specifically the Lester B. Pearson School Board, will continue to do its part and more to ensure that all students who graduate our schools are able to work, live, play, and stay in a French Quebec. We need the government to work with us, allow us the chance to grow, and in return we commit to do all that is required to ensure the bilingual success of our students.