in the supreme court of british columbia

Transcription

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Citation:
L’Association des parents de l’école Rose-des-vents v.
Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique,
2012 BCSC 1614
Date: 20121031
Docket: S103455
Registry: Vancouver
Between:
L’Association des parents de l’école Rose-des-vents
and Joseph Pagé In His Name and In The Name of all Rose-des-vents
Parents who are Entitled to the Right, under Section 23 of
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,
to have their Children Educated in the Language of the Minority,
Namely the French Language, in Publicly Funded
French-Language School Facilities
Petitioners
And
Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique,
The Minister of Education of British Columbia, and
The Attorney General of British Columbia
Respondents
Before: The Honourable Mr. Justice Willcock
Reasons for Judgment
In Chambers
Counsel for the Petitioners:
Nicolas M. Rouleau
Counsel for the Respondent, Conseil-scolaire
francophone de la Colombie-Britannique:
Robert W. Grant
Mark C. Power
Jean-Pierre Hachey
Counsel for the Respondents, Minister of Education
and Attorney General of British Columbia:
Veronica L. Jackson
Karrie A Wolfe
Place and Date of Hearing:
Place and Date of Judgment:
Vancouver, B.C.
May 30, 2012
June 1, 4-8, 11-15,
& 19-22, 2012
Vancouver, B.C.
October 31, 2012
Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique
Page 2
Table of Contents
I.
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 3
A.
Nature of the Petition ........................................................................................... 3
B.
History of Proceedings and Identification of the Issue for Determination .............. 4
C.
The Hearing of the Petition Commencing May 30, 2012 ...................................... 6
D.
Application to Strike Evidence .............................................................................. 7
II.
1.
Hearsay.......................................................................................................... 8
2.
Relevance .................................................................................................... 10
3.
Opinion Evidence ......................................................................................... 12
4.
Argument ..................................................................................................... 13
5.
Evidence Lacking Foundation ...................................................................... 14
6.
Conclusion ................................................................................................... 14
EVIDENCE ............................................................................................................ 15
A.
B.
Affidavits of the Petitioners and the CSF ............................................................ 15
1.
Numbers ...................................................................................................... 16
2.
The Rose-des-vents Facilities ...................................................................... 17
a)
The Shared Facility .................................................................................... 17
b)
Limited Space ............................................................................................ 18
c)
Renovation of the Activity Room ................................................................ 20
d)
The Library ................................................................................................ 20
e)
The Gymnasium ........................................................................................ 20
f)
Washrooms ............................................................................................... 21
g)
Exterior Space ........................................................................................... 21
3.
Evidence of Insufficiency in Fact .................................................................. 21
4.
Comparable Majority Language Facilities..................................................... 22
5.
Transportation & Accessibility ...................................................................... 23
Affidavits of the Minister of Education ................................................................ 23
III.
APPLICABLE LAW ............................................................................................ 27
IV.
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS .......................................................................... 45
V.
A.
Numbers ............................................................................................................ 45
B.
Point of Comparison........................................................................................... 47
C.
Facilities ............................................................................................................. 49
D.
Accessibility ....................................................................................................... 55
JUDGMENT ........................................................................................................... 58
I.
INTRODUCTION
A.
[1]
Page 3
Nature of the Petition
The petitioners, representatives of parents living west of Main Street in the
City of Vancouver who have the right to have their children receive primary school
instruction in French, seek a declaration that they are not being provided the minority
language educational facilities guaranteed to them by s. 23 of the Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms (“Charter”). The Charter provides:
(1) Citizens of Canada
(a) whose first language learned and still understood is that of the
English or French linguistic minority population of the province in
which they reside, or
(b) who have received their primary school instruction in Canada in
English or French and reside in a province where the language in
which they received that instruction is the language of the English or
French linguistic minority population of the province,
have the right to have their children receive primary and secondary school
instruction in that language in that province.
(2) Citizens of Canada of whom any child has received or is receiving primary
or secondary school instruction in English or French in Canada, have the
right to have all their children receive primary and secondary school
instruction in the same language.
(3) The right of citizens of Canada under subsections (1) and (2) to have their
children receive primary and secondary school instruction in the language of
the English or French linguistic minority population of a province
(a) applies wherever in the province the number of children of citizens
who have such a right is sufficient to warrant the provision to them out
of public funds of minority language instruction; and
(b) includes, where the number of those children so warrants, the right
to have them receive that instruction in minority language educational
facilities provided out of public funds.
[2]
The petitioners say the facilities at l’école Rose-des-vents, at 5445 Baillie
Street in Vancouver (“Rose-des-vents”), the only Francophone elementary school in
the relevant catchment area, are not equivalent to those provided to Anglophone
students in Vancouver. They say inadequate facilities have led to the nonenrollment or withdrawal of students from the Francophone school system operated
by the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Columbie Brittanique (“CSF”) and to their
Page 4
enrolment in more accessible schools of the Vancouver School Board (“VSB”) with
superior facilities.
B.
[3]
History of Proceedings and Identification of the Issue for Determination
L’Association des parents de l’école Rose-des-vents and Mr. Pagé, in his
name and as a representative only of parents of children enrolled at Rose-des-vents,
commenced these proceedings in the spring of 2010. They sought a remedy under
s. 24 of the Charter for the alleged breach of their constitutional rights and an order
setting aside certain funding decisions made by the Minister of Education. The
challenge to the funding decisions was brought pursuant to the provisions of the
Judicial Review Procedure Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 241.
[4]
In response the CSF and the Minister of Education (“Minister”) raised the
issue of responsibility for the alleged inadequacies in the facilities afforded to the
petitioners. The CSF joins the petitioners in alleging that the facilities available to
rights-holders in the Rose-des-vents catchment area are inadequate, but argues
such inadequacies are the result of insufficient funding of Francophone education in
this Province. The CSF in separate proceedings (SCBC, Vancouver Registry Action
S103975), has challenged the adequacy of the global funding of minority language
education in British Columbia. The Minister says the CSF, as the agency charged
with exercising management and control of the Francophone education system on
behalf of rights-holders, has determined what facilities will be afforded to the
Francophone minority and is responsible for the any inadequacies in Vancouver.
The petitioners seek to advance the cause of their children, if possible, without
bearing the burden of establishing responsibility for the alleged inadequacies.
[5]
On November 4, 2011, I considered whether pleadings of the respondents
addressing those questions of responsibility for alleged inadequacies should be
struck; whether certain issues should be determined in priority to others; and
whether the petitioners should act as representatives of all rights-holders in the
catchment area, rather than simply on behalf of parents who currently have children
enrolled at Rose-des-vents. Judgment on that application is indexed at 2011 BCSC
1495.
[6]
Page 5
Counsel for the petitioners at that time acknowledged the claim impugning
ministerial decisions could necessitate extensive discovery related to the decisionmaking process and the role of the CSF in the delivery of constitutionally-mandated
instruction and facilities. The petitioners therefore applied for and obtained leave to
amend the petition to delete the challenge to specific funding decisions brought
pursuant to the Judicial Review Procedure Act and to limit the prayer for relief to a
declaration that existing facilities do not meet the standard mandated by the Charter
and an order that the court retains jurisdiction to later address any claim for further
relief. The petitioners were content that the remedy for any shortcoming would rest,
in the first instance, in the hands of government. They would seek further relief from
the court only in the event of inactivity on the part of government in the face of a
declaratory judgment.
[7]
With a view toward an efficient resolution of the claim, bearing in mind the
direction in Doucet-Boudreau v. Nova Scotia (Minister of Education), 2003 SCC 62,
[2003] 3 S.C.R. 3 [Doucet-Boudreau], that allegations of infringements of s. 23
Charter rights should be addressed promptly, so as to minimize the effect of
assimilation during protracted proceedings, I held, at para. 72 of my reasons:
... on the hearing of the petition the Court will first address only the issue of
whether the existing facilities and transportation afforded to the children of
rights holders in the Roses des vents catchment area are sufficient to protect
the rights guaranteed to their parents under s. 23 of the Charter.
[8]
That order now requires me to consider the two questions described in the
November 4, 2011, judgment:
a)
whether the rights-holders can establish their numbers warrant
instruction and facilities; and
b)
whether existing instruction and facilities are in fact equivalent to
instruction and facilities afforded to similarly situated majority language
students.
[9]
At the November 4, 2011, hearing, the Minister sought to have the petitioners
act as representatives of all rights-holders in the catchment area. Counsel for the
Page 6
Minister took the position the petitioners met the criteria described in Western
Canadian Shopping Centres Inc. v. Dutton, 2001 SCC 46, [2001] 2 S.C.R. 534. The
class of s. 23 rights-holders was said to be thoroughly and objectively defined. The
questions of fact and law common to all rights-holders were considered to be clear.
The Minister saw no divergence of interests between those of the named petitioners
and the interests of all s. 23 rights-holders in the catchment area. The Minister
argued it was appropriate that the claims of all rights-holders be assessed once, and
not litigated on a piecemeal basis. I accepted that position. Joseph Pagé was
ordered to act as a representative of all s. 23 rights-holders living in the catchment
area. No issue was then taken by any party to the description of the catchment area
as the relevant geographical area for the court’s inquiry.
C.
[10]
The Hearing of the Petition Commencing May 30, 2012
The hearing of the petition commenced on May 30, 2012, and continued for
approximately five weeks. The parties submitted voluminous affidavit evidence and
excerpts from transcripts of the examination of deponents under oath. Following
submissions of the petitioners and the CSF, counsel for the Minister sought an order
permitting the Minister to obtain further discovery evidence and to further crossexamine affiants, and for leave to adduce further affidavit evidence. Judgment on
that application was reserved to July 6, 2012.
[11]
The application was dismissed on the grounds that much of the evidence the
Minister sought leave to adduce related to matters irrelevant to the preliminary issue
for determination, including the CSF’s capital and operational funding requests and
the process for handling such requests through the development of the annual
facilities grant and the Francophone educational premium, operational funding by
the CSF, the history of the choice of the site for the school, and decisions with
respect to grade configuration. I concluded that I should not exercise my discretion
to allow further discovery because the discovery sought appeared to be
unnecessary to determine the central issues on the application. Those reasons are
indexed at 2012 BCSC 1206. I am satisfied the parties have had ample opportunity
Page 7
to address the issues as described in the pleadings and by my order of November 4,
2011.
D.
[12]
Application to Strike Evidence
Significant effort was expended at the hearing addressing the admissibility of
the evidence of the petitioners and the CSF. Counsel for the Minister objected to the
admissibility of evidence on the following bases:
1.
Hearsay: the Minister says statements made on information and belief
that do not fall within exceptions to the rule against the admission of
hearsay evidence at trial are inadmissible;
2.
Relevance: the Minister objects to the admission of evidence that is
not relevant to the matters now before me. The petitioners and the
CSF acknowledge there is some merit to this objection. The affidavits
were filed in some cases before the ruling on the question to be heard
as a preliminary issue;
3.
Opinion Evidence: the Minister objects to the admission of statements
of opinion by lay witnesses that are said to offend the rule with respect
to the admission of opinion evidence;
4.
Absence of Foundation: the Minister objects to statements in affidavits
that appear to be conclusions without appropriate foundation;
5.
Argument: the Minister objects to the admission of statements in the
affidavits filed by the petitioners and the CSF that are argumentative.
[13]
The objections to admissibility were numerous. In order to ensure the parties
have a record of the evidence admitted on the hearing of the petition, I append to
these reasons for judgment, as Schedule A, a table listing the objections to evidence
and the ruling with respect to whether the evidence in question is admissible. The
grounds for the rulings on admissibility are, briefly, as follows.
1.
[14]
Page 8
Hearsay
The Minister objects to hearsay evidence on the ground it is presumptively
inadmissible unless an exception to the hearsay rule applies. In response to the
Minister’s objection the petitioners and the CSF say: 1.
Some of the evidence to which objection is taken is not tendered to
prove the truth of its contents and is not hearsay;
2.
Some of the evidence falls within traditional exceptions to the hearsay
rule;
3.
The balance of the hearsay evidence falls within the principled
exception to the rule described in R. v. Khelawon, 2006 SCC 57,
[2006] 2 S.C.R. 787 [Khelawon]; and
4.
Rule 22-2(13) of the Supreme Court Civil Rules give the court a broad
discretion to admit affidavit evidence containing hearsay.
[15]
The petitioners and the CSF say the Civil Rules permit the court to relax the
rules of evidence on the hearing of a petition. They say that not only is the court
able to admit evidence on the basis that it meets the principled exception to the
hearsay rule (as being evidence which is admitted as a result of the necessity of
reliance upon hearsay and the apparent reliability of the evidence tendered) but that
the court has a broad discretion described by Rule22-2(13) to grant leave to the
parties to adduce hearsay evidence at the hearing of a petition. Both before and
after the enunciation of the principled exception to the hearsay rule by the Supreme
Court of Canada, this court has generally granted leave under Rule 22-2(13) and its
predecessor, Rule 51(10), only where the evidence tendered has been considered
to be fundamentally reliable: Ulrich v. Ulrich, 2004 BCSC 95; Miller v. Yukon, 2010
YKSC 22; Chamberlain v. Surrey School District No. 36 (1998), 60 B.C.L.R. (3d) 311
(S.C.); Brouwer v. British Columbia (Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum
Resources), 2000 BCSC 1743; Trus Joist (Western) Ltd. v. United Brotherhood of
Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local 1598, [1982] 6 W.W.R. 744 (S.C.);
Page 9
Litchfield v. Darwin (1997), 29 B.C.L.R. (3d) 203 (S.C.); and Beazley v. Suzuki Motor
Corp., 2008 BCSC 850.
[16]
If the discretion to admit hearsay evidence at the hearing of a petition permits
a relaxation of the necessity test described in Khelawon, there is no need to do so in
this case. The petition did not come on for hearing in urgent or exigent
circumstances and the parties had ample opportunity to obtain, test and lead
evidence.
[17]
I therefore exclude from consideration hearsay evidence that could be
adduced by other means or is not fundamentally reliable. I exclude the hearsay
evidence of affiants with respect to inadequacies at Rose-des-vents or superior
facilities elsewhere, as described to them by third parties and not observed by the
affiants. There is a wealth of evidence in this case founded upon direct observation.
It is not necessary to rely upon much of the hearsay to which the Minister objects. I
adopt the views expressed in Yellowknife (Assn. des Parents ayants droit de
Yellowknife c. Procureur général des Territoires du Nord-Ouest, [2012] N.W.T.J.
No. 45 (S.C.) [Yellowknife], where the court held that evidence of parents with
respect to statements made to them by others concerning activities and problems at
school was neither necessary nor reliable. The court held, at para. 347:
L'exception raisonnée à la règle interdisant la preuve par ouï-dire n'a pas été
développée pour des raisons de commodité ni des raisons purement
pratiques. Elle a été développée autour de principes se rapportant aux
raisons de base pour lesquelles le ouï-dire n'est généralement pas permis: le
fait que ce genre de preuve ne permet pas à la partie adverse de tester sa
fiabilité.
(The principled exception to the rule prohibiting the introduction of hearsay
evidence was not developed for reasons of convenience or purely practical
reasons. It was developed around principles relating to the basic rationale for
which hearsay is not generally permitted: the fact that type of evidence does
not allow the adverse party to test its reliability.) [My translation.]
[18]
The hearsay rule does not prevent admission into evidence of the results of a
poll where introduced as an expression of the views of a large number of people.
Such polls may be a necessary and reliable means of adducing evidence of a
community’s views, where such views are relevant to the issue before the court. In L’Association des parents de l’école Rose-des-vents v.
Page 10
the case at bar, the comparative standing of Rose-des-vents in relation to nearby
Anglophone schools is relevant. So is evidence of the relative importance of factors
considered by Francophone parents when making enrollment decisions. Survey
evidence with respect to the intentions of parents to enrol their children at a
Francophone facility was held to be admissible at trial in Lavoie v. Nova Scotia
(Attorney General) (1988), 84 N.S.R. (2d) 387 (S.C., T.D.) [Lavoie No. 2], because,
at para. 44:
... [I]t would have been impractical in the extreme to have every single eligible
citizen come and testify before the Court. Furthermore, the nature of the
issues, as recognized by counsel at the trial, mandates the consideration of
hearsay evidence as the foundation of surveys. ...
[19]
On the other hand, in Yellowknife, the results of a student survey were held to
be inadmissible. Surveys are not inadmissible per se, but admissible when they are
a necessary means of collecting relevant evidence and conducted in a manner that
is likely to result in reliable evidence, and inadmissible when unnecessary or when
conducted in a manner that makes the results fundamentally unreliable.
[20]
The petitioners and the CSF argue that some of the evidence tendered by the
petitioners that might be considered to be hearsay is admissible as an admission by
another party. I accept the argument of the Minister that the CSF is generally not
adverse to the petitioners in these proceedings. The evidence of the CSF is
therefore not admissible through hearsay in the affidavits of the petitioners as
admissions of an adverse party. Similarly, admissions by the petitioners are not
admissible through the hearsay evidence of the CSF.
2.
[21]
Relevance
Issues of relevance have arisen in part as a result of the Order determining
that the sufficiency of the facilities would be considered before any other matters.
As noted above, the intent of that order was to avoid embroiling the petitioners in a
contest with respect to responsibility for perceived deficiencies. So, for example, the
question of whether the CSF could have established a primary school at another site
Page 11
but chose to direct its resources toward other needs is irrelevant to the inquiry before
me.
[22]
In objecting to the affidavit evidence, counsel for the Minister errs in taking the
position that all evidence with respect to past problems or the development of the
present situation is irrelevant. That is not the case. If a parent says that she
withdrew her children from school two years ago because it took too long to get to
the school on the bus, that is not evidence of a current inadequacy, but it is evidence
that transportation time of a certain duration is a factor that has, in fact, led rightsholders to remove their children from the school. It is evidence of the point at which
accessibility becomes an obstacle to enjoyment of the constitutional right. In light of
the Minister’s objection to hearsay evidence from the administrators with respect to
reasons parents have given for withdrawal of their children, any evidence of parental
motives, past or present, for enrollment decisions must come from parents. That
evidence can shed light upon the criteria that are important in ensuring access to the
constitutional rights of the rights-holders.
[23]
Further, the fact that Rose-des-vents shares a common connected structure
with l’école secondaire Jules Verne (“Jules Verne”), the period for which the
arrangement has existed and the extent to which it is likely to continue are all factors
that must be weighed in determining whether the present facilities are adequate to
meet the needs of the rights-holders. In submissions, counsel says that the Minister
regards the Rose-des-vents/Jules Verne site as one institution, whereas the
petitioners regard it as two schools. Evidence with respect to the past, present and
continuing relationship between the institutions is admissible in relation to that
question.
[24]
The Minister objects to evidence of anticipated demand as irrelevant to the
current proceeding. Given the task that faces the court in assessing the adequacy
of the facilities for the rights-holders, it is, in my view, essential that the court
address not only current but anticipated demand.
[25]
Page 12
Having said that, all parties agree that some of the evidence with respect to
historical dealings between the parties is irrelevant to the proceedings before me. It
is not in issue that the petitioners have for some time regarded the facilities available
to them as inadequate and the Minister continues to take the position that there is no
constitutional entitlement to better or other facilities. There is no need to address the
course of dealings between the parties in order to determine how they come to the
court, whether judicial intervention is necessary and, if so, what relief ought to be
granted.
3.
[26]
Opinion Evidence
The Minister objects to the admissibility of opinion evidence in the affidavits. I
address that objection by taking the approach described in British Columbia
(Director of Civil Forfeiture) v. Angel Acres Recreation and Festival Property Ltd.,
2009 BCSC 322 at paras. 140-141, where Davies J. held:
It is "[a] basic tenet of our law ... that the usual witness may not give opinion
evidence, but testify only to facts within his knowledge, observation and
experience": R. v. D.D., 2000 SCC 43, [2000] 2 S.C.R. 275 at para. 49.
There are, however, two very significant exceptions to that basic rule of
evidence. The first is the expert opinion exception, where an expert may give
an opinion based on any combination of facts personally observed and those
observed by others: R. v. Lavallee, [1990] 1 S.C.R. 852, 55 C.C.C. (3d) 97.
The second is the "lay opinion" exception articulated in R. v. Graat, [1982] 2
S.C.R. 819, 2 C.C.C. (3d) 365 at para. 49.
[27]
In my view, almost all the Minister’s objections to opinion evidence are without foundation. Most of the opinion evidence to which the Minister objects is
evidence of observations of the deponent that are summarized, as observations
often are, with adjectives commonly used and understood. Opinion evidence is not
admissible if it usurps the court’s function, but conclusions drawn from observations
that lay people make in everyday life are admissible. In R. v. Graat, [1982] 2 S.C.R.
819 at 835, the Supreme Court of Canada held that lay opinion with respect to the
condition of things, whether, for example, they are worn, shabby, used or new is
admissible. So, in the case at bar, the evidence of lay witnesses that buildings
appear to be well-maintained is admissible as evidence the buildings do not appear
Page 13
to be dirty or in a condition of disrepair. Evidence that a school does not appear to
be crowded is admissible as evidence that the number of students and teachers is
low in comparison with the available space. It is unnecessary for a lay person
swearing an affidavit to measure the available area observed and count the number
of persons present. That is particularly the case where the lay person is saying that
one facility is less crowded than another. In this case, parents who have had
children attending both Rose-des-vents and another school can testify that one
school or the other is less crowded. Similarly, I will receive their evidence that one
school is better-maintained or has a larger school yard, or even appears to be more
beautiful than another.
[28]
The petitioners say rights-holders have been unhappy with the state of
facilities and arrangements for transportation and for that reason some have
withdrawn their children from the school. The Minister says the petitioners must
show both that the facilities are inadequate and that such inadequacy adversely
affects the quality of the education offered at Rose-des-vents. The parents say they
must show that the facilities are inadequate to put the Francophone school on an
equal footing with the majority-language schools. They do not accept that it lies
upon them to address academic outcomes. What is of foremost importance to the
petitioners is enrollment. The parents’ subjective assessment of the quality of
facilities at Rose-des-vents in comparison with competing schools may inform their
decisions whether to avail themselves of their constitutional rights and, thus,
contribute to or reduce assimilation. Subjective assessments of the quality of the
facilities offered at Rose-des-vents and other schools are relevant to that question
and admissible evidence.
4.
[29]
Argument
The objection to passages that are said to be argument is, in this case, rarely
well-founded. It is occasionally helpful to have summary paragraphs in lengthy
affidavits describing the purpose for which evidence is being led so as to appreciate
the evidence in context. It is occasionally necessary to refer to the evidence of other
affiants so as to explain why it is not being repeated. There are passages in the
Page 14
affidavits of all parties that may be regarded as argument, but few of them, in my
view, are so argumentative that they should be struck.
5.
[30]
Evidence Lacking Foundation
There is one common statement in the petitioners’ affidavits and those of the CSF that appears to be made without foundation. Most affiants, after describing an
inadequacy in the facility at Rose-des-vents, make the bald statement that no such
inadequacies affect the Anglophone schools of the VSB. In some cases, the affiants
have some experience or personal familiarity with the Anglophone schools. In those
cases, they may have described sufficient contact with the Anglophone schools to
be in a position to say that schools with which they are familiar do not have the
inadequacies attributed to Rose-des-vents. Where the teachers depose to no
familiarity with the Anglophone schools of the VSB, those statements are made
without foundation and are inadmissible.
[31]
The remaining objections to statements founded upon the view they are made
without foundation are unjustified. For example, in the affidavit of Luc Morin dated
May 13, 2010, at para. 37, he states:
... [I]t appears obvious from a map containing Vancouver elementary schools
that almost all VSB students live within one kilometre of an English language
primary school, and can therefore walk to school. I have attached to this
affidavit as Exhibit “E” a copy of a map that contains Vancouver schools.
[32]
According to the Minister, that evidence is an assertion made without
foundation. However, the exhibit illustrates the location of the schools and appears
clearly to be foundation for the statement that almost all VSB students live within one
kilometre of an Anglophone primary school, simply because no VSB schools appear
to be more than two kilometres apart. The statement that its students can therefore
walk to school is an inference than can fairly be drawn from the maps.
6.
[33]
Conclusion
In weighing the objections founded on relevance, opinion and argument, I
seek to ensure that no reliable and cogent evidence is ignored. Admitting evidence
Page 15
liberally will not work an injustice in this case. This is not a case where there are
serious credibility issues. No significant effort has been made to contradict or
impeach the testimony of any deponents. Prior to the hearing of the petition, the
parties conducted such examinations of affiants under oath as they considered
necessary. The affidavits of all parties contain similar statements of opinion;
passages that might be regarded as argumentative; evidence that relates to
responsibility for the alleged shortcomings of the facilities; and remedial efforts to
address inadequacies.
[34]
In summary, I am of the view that there is little in the affidavit evidence that
ought to be redacted from the record. I have before me sufficient evidence
constituting the factual matrix upon which this judgment may be rendered.
II.
EVIDENCE
A.
[35]
Affidavits of the Petitioners and the CSF
The CSF did not dispute the petitioners’ allegation that the facilities at Rose-
des-vents are inadequate to meet the needs of the current and reasonably
anticipated enrolment. The petitioners’ case is founded in part upon evidence led by the CSF and I therefore summarize the evidence of the petitioners and the CSF
collectively.
[36]
The record includes affidavits sworn by a number of administrators: the
superintendent, deputy superintendent and secretary treasurer of the CSF, the
present and former principals and vice principals of Rose-des-vents and Jules
Verne, the CSF District Principal of Special Education, the coordinator of the Early
Childhood Education Network, the president of the board of the daycare (L’île aux
enfants), and the president of the before-and-after-school program (Les Copains).
[37]
Affidavits have been sworn by many present and former teachers, the
librarian, and the school secretary.
[38]
Affidavits have been sworn by parents who currently have children at Rose-
des-vents, parents who have formerly had children at the school but have withdrawn
Page 16
them, and rights-holders who have chosen not to enrol their children at Rose-desvents.
[39]
Affidavits have also been sworn by experts and individuals who have
researched specific issues. Angeline Martel inspected 36 VSB Anglophone
elementary schools on February 15-16, 2012, and described their characteristics in
comparison with Rose-des-vents. Dr. Rodrigue Landry is a specialist in educational
psychology and education. He addressed the question of assimilation of the
Francophone minority in Vancouver and estimated the number of rights-holders in
the relevant catchment area. Kelly Grittner is an experienced transportation analyst.
[40]
In addition, the petitioners and the CSF led the evidence of Ms. Shannie
Harvey, who visited 24 Anglophone schools in the catchment area in May 2012, with
the intention of describing important points of comparison; Dr. Nicholas Kenny, a
historian who provided evidence of the historical context in which the petition is
brought; Marie-Andrée Asselin, the executive director of the Féderation des parents;
and Claudiu Bogdan Chifan, the maintenance manager who measured the size of
the 15 classrooms in the Rose-des-vents building.
1.
[41]
Numbers
The petitioners say the number of rights-holders in the catchment area cannot
be accurately determined. Statistics Canada data is used by Dr. Landry to conclude
that within the catchment area there are probably 710 elementary aged children
whose parents are Canadian citizens whose first language learned and still
understood is French. This is a reasonably accurate estimate of the number of
children of rights-holders as defined under s. 23(1)(a) of the Charter. Statistics
Canada does not have data on individuals in the catchment area who have received
their primary school instruction in French in Canada, or the number of children of
Canadian citizens who have siblings who have received or are receiving primary or
secondary school instruction in French in Canada. Dr. Landry says that such rightsholders will amount to some portion of the 2,195 children of Canadian citizens living
in English-speaking households who reported they had some knowledge of French.
Page 17
The census indicates there are 320 elementary school age children who speak
French regularly at home whose parents are Canadian citizens with a mother
language other than French. The majority of children who speak French at home in
Vancouver with non-Francophone parents must be French immersion students. On
the whole, in my view, the evidence supports the view that the population from which
Rose-des-vents must draw its students is at least 710 but is unlikely to exceed
1,000.
[42]
The enrollment at Rose-des-vents grew from 21 students in 1997 to 344 in
2011. Its enrollment continues to grow. Similarly, the enrollment at the secondary
school, Jules Verne, is growing. It grew from 161 in 2008-09, steadily, to 244 in
2011-2012. Given the growing population at Rose-des-vents, it is likely that the
secondary school enrolment will continue to grow. That growing enrolment, as
noted below, will have some impact upon the space available for Rose-des-vents
students.
[43]
There is some evidence that rights-holders have been discouraged from
enrolling their children at Rose-des-vents as a result of the state of its facilities and
the long bus ride that some students must take to get there. There is also some
evidence that when a new facility is built, it will attract and retain additional students.
That was the experience at école Brodeur in Victoria, école André Piolat in North
Vancouver, and école Anne Hébert in Vancouver. Rose-des-vents is projected to
grow to 360 students by 2012-2013. The petitioners say that if the catchment area
in question were divided into two zones, there would remain a sufficient number of
students in each zone to justify the establishment of two elementary schools. They
say there are several VSB schools west of Main Street with a population between
75-250 students.
2.
The Rose-des-vents Facilities
a)
[44]
The Shared Facility
The petitioners say the facilities afforded to elementary students in Vancouver
are inadequate because they require the elementary students to share a facility with
Page 18
the secondary school. The CSF is not opposed in principle to the establishment of
shared K-12 facilities, and in fact is seeking to build more such facilities, but it says
that they only work well if they are purpose-built facilities, permitting the elementary
and secondary students to work on different schedules, use separate washrooms,
and avoid the complete integration that has given rise to the problems described in
the material.
[45]
Rose-des-vents was established at the Baillie Street site in 2001. Jules
Verne was constructed from March 2007 to December 2008. It shares a common
site with and is structurally attached to Rose-des-vents. Sharing of the facilities
between the secondary and elementary school on the site was not contemplated
when Jules Verne was planned and built. It was anticipated that Rose-des-vents
would move to another site on completion of Jules Verne. The current configuration
sees significant contact between elementary and secondary school students. Grade
4, 5 and 6 students occupy four classrooms in the Jules Verne side of the building.
They share the secondary school’s washroom, workshop and music room. The
secondary school must be traversed by elementary students seeking to use the
shared facilities, particularly the gymnasium. Some parents have objected to the
close interaction between elementary and secondary students, particularly in
washrooms. The parents and in some cases teachers of the elementary school
students feel that they are in an inferior position when it comes to negotiating the
shared use of facilities.
b)
[46]
Limited Space
Rose-des-vents has a nominal capacity (defined as: number of kindergarten
classes x 20 students + number of elementary school classes x 25 students) of 215
and an operating capacity (defined as: number of classrooms x legislated maximum
enrolment per grade level) of 199 students. Enrollment is currently 344 students.
School enrollment is growing and weighted in favour of the lower grades. The
current kindergarten class is the largest ever. Rose-des-vent uses four classrooms
in the Jules Verne building and two modular classrooms. One modular is used as a
music room. There are two portable classrooms on the site. They are described as
Page 19
old, smelly, and uncomfortable. One portable classroom is used for special
education. The other will be used as a classroom this year despite the principal’s preference not to place students there for a full day.
[47]
The operating and nominal capacity do not take into account temporary space
in portables and modular classrooms on temporary permits. There is evidence that
Jules Verne will need two more classrooms this year and its population is growing.
There is said to be no additional space in the Jules Verne building.
[48]
The daycare programme at the school, L’île aux enfants, has a very limited
capacity due to space constraints. It can accept four children under 36 months of
age, and eight children between 3 and 5 years of age. There are ninety names on
the wait list for that daycare. Of the 344 students at Rose-des-vents, over 100 use
the Les Copains after school program. That programme is situated in the school
gymnasium. There is a waiting list for the program.
[49]
Because of the space pressure of the building, the CSF has now made
arrangements to rent the basement of the Oakridge Seventh Day Adventist Church
across Baillie Street from Rose-des-vents as additional classroom space for
secondary school students.
[50]
The pre-school and daycare program are regarded by the CSF and the
parents’ association as essential for the success of the Francophone education
system. The pre-school acts as a feeder for the elementary school. The afterschool program is said to play an important role in the building of a community and
making attendance at the school attractive and possible for parents who live some
distance from the school. Of the students who finish the French pre-school program,
over 80% enter the CSF program.
[51]
The Rose-des-vents portion of the conjoined buildings is said to be small.
Hallways are narrow. There are no coat hooks and no room for lockers. There is a
lack of storage space. That is said to have contributed to the spread of lice in
students on occasions when that affliction strikes. The maintenance manager has
Page 20
measured the 15 classrooms in the Rose-des-vents building. They range in size
from 36.6 square meters to 87.2 metres. Six of the classrooms are less than 60 m2.
The recommended standard area for classrooms, according to the Ministry of
Education standards, is 75 m2. Only three classrooms meet that standard.
c)
[52]
Renovation of the Activity Room
Three classrooms, E109, 110 and 112, were created by division of the activity
room in the Rose-des-vents building. Two of these classrooms have no outside
windows. The teachers who work in these classrooms describe them as crowded.
Noise can be heard through the walls of the classrooms. The acoustics are poor.
There is a shortage of electrical outlets. The students in third grade class in Room
110 must exit the building and enter through an exterior door to go to the washroom.
It does not have access to an interior hallway.
d)
[53]
The Library
The library is described as small and inadequate. There are few seating or
work areas. It is smaller than a classroom; it occupies 57.1 m2. The librarian says
the school should have a library of 110 m2. Size constraints limit the number of
books that can be kept on hand and prevent students from doing research in groups
or studying research methods in the library.
e)
[54]
The Gymnasium
A large new gymnasium constructed as part of the Jules Verne building is
shared by the elementary and secondary students. The gymnasium can be divided
by a curtain into sections. Because the gymnasium is used for the after school
program, it is not available to elementary students for extracurricular sports. There
are conflicts between elementary and secondary school uses. The teachers
complain that access to the gymnasium is limited. The purposes for which it can be
used are also limited because the secondary school will not permit it to be used for
activities, such as book fairs, that might adversely affect the gym’s floor surface.
f)
[55]
Page 21
Washrooms
There are an inadequate number of washrooms in the school. There are nine
bathroom stalls and two urinals in the Rose-des-vents side of the structure. There
are frequent line-ups for the washrooms. There are no washrooms in the portable or
the modular structures. Elementary school students in the Jules Verne classrooms
share washrooms with secondary school students in that portion of the joined
buildings. Parents and teachers are concerned that young students are thereby
exposed to inappropriate conduct and language.
g)
[56]
Exterior Space
The exterior playing space has been impinged upon by the presence of
portable and modular structures. The outdoor play space is divided into three small
areas. There is no field area that can accommodate soccer or baseball games.
Recess has been taken in shifts. Arrangements have been made to use a
neighbouring park, but because it is across the street additional supervision is
required during its use. Excluding the newly rented space in the adjacent park, the
playing field area does not meet Ministry standards of one hectare for a school of
this size.
3.
[57]
Evidence of Insufficiency in Fact
There have been parents who have decided not to enroll their children after
looking at the facilities. The Minister acknowledges that Rose-des-vents is operating
“over capacity”. Pascale-Sara Frenette is a rights-holder who deposes that she has
enrolled her child in a VSB school because of perceived deficiencies in the Rosedes-vents building, specifically narrow hallways, a disorganized layout, noisy
classrooms, a tiny library, and limited outdoor space. Paul Rostagno is a rightsholder who withdrew his children from Rose-des-vents because he was unhappy
with the cramped facilities. Steven Fedder is a rights-holder who removed his
daughters from Rose-des-vents because the school was “too integrated” with the secondary school. Similarly, Bernie Hadley-Beauregard is a rights-holder who
withdrew his children from Rose-des-vents because of problems associated with the
Page 22
close integration of the primary and secondary school students. Nadine Cahan is a
rights-holder who withdrew her children this year because Rose-des-vents is
overcrowded and its facilities are inadequate.
4.
[58]
Comparable Majority Language Facilities
I place no weight upon the evidence of witnesses who deposed that “to the best of their knowledge” majority language schools in Vancouver do not have the
problems and restrictions they describe at Rose-des-vents. That evidence is of no
value without a description of their familiarity with the Anglophone schools and the
basis for their comparison.
[59]
On the other hand, there is a substantial record describing the VSB
elementary schools in the catchment area. Almost without exception, the
Anglophone schools are described as more attractive and aesthetically pleasing,
larger and more functional than Rose-des-vents. All except one are said to have
ample playgrounds. Most have large libraries. Most have classrooms that can be
used for multiple or flexible purposes. Almost all schools have larger hallways and
many have lockers in the hallways. Almost all have classrooms that are described
as more spacious than those afforded to the Rose-des-vents students. Those that
have small classrooms, such as Dr. Annie B. Jamieson School, have multipurpose
rooms or spare classrooms and large libraries.
[60]
No VSB elementary schools, however, are said to have a gymnasium larger
than the half gymnasium that is available to Rose-des-vents students.
[61]
Although counsel for the Minister took exception to the description of some
schools as “imposing” and some facilities as “grandiose” or “convivial, aesthetically
pleasing and inviting”, there was no challenge generally to the evidence that as a
rule the Anglophone schools in the catchment area are larger, with larger
classrooms, larger and better playing fields, and more spacious libraries. First
person comparisons of some of the schools were made by Angeline Martel, Shannie
Harvey, Michele Marsan, Stéphane Lebhian, Rejean Gosselin, Steven Fedder,
Isabeau Iqbal, Luc Morin, Marie-Christing Pelletier, and Nadine Cahan.
5.
[62]
Page 23
Transportation & Accessibility
The transportation for the CSF in Vancouver is provided by a contractor,
Thirdwave. The contractor’s services are purchased and supervised by Ms. Grittner,
the CSF’s transportation consultant. Of the 344 students at Rose-des-vents, 293
are transported to school by bus. None of those students live within the one
kilometer walk limit. There are 16 bus routes. Last year the longest one way trip
took 48 minutes. This year the longest ride is the 45 minute ride of a grade 1
student. That time does not include waiting times at the designated pick up points or
the walk from home to the bus stop. A large majority (67%) of the students spend
over 30 minutes per bus trip. Because the elementary and secondary schools run
on different schedules, but the bus serves both schools, elementary students must
wait for the end of the secondary school day and leave school 20 minutes after their
classes end, lengthening their time away from home. Most VSB students live within
one kilometre of their schools.
[63]
There is evidence that long transportation times have affected enrolment at
Rose-des-vents. Paul Rostagno withdrew his children from Rose-des-vents in part
because he was unhappy with the long bus rides to school. Steven Fedder removed
his daughters from Rose-des-vents after three years because transportation was too
onerous. Isabeau Iqbal removed her daughter from Rose-des-vents after three
years because of long bus rides. Marie-Christine Pelletier withdrew her two children
from Rose-des-vents after a year because their bus ride, taking 60 minutes each
way, was too long. Quynh Doan and Phillippe Le Billon are rights-holders who did
not enroll their children in Rose-des-vents because the bus ride would have been
too long for them. Luce Lafontaine is a rights-holder who is considering withdrawing
her son from the school because of a bus ride that takes one hour each way.
Pascale de Kerckhove is a rights-holder who says that her children have to be at the
bus stop 65 minutes before the start of the scheduled school day.
B.
[64]
Affidavits of the Minister of Education
The Minister has led the affidavit evidence of the Assistant Deputy Minister of
the Resource Management Branch of the Ministry of Education (with respect to
Page 24
educational standards and the extent to which Rose-des-vents meets those
standards); the chief information officer of the Ministry of Education; the manager of
capital information and data; a planning officer with the Capital Management Branch
of the Ministry of Education, and the Manager of the Learning Division of the Ministry
of Education; and Susan Anson, the General Manager of VFA Canada, a capital
asset manager (with respect to the VFA assessment of the Ministry’s public education facilities).
[65]
The Minister has also led the evidence of a number of superintendents of
school districts in the Province, the Deputy Superintendent of schools for the VSB,
and the secretary treasurer of the Surrey School District.
[66]
Keith Miller, Assistant Deputy Minister of the Resource Management Branch,
provides the court with valuable statistical information with respect to the resources
available to the CSF and the facilities afforded to the students at Rose-des-vents.
The CSF is one of six (out of more than sixty) school districts experiencing growth in
its enrolment. Mr. Miller calculates Rose-des-vents’ capacity utilization at 154.4%. Taking into account modifications to the multi-use activity room and the classrooms
used in Jules Verne, capacity utilization decreases to 112.3%. Jules Verne is said to
have capacity utilization of 70%. That assessment of capacity utilization assumes
that classes now used for daycare or pre-school uses are available as classrooms. It
therefore understates actual capacity utilization.
[67]
According to Mr. Miller, 38 of the 119 VSB facilities had capacity utilization
over 100%. Twenty-seven had a capacity enrolment over 110%, and three were
over 150% (one of those, l’école Bilingue, had 432 students in a school with an
operating capacity of 232; Sir James Douglas Annex had 133 students in a school
with an operational capacity of 88; and Tyee Elementary had 178 students in a
school with an operational capacity of 93). Two of the relatively overcrowded
schools were, therefore, small annexes. The average utilization rate of VSB schools
was 87.7%. It is of note that this estimate of capacity utilization is insensitive to
Page 25
classroom size or shape. Capacity utilization is not a description of the space
available per student.
[68]
Ken Frith, the manager of capital information and data of the Ministry of
Education, and Susan Anson, the General Manager of VFA Canada, describe the
Province’s use of a facility condition index (FCI) to assess the state of repair of
Ministry-owned facilities. The FCI is the ratio between anticipated repair costs and
the total capital value of the structure surveyed. Schools with a high FCI require
more significant capital expenditures than schools with a low FCI. The FCI survey is
conducted by a mechanical engineer, an electrical engineer, and a structural
engineer. The FCI is therefore a useful measure of the structural condition of the
facilities. It does not assess their fitness for educational purposes. The average FCI
of elementary schools in Vancouver in January 2012 was 0.42. The FCI for Rosedes-vents was 0.35. It is less in need of repair than the average Vancouver
elementary school.
[69]
Brent Munroe, Manager of the Learning Division of the Ministry of Education,
deposes to information in the hands of the Ministry with respect to average class
sizes, academic achievement, and student and parent satisfaction surveys. The
data establishes that class sizes (number of students per classroom, not classroom
dimensions) at Rose-des-vents are within the average of elementary schools in
Vancouver (although on the high side); academic performance is comparable to
performance at Dr. Annie B. Jamieson, the nearest VSB school (although that is the
only Mandarin immersion school in the VSB and, like most immersion schools, may
be said to attract a highly motivated students); parental satisfaction with learning at
Rose-des-vents is generally good but has diminished annually since 2006.
Satisfaction with participation in activities outside of school is low (25%). A large
proportion of respondents (82%) sought more arts, sports and athletics programs in
school. In general, according to the survey results, parents at Rose-des-vents were
about as satisfied with their children’s academic programs as were parents at Dr. Annie B. Jamieson.
[70]
Page 26
Jordan Tinney is the Deputy Superintendant of schools for the VSB. He
describes the instruction and facilities afforded to the 29,000 elementary school
children in the district. Like Mr. Miller, he speaks to capacity utilization. His figures
are similar but not identical. He says thirty schools are over 100% capacity. Nine
have a capacity utilization of over 110%. The school with the highest enrolment over
capacity is l’école Bilingue. Overcrowding generally is most significant in French
immersion schools. There is apparently strong demand for French-language
education.
[71]
Mr. Tinney described structural concerns of the VSB with respect to the VSB
schools. There are serious concerns with respect to seismic and air quality issues.
The board has concerns with respect to asbestos, lead and other contaminants on
school property. Mr. Tinney, like Mr. Frith, says there is a significant need for
structural work at VSB schools.
[72]
It is Mr. Tinney’s evidence that it is not uncommon for schools to have a split
gymnasium. None of the 17 annex schools have gymnasiums. Because they are
usually schools for children in the early elementary grades, they have activity rooms.
Mr. Tinney says VSB schools are generally not closed when enrollment declines, but
are kept open as long as possible because it is recognized that they are the heart
and soul of the community.
[73]
Wayne Noye is the secretary treasurer of the Surrey School District. It is a
very fast growing district that operates 100 elementary schools with over 38,000
students. There is significant overcrowding in some schools. Typically elementary
schools in Surrey do not have specialized classrooms. Specialized courses and
programs are accommodated in portables. Only where space is available is it rented
to pre-schools or daycares. Gymnasiums are often shared, and 25 elementary
schools have no playing fields and lease city playing fields.
[74]
According to Mr. Tinney and Mr. Noye few students in the Lower Mainland
are transported by bus to school.
[75]
Page 27
The Minister has adduced the evidence of a number of superintendents of
rural school districts. Theresa Downs is the superintendant of the Gold Trail School
District. It is a rural district with declining population. Some students in the district
travel for more than an hour to get to school. The district operates two K-12 schools,
only one of which was purpose -built for that role. Larry Espe is the superintendant
of schools for the Peace River North School District. It is also a rural district, serving
over 5,000 students. It operates three two-room rural schools and four K-12
schools. Interaction between students at those schools is “endorsed and encouraged”. All of its in-town schools are crowded. None have what he considers
to be adequate gymnasium space. All the schools are described as “the absolute hub of their respective communities”. Jeff Hopkins is the superintendant of schools for the Gulf Islands School District. It operates eleven schools, three of which are
elementary schools and five of which are K-12 schools. Because of very long travel
times between the Gulf Islands, the school has a modified week offering classes four
days per week. The K-12 programme is described as “positive and well received”. Nancy Wells is the superintendant of Coast Mountain School District, centred in
Terrace. It is roughly the size of Finland and has 5,500 students in 22 schools, one
of which, the 79 student Bear Valley School in Stewart, is a K-12 school.
Transportation throughout the district is problematic.
[76]
In addition to relying upon that evidence, the Minister adduced the evidence
produced by the CSF that it has sought to build new K-12 schools. The CSF’s
transportation policy seeks to limit transportation times to 45 minutes in each
direction, suggesting that travel times up to 45 minus are acceptable. The CSF
acknowledges there is no concern with respect to the quality of instruction at its
schools. It has remedied some of the concerns with respect to school and play
space at Rose-des-vents by receiving three modular units in the 2011-2012 school
year, and by leasing the adjacent park space at Oak Street and 37th Avenue.
III.
APPLICABLE LAW
[77]
The remedial nature of s. 23 of the Charter has been clearly identified since
its earliest consideration by the Supreme Court of Canada in Quebec (Attorney
Page 28
General) v. Quebec Assn. of Protestant School Boards, [1984] 2 S.C.R. 66. The
Court there held, at 79:
... Rightly or wrongly,--and it is not for the courts to decide,--the framers of the
Constitution manifestly regarded as inadequate some-- and perhaps all--of
the regimes in force at the time the Charter was enacted, and their intention
was to remedy the perceived defects of these regimes by uniform corrective
measures, namely those contained in s. 23 of the Charter, which were at the
same time given the status of a constitutional guarantee. ...
[78]
The judicial description of the substance of the rights afforded to individuals
by s. 23 was developed in Marchand v. Simcoe County Board of Education et al.
(1986), 55 O.R. (2d) 638 (H.C.J.) [Marchand No. 1] and (1987), 61 O.R. (2d) 651
(H.C.J.) by Sirois J. The plaintiff sought a declaration that the number of children in
or near Penetanguishene was sufficient to warrant the provision of French-language
instruction and facilities out of public funds, and a mandatory order requiring the
local school board to provide facilities and funding necessary to achieve an
equivalent level of instruction to that afforded to Anglophone secondary students.
The proceedings there, like those before me, were commenced with a view to
obtaining a declaration that the facilities provided to the minority rights-holders were
not equivalent to those afforded to the majority, and a declaration that their numbers
warranted better facilities. The facilities were said to be inadequate because of the
absence of shops classes, an inadequate gymnasium and poor science facilities.
The court received evidence from educators regarding the effect of the inadequate
facilities on enrolment at the school, and the fact that parents had been discouraged
from registering their children. There was no real issue with the numbers. The court
was easily satisfied that the number of potential students was sufficient to justify “at
least one first class high school facility” (at 654). The Board of Education
acknowledged the minority’s numbers clearly warranted some facility--there was an
existing school--but argued they did not warrant the specific programs under
consideration. In response to that argument, Sirois J. held, at 655:
... If the framers of that Charter had meant that at each turn the minority
should meet another numbers test they would have said so. In s. 23 they
mentioned only a test for para. (a) instruction and para. (b) facilities ....
[Italics in original.]
[79]
Page 29
The court went on to note that “the quality of the education of the minority
must be equal to the majority” (at 655), citing the decision of the Ontario Court of
Appeal in Reference re Education Act of Ontario and Minority Language Education
Rights (1984), 47 O.R. (2d) 1 at 43 [Reference re Education Act of Ontario], as
follows:
... The rights conferred by this section with respect to minority language
facilities impose a duty on the Legislature to provide for educational facilities
which, viewed objectively, can be said to be of or appertain to the linguistic
minority in that they can be regarded as part and parcel of the minority's
social and cultural fabric. The quality of education to be provided to the
minority is to be on a basis of equality with the majority.
[80]
After reviewing the case law, the court held, at 660:
From the clear language of those ... cases the plaintiff is entitled to be
provided out of public funds for an education in French to his children. That
means the same education as is given the majority but in the other official
language. This is to be a full and complete education not a limited, partial or
truncated one, which necessarily would be an inferior education, a second
class one.
The costs of education to the majority is a relevant factor too, but not to a
lesser extent nor a greater extent than for the minority. It is equally a limiting
factor for both groups.
As long as the education provided to the minority is equivalent to that
provided to the majority, then the constitutional rights of the minority can be
said to have been respected.
[Italics in original.]
[81]
Means of addressing s. 23 claims were elaborated upon in Lavoie v. Nova
Scotia (Attorney General) (1988), 84 N.S.R. (2d) 387 (S.C., T.D.) [Lavoie No. 1];
Lavoie No. 2; and (1989), 91 N.S.R. (2d) 184 (C.A.). In the first of these decisions,
the learned trial judge found the evidence to be inadequate to permit him to
determine whether the number of children in the relevant area warranted instruction
or facilities. The court ordered the collection of further data.
[82]
When the case returned to the court later that year, it was as a challenge to
the designation of a location for a minority Francophone school. The parents
contended that very young children would have to make long bus rides to attend
school (a complaint similar to that before me) and they were unwilling to have their
Page 30
elementary school children mix with secondary school children (again, a similar
complaint to that made by the petitioners). The court granted a declaration that the
site chosen was inappropriate on the following basis, at paras. 37-39:
Sending elementary school children on bus trips of thirty to forty-five minutes
each way, when it is not necessary, is unreasonable if appropriate priorities
are kept in mind. The priority that cannot be swept under the rug is the right
of Canadian citizens in the minority language group to have their children
instructed in their own language if numbers warrant the provision of such
instruction and facilities.
A facility for elementary school children cannot be considered to be
reasonably accessible if it is located miles away from the main geographic
area where the majority of the students who would be attending the school
live if there are facilities available in the vicinity of the students' residences.
...
It is implicit in the s. 23 Charter right that a facility for minority language
instruction be reasonably accessible. ...
[83]
When the case came before the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in 1989, the
court had before it a specific proposal for an elementary school at a particular
location and evidence that enrolment would be low at that location. The court
described the role of government in relation to the provision of minority language
education in the following terms, at para. 38, quoting favourably from the Ontario
Court of Appeal in Reference re Education Act of Ontario:
The discretion that may be exercised pursuant to its (Charter) provisions is
limited to one issue: looked at objectively, is the number of children of
qualified parents sufficient to warrant the establishment of French language
instruction or facilities?
[84]
The issue raises two questions: whether the numbers are sufficient to warrant
instruction, and whether they are sufficient to warrant facilities. The court noted the
test to be met in addressing the second question is more onerous than that under
the first, and held that, when looked at objectively, 50 children of qualified parents is
a number sufficient to warrant the provision of instruction, but not facilities.
[85]
Numerous cases before and since have established that the “numbers warrant” test cannot be reduced to a formula. The instruction or facilities that may be warranted by a certain number of students is dictated, first, by pedagogical
Page 31
considerations, and second, by costs. In most cases, pedagogical considerations,
rather than costs, will dictate minimum class and school sizes.
[86]
Minority language rights were comprehensively considered by the Supreme
Court of Canada in Mahe v. Alberta, [1990] 1 S.C.R. 342 [Mahe]. The issue at stake
in that case was the extent to which s. 23 confers upon minority communities the
right to manage and control their own instruction and facilities. Mahe, as the first
consideration of s. 23 in detail by the Supreme Court of Canada, established basic
principles of interpretation that have coloured the subsequent consideration of the
Charter guarantee of minority-language education rights. In Mahe, s. 23 was
described as a lynchpin of this nation’s commitment to the values of bilingualism and biculturalism. The purpose of s. 23 was held to be the preservation and promotion
of the two official languages of Canada and their respective cultures. Its remedial
purpose is to correct the progressive erosion of minority official language groups. It
establishes a right measured by a sliding scale, described in the following terms, at
366:
... The idea of a sliding scale is simply that s. 23 guarantees whatever type
and level of rights and services is appropriate in order to provide minority
language instruction for the particular number of students involved.
[87]
Language rights guaranteed by the Charter stand alone. In Mahe, it was held
it was not necessary to read s. 23 together with s. 15 or s. 27 of the Charter
because, as the Court stated, at 369:
... Section 23 provides a comprehensive code for minority language
educational rights; it has its own internal qualifications and its own method of
internal balancing. ...
[88]
The reference point to fix on the sliding scale the nature of instruction and
facilities that must be provided to fulfil the guarantee enshrined in s. 23 is normally
the number of students actually receiving minority language education in the area in
question. However, the Court in Mahe recognized that where minority language
schools are being established, governments should project likely attendance. When
doing so they should give consideration to those factors that would equally be
considered in relation to the start up of majority language schools, including the fact
Page 32
that the establishment of a new facility will ordinarily produce increased demand for
the instruction it provides. Dickson C.J.C. stated, at 384:
... [T]he relevant figure for s. 23 purposes is the number of persons who will
eventually take advantage of the contemplated programme or facility. It will
normally be impossible to know this figure exactly, yet it can be roughly
estimated by considering the parameters within which it must fall....
[89]
The inquiry into the nature of the facilities warranted by the number of
minority language students must be informed by the purpose of s. 23, which is to
establish minority language education as a bulwark against assimilation. The
Supreme Court of Canada in Mahe clearly noted that the Charter is not intended to
preserve the status quo. I bear that in mind in addressing the argument made by the
Minister in the case at bar that the first inquiry ought to be whether existing facilities
are satisfactory to serve the students who are now enrolled.
[90]
The interpretive principles described in Mahe were restated by the Supreme
Court of Canada in Reference re Public Schools Act (Man.), s. 79(3), (4) and (7),
[1993] 1 S.C.R. 839 [Reference re Public Schools Act (Man.)]. In that case, Lamer
C.J.C., writing for the Court, described them as follows:
1.
First, courts should take a purposive approach to the application of
s. 23;
2.
Second, the rights guaranteed by s. 23 should be considered to have a
remedial intention;
3.
Third, language rights should be recognized as a fundamentally
different class of rights, created by political compromise and
fundamental to the national character. Because they are created by a
political compromise, their nature has been defined by the Charter, and
the court should be cautious not to read into or read out of the Charter
rights which are not there described, but should breathe life into those
rights which are created by s. 23;
4.
Page 33
Fourth, the language rights described in the Charter do not create a
right to a particular legislative scheme, but a right to a type of
educational system.
[91]
Two principles underlined in the Reference re Public Schools Act (Man.) case
are particularly noteworthy in the case at bar. First, the Court emphasized the
importance of looking at the number of students who will eventually take advantage
of the contemplated program when setting the case on the “sliding scale”. Second,
the Court underlined that minority language rights are granted to parents individually
and the entitlement is not subject to the will of the majority among the group of
rights-holders. The latter principle is relevant to the Minister’s argument that
deference to the CSF should preclude this Court from passing judgment upon the
adequacy of the instruction and facilities afforded to the petitioners’ children. [92]
These principles were tested and applied in Conseil des Écoles Séparéés
Catholiques Romaines de Dufferin et Peel v. Ontario (Ministre de l'Éducation et de la
Formation) (1996), 30 O.R. (3d) 681 (Div. Ct.), aff’d (1996), 30 O.R. (3d) 686 (C.A.)
[Dufferin et Peel]. In that case, a moratorium on new capital projects imposed by the
Ontario Ministry of Education was challenged by s. 23 rights-holders. The plaintiffs
there, as here, acted on behalf of all s. 23 rights-holders living within the area in
question (the municipality of Peel). The Ministry of Education acknowledged the
facilities available to Francophone students in the municipality were not reasonably
equivalent to the facilities provided to Anglophone students but sought to defend the
government’s unfettered right to suspend capital expenditures. The Divisional Court
held the financial imperatives that resulted in the Ministry’s moratorium could not stand as a bar to the provision of services guaranteed by s. 23. In doing so, the
court adopted, at 685, the words of Sirois J. from Marchand No. 1 as follows:
The framers must be taken to have intended the natural, normal and
foreseeable financial consequence of their agreeing to the new Constitution
in late 1981 and its proclamation in force on April 17, 1982.
[93]
Having committed, without reservation, to providing instruction and facilities to
minority language students where numbers warrant, governments cannot say limited
Page 34
financial means compel them to avoid that constitutional commitment. The Court of
Appeal upheld the decision of the Divisional Court, at 687:
... Il est évident que l'imposition du moratoire n'a pas le meme impact sur la
majorité qu'il a sur la minorité. La majorité a de nombreuses écoles tandis
que la minorité a une partie d'une école qu'elle risque de perdre. Le
moratoire risque d'avoir des effets catastrophiques sur l'avenir de l'école
Sainte-Famille et sur l'avenir de la minorité linguistique de Dufferin et de Peel.
D'après les faits qui ne sont pas en dispute, il y a un risque de perte
irréparable. ...
(It is apparent that the imposition of the moratorium does not have the same
impact upon the majority that it has upon the minority. The majority has
many schools while the minority has part of one school that it stands to lose.
The moratorium may catastrophically affect the future of école Sainte-Famille
and the future of the linguistic minority of Dufferin and Peel. On the
undisputed facts, there is a risk of irreparable harm. ...) [My translation.]
[94]
The decision in that case reflects the view that the perpetuation of the status
quo and failure to recognize and give effect to the remedial purpose of s. 23 may
cause irreparable harm to linguistic minorities. That approach to s. 23 is reinforced
in the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Arsenault-Cameron v. Prince
Edward Island, 2000 SCC 1, [2000] 1 S.C.R. 3 [Arsenault-Cameron]. The Court
again emphasized the remedial intent of the section and underlined that it is not
meant to reinforce the status quo but, at para. 31:
... Section 23 is premised on the fact that substantive equality requires that
official language minorities be treated differently, if necessary, according to
their particular circumstances and needs, in order to provide them with a
standard of education equivalent to that of the official language majority. ...
[95]
The Court also restated with approval the method of estimating the number of
rights-holders that had been adopted in previous jurisprudence, holding, at para. 32:
... The relevant number is the number who will potentially take advantage of
the service, which can be roughly estimated as being somewhere between
the known demand and the total number of persons who could potentially
take advantage of the service....
[96]
The Court held the Prince Edward Island Court of Appeal had erred by
looking solely at the actual enrolment or actual demand for the service under
consideration, rather than considering the community and the potential advantage to
that community of the service under consideration. There had been a relatively poor
Page 35
assessment of the potential pool of individuals who might take advantage of the
instruction sought by the petitioners. The Supreme Court of Canada noted that the
Province could not avoid its constitutional duty to provide instruction and facilities
where numbers warrant by relying on insufficient proof of the numbers. That is
especially so where the Province is not prepared to conduct its own studies or to
obtain and present cogent evidence of known or potential demand.
[97]
The judgment of the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island in Arsenault-
Cameron [(1997), 147 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 308], which the Supreme Court of Canada
reinstated, is instructive. The trial court carefully considered the evidence as to how
potential enrolment at the school might be measured, and noted that demand for the
service would likely increase once the service was established. In that case, as in
the case at bar, there was concern with respect to lengthy bus rides to school.
DesRoches J. held, at para. 109:
... Sending very young children on bus trips of up to 50 minutes each way is
unreasonable if the priority of ensuring to citizens of Canada the right
guaranteed by s. 23 is properly applied. ...
[98]
He further noted, at para. 110:
It is implicit in the s. 23 right that a facility for minority language instruction be
at least as accessible as those of the majority language group. ...
[99]
While the comments of DesRoches J. in Arsenault-Cameron with respect to
what may be regarded as a reasonable school bus ride cannot be seen as
describing the substantive rights established by s. 23 (which must be case-specific)
it is noteworthy that no issue was taken at the Supreme Court of Canada with the
view that accessibility is an essential aspect of minority language education rights.
Implicit in Arsenault-Cameron, Dufferin et Peel and Mahe is the view that the level of
instruction and facilities afforded to minority language students must be equivalent to
the Anglophone facilities available to students in the same district. That stands to
reason given the remedial purpose of s. 23 of the Charter. The risk of assimilation
will not be reduced by the establishment of instruction or facilities that bear no
Page 36
relationship to the instruction and facilities which might otherwise be selected by the
rights-holders for their children.
[100] Section 23 was again before the Supreme Court of Canada for consideration
three years later in Doucet-Boudreau. At issue before the Court was the retention
by the trial judge in that case of a supervisory role to ensure delivery of the
instruction and facilities warranted on the evidence before him. Only that retention
of jurisdiction was challenged in the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, which set aside
the trial judge’s order that there be periodic reporting hearings after the initial interim
judgment. The Supreme Court of Canada, at para. 10, gave effect to the views
described in dissent at the Court of Appeal by Freeman J.A., who held that retaining
jurisdiction to supervise delivery of the services was “of the very essence of the kind
of remedy courts are encouraged to seek pursuant to s. 24(1) to give life to Charter
rights”. [101] The Supreme Court of Canada again underlined the remedial purpose of
s. 23, stressing the importance of prompt delivery of the instruction and facilities
required by the Constitution, with a view toward avoiding the danger of assimilation
posed by the maintenance of the status quo. After reviewing in detail the principles
established in the leading cases, the Court held, at para. 63:
After Mahe, litigation to vindicate minority language education rights has
entered a new phase. The general content of s. 23 in many cases is now
largely settled (Mahe, Schools Reference, Arsenault-Cameron, all supra). In
the present case, for example, it was clear to and accepted by the parties
from the start that the government was required to provide the homogeneous
French-language facilities at issue. The entitled parents sought the
assistance of the court in enforcing the full and prompt vindication of their
rights after a lengthy history of government inaction. [Underlining in original.]
[102] In Solski (Tutor of) v. Quebec (Attorney General), 2005 SCC 14, [2005] 1
S.C.R. 201, the Supreme Court of Canada revisited the principles of interpretation
that must be borne in mind in s. 23 cases. Noting that s. 23 has been described as
the product of political compromise or negotiation, the court affirmed, at para. 20,
that s. 23 rights are not to be construed narrowly as a result. Constitutional
protection of minority language rights was held to be necessary for the promotion of
Page 37
robust and vital minority language communities. Those communities are considered
to be essential for Canada to flourish as a bilingual country. Minority language
education rights are the means by which the goals of linguistic and cultural
preservation are to be achieved. The Court held, at para. 5, that claims to s. 23
rights must be considered in context: “Language rights cannot be analysed in the
abstract, without regard for the historical context of the recognition thereof or for the
concerns that the manner in which they are currently applied is meant to address”.
[103] For that reason, it is important in this case to bear in mind the historical
context of minority French-language education in British Columbia, as described by
Vickers in L'Association des Parents Francophones de la Colombie-Britannique v.
British Columbia (1996), 27 B.C.L.R. (3d) 83 (S.C.) and (1998), 61 B.C.L.R. (3d) 165
(S.C.).
[104] I have had the benefit of two recent decisions of the Supreme Court of the
Northwest Territories arising from the concurrent trials of actions brought on behalf
of Francophone rights-holders in Yellowknife (Yellowknife), and in Hay River
(Commission Scolaire Francophone c. Procureur général des Territoires du NordOuest, [2012] N.W.T.J. No. 46 (S.C.) [Hay River]). These cases came to trial
following numerous interlocutory applications and negotiations between the parties
with respect to the level of facilities to which the rights-holders were entitled in the
communities in question. To some extent, these cases turn upon the Territorial
statute, Loi sur l'Éducation, LTN-O, 1995 c. 28, and the regulations passed pursuant
to that legislation, including the regulation establishing the Francophone school
board for the Northwest Territories. For the most part they are determined by the
constitutional jurisprudence binding upon me.
[105] Yellowknife addressed the sufficiency of the existing school, opened in 1999
and subsequently enlarged. Initially the school had space for a pre-school and
daycare, five classrooms and a library. There were no specialized classrooms for
fine arts or sciences or industrial arts, and there was no gymnasium. The school
was enlarged following orders made on interlocutory motions in the action. Two
Page 38
classrooms were added and the school capacity was increased to 160 students. At
trial, the court heard evidence of the parents’ concerns with respect to the lack of
specialized classrooms, the lack of space for physical education and sports, and the
effect of the lack of space on extracurricular activities. The court received the
evidence of a long-term teacher at the school that students had left the Francophone
program in order to obtain access to a more diversified range of courses and better
programs in music and industrial arts, as well as additional gymnasium time and
access to sports programs. Dr. Landry testified with respect to the importance of the
school as a centre of the Francophone community. He spoke to the rate of
assimilation in the Northwest Territories and to the number of students that might
attend a homogenous Francophone program.
[106] After reviewing the history of education cases, the court noted, at paras. 551552:
Le présent recours est différent de certains autres qui ont été entrepris en
vertu de l'article 23. Il ne concerne pas une inaction complète du
gouvernement, mais remet plutôt en question la suffisance des mesures qu'il
a prises pour se conformer à ses obligations.
En ce qui concerne les infrastructures, le litige ne porte pas sur la question à
savoir si une école devrait être construite; l'école existe déjà. La question qui
est soulevée est sa conformité aux exigences de l'article 23. ...
(This action is different from certain others that have considered Article 23. It
is not a case where there has been complete inactivity on the part of
government, but raises, rather, the question of the sufficiency of the
measures that have been taken to discharge the government’s obligations.)
(With respect to infrastructure, the litigation does not raise the question of
whether a school should be constructed, the school already exists. The
question raised in this litigation is whether that school satisfies the obligations
imposed by Section 23...)
[My translation.]
[107] With respect to the adequacy of the infrastructure, the court stated, at
para. 578:
La question fondamentale à laquelle le tribunal doit répondre au sujet des
infrastructures actuelles de l'ÉASC est à savoir si elles sont suffisantes pour
offrir aux élèves qui la fréquentent une égalité réelle par rapport aux élèves
de la majorité anglophone. Cette grande question soulève elle-même
plusieurs autres sous-questions.
Page 39
(The fundamental question to which the court must respond insofar as the
existing infrastructure of the ÉASC [the school] is concerned, is whether it is
sufficient to offer students real equality with the students in the majority
Anglophone population. This large question itself raises many preliminary
questions.) [My translation.]
[108] The first question addressed by Charbonneau J.--viewed as critical to the
s. 23 analysis--was the proper point of comparison for the Francophone school. The
rights-holders submitted that the facilities at the Francophone school should be
compared with those available at Anglophone schools in Yellowknife. The Minister
submitted that the point of comparison should be schools throughout the Northwest
Territories or in other districts with a number of students similar to the number of
students at the Francophone school. In order to answer the question, the court
turned to the fundamental objectives of s. 23: the maintenance of two official
languages in Canada and the encouragement of the flourishing of the languages
and cultures throughout the country. The court stated, at para. 582:
La réalité, à Yellowknife, c'est que les élèves de la minorité francophone ont
le choix entre fréquenter l'ÉASC ou fréquenter une école d'une des deux
commissions scolaires anglophones. C'est de cette façon que la question se
présente, pour eux. Les parents et leurs enfants n'ont pas à choisir entre
l'ÉASC et l'École Kalemi Dene; ou entre l'ÉASC et les écoles de Norman
Wells, Inuvik, Paulatuk ou Kakisa. Ils n'ont pas non plus à choisir entre
l'ÉASC et une école francophone de l'Alberta ou de la Saskatchewan. Toute
comparaison avec ces écoles est complètement dissociée de la réalité du
choix qui se présente, dans la réalité, pour les membres de la minorité
francophone.
(The reality in Yellowknife is that minority Francophone students have the
choice of attending the French language school [ÉASC] or one of the schools
of the two Anglophone boards. That is the question presented to them. The
parents and their children do not have the choice between attending the
ÉASC and Kalemi Deni school or between ÉASC and schools in Norman
Wells, Inuvik, Paulatuk and Kakisa. Nor do they have the choice between
attending at ÉASC or a Francophone school in Alberta or Saskatchewan.
Any comparison with these schools is completely irrelevant to the real choice
available to the members of the Francophone minority.) [My translation.]
[109] Accordingly, the court held that Francophone facilities should be held up for
comparison against those provided at Anglophone schools in Yellowknife, the real
option available to the students. The relatively low number of Francophone students
was held to be important in determining what facilities could reasonably be provided,
Page 40
bearing in mind the criteria described in Mahe, but not relevant for the purposes of
finding a point of comparison.
[110] The court found that the Francophone school suffered In comparison with the
Anglophone schools in Yellowknife. It had no gymnasium, no science laboratory,
and no music room or theatre. There was also no space available for industrial arts
programs. While the Francophone school offered an information technology
program, and appeared to have developed a specialized niche, it was clear that
there were important differences between the choices available to students at the
Anglophone schools and those available at the Francophone school.
[111] The plaintiffs argued that s. 23 required the defendants to renovate the
Francophone school and create a distinct wing for secondary students offering all
specialized classes and equipment available to Anglophone students in Yellowknife.
The defendants argued that the existing building was adequate for the existing
needs at the school, and to the extent there were shortcomings, they could be
addressed by allowing the students of the Francophone school to use available
spaces in other schools, or spaces elsewhere available in the community. The
approach of the defendants was to afford to Francophone students resources
allocated in exactly the same fashion they would be allocated to a similar number of
Anglophone students. The court held, at paras. 614-615:
À mon avis, ces standards défavorisent systématiquement les écoles
minoritaires, pour deux raisons. Premièrement, par définition, les écoles
minoritaires sont plus petites que celles de la majorité. Elles n'auront donc
souvent pas les effectifs qui lui donneront la flexibilité d'aménager des
espaces spécialisés. La création de salles à usages multiples est une
solution partielle, mais il y a des limites aux façons de combiner les
utilisations d'une même salle. De plus, dans une école qui accueille des
élèves de la maternelle à la 12e année, la conséquence est souvent de forcer
l'école à utiliser les mêmes espaces à usages multiples pour le primaire et le
secondaire. Ceci peut être difficile à gérer, les exigences des espaces étant
très différentes pour les deux groupes. De plus, la combinaison de plusieurs
usages pour une même salle de classe peut causer de sérieux problèmes
logistiques dans la gestion de l'horaire d'une école qui, quoique petite en
terme de nombre, a des élèves répartis sur 13 niveaux.
La deuxième raison pour laquelle ce genre de standards risque d'avoir un
impact plus négatif sur les écoles de la minorité, et c'est vrai dans le cas de
l'ÉASC, c'est que les écoles minoritaires perdent souvent une partie de leurs
Page 41
effectifs au niveau secondaire. La preuve établit que l'ÉASC a
historiquement eu du mal à retenir ses effectifs au niveau secondaire. Le
Dr. Landry a expliqué que ce phénomène est fréquent dans les écoles de la
minorité francophone. Indépendamment des causes de ce phénomène de
migration, leur conséquence est que, comme c'est le cas à l'ÉASC, une forte
proportion des effectifs est concentrée au niveau primaire.
(In my view, such standards systematically discriminate against minority
schools for two reasons. First, by definition, minority schools are smaller than
majority schools. They will rarely have enough students to give them the
flexibility to offer specialized spaces. Multiuse rooms are a partial solution,
but there are limits to the uses that can be combined in the same room.
Further, as a consequence of accepting students from kindergarten to Grade
12, students may be required to use the same multiple use space for primary
and secondary education. That can be difficult to manage; the space
requirements of such groups are quite different. Further, the use of one
space for multiple purposes can cause serious logistical problems in the
management of the timetable of a school, which, although small in terms of
number, has students studying at 13 levels.)
(The second reason for which such standards can have a negative impact on
minority schools, and this is the case with ÉASC, is that minority schools
often lose a number of their students at the secondary level. The evidence
establishes that the French school historically has had difficulty retaining its
students at the secondary level. Dr. Landry explained that this phenomenon
is common in minority Francophone schools. Regardless of the causes of
this movement, the consequence is that, as is the case in ÉASC, a large
proportion of its students are concentrated at the primary level.)
[My translation.]
[112] As the court pointed out, the uniform application of Anglophone school
standards to the Francophone schools will usually result in very limited resources
being made available to Francophone students. Ultimately the court concluded, at
para. 621:
Cette approche d'application uniforme des standards est erronée non
seulement parce qu'elle ne tient pas compte des impacts négatifs décrits plus
haut, mais surtout parce qu'elle présume que les moyens de combler les
lacunes qui sont appropriés pour les écoles de la majorité le sont tout autant
pour les écoles de la minorité. Selon moi, ce n'est pas le cas. Le fait de
devoir utiliser des espaces à l'extérieur de l'école quand cette dernière n'a
pas les installations nécessaires pour certains cours a un impact beaucoup
plus négatif sur une école minoritaire que sur une école de la majorité.
(This approach of uniform application of standards is erroneous not only
because it fails to take account of the negative impact of those standards
described above, but above all because it presumes that the means of
addressing shortcomings that are appropriate in the majority school system
are equally appropriate in a minority school system. This is not the case.
Having to use spaces outside the school when the resources at the school
Page 42
are inadequate for certain purposes has a far more negative impact on a
minority language school than on a majority language school.)
[My translation.]
[113] As the court made clear, the objective of establishing homogenous French
language schools is to create a linguistic community to foster the use of French and
survival of the culture. It becomes more difficult to achieve those ends when
inadequacies in the Francophone school system must be met by the use of facilities
in Anglophone schools or community resources. Further, the court accepted the
evidence of Dr. Landry that inadequate infrastructure is one factor, among others,
that can influence the choice of schools made by minority language parents. The
court accepted the conclusion, which I regard as a common sense conclusion, that
infrastructure can have a significant influence upon the recruitment and retention of
students.
[114] Further, at para. 633, Charbonneau J. noted that by applying the majority
language school standards to the minority language system, the government had
made the mistake addressed by the Supreme Court of Canada in ArsenaultCameron (at para. 31). Specifically, s. 23 is not meant to reinforce the status quo
through the implementation of a formal version of equality. The use of objective
norms to evaluate the pedagogical needs of minority language students does not
adequately take into account the nature of the constitutional rights established by
s. 23.
[115] On the other hand, the court found the plaintiffs, by demanding facilities that
could not be justified on their numbers, failed to take into account the sliding scale
described by the jurisprudence. The court noted, at para. 677:
La réponse à cette question requiert une analyse nuancée qui tient compte
des infrastructures disponibles pour la majorité, en utilisant le comparateur
que j'ai identifié (les écoles avec lesquelles l'ÉASC est en concurrence à
Yellowknife), mais qui tient compte aussi des différences dans les nombres,
des besoins pédagogiques de la minorité, de l'importance pour elle d'avoir
des espaces scolaires distincts, et des coûts.
(The response to this question requires a nuanced analysis that takes into
account the available infrastructure for the majority, using the comparator that
I identified (the schools with which the French school competes in
Page 43
Yellowknife), but which also takes into account the differences in numbers,
the pedagogical needs of the minority, the importance for the minority of
having distinct educational spaces, and the costs of those requirements.)
[My translation.]
[116] Without fully describing the facilities to which the students were entitled, the
court held the existing facilities were inadequate because there were too few
classrooms, the school should have a gymnasium, there should be some additional
space so as to permit separation of primary and secondary students, the outdoor
play area should be enlarged, and additional specialized spaces were required.
[117] There was also a question with respect to the use of space in the
Francophone school by a pre-school and a daycare. The court held that, while the
Francophone school board was entitled to establish such programs, it could not
confer upon them a constitutional status and could not, as a rule, require the
government to afford them to minority-language students. Whether programs other
than the core mandated instruction are necessary to effect the objectives of s. 23 is
a factual question, depending upon evidence of the role of the program in
establishing and maintaining enrollment in the minority-language education
programs. The court concluded, at paras. 786-787:
Je conclus donc que la garderie est un maillon important de la chaîne dans la
promotion et la pérennité de l'école. Ceci contribue à la réalisation des
objectifs fondamentaux de l'article 23, et j'estime, pour cette raison, qu'une
mesure de réparatrice concernant la garderie est une réponse appropriée à
une violation de l'article 23.
Quant au programme de pré-maternelle, il ne fait pas partie du programme
primaire au sens de la Loi sur l'Éducation, mais j'accepte qu'il joue aussi un
rôle important, tant au niveau du recrutement que de la francisation. À cet
égard, comme la garderie, il est un outil important dans la mise en oeuvre de
l'article 23 et il est juste et convenable que l'attribution d'espaces pour ce
programme fasse partie des mesures de redressement accordées dans les
circonstances de ce recours.
(I therefore conclude that the daycare is an important link in the chain in the
establishment and promotion of the school. It contributes to the realisation of
the fundamental objectives of Section 23, and I conclude, for this reason, that
a remedy which includes the daycare is an appropriate response to a
violation of Section 23.)
(As for the pre-school program, it does not form part of the primary education
system established by the Education Act, but I accept that it also plays an
important role in the recruitment into the Francophone system. In that regard,
Page 44
like the daycare, it is an important tool in effecting the objects of Section 23
and it is just and convenient that the allocation of space for this program is
part of the remedy afforded in the circumstances of this case.)
[My translation.]
[118] The elimination of programs that are not constitutionally mandated cannot be
a prerequisite to demanding those services that are so mandated. This principle
was applied in the Hay River case. There, the school had admitted a number of
non-rights-holders pursuant to the policy of the Francophone school board. The
court held that the legislation did not preclude the board from admitting such
students, and the Minister could not take issue with their registration, and must take
such registrations into account in determining whether the facilities are adequate to
meet the needs of the rights-holders.
[119] As in the Yellowknife case, the court held that the facilities that must serve as
the principle point of comparison were those available to the Anglophone majority in
Hay River.
[120] The court also observed, as in Yellowknife, that both parties had taken
extreme positions. It was not sufficient to say that the Francophone facilities met the
uniform standards applicable to a comparable number of Anglophone students. Nor
could the Francophone students demand all of the facilities available to the much
larger number of Anglophone students. The court held, at para. 773:
Parce que l'École Boréale n'a pas son propre gymnase, elle ne dispose d'un
espace homogène distinct pour aucune de ces activités. Cela crée une
érosion importante de l'homogénéité linguistique de l'école, et nuit
considérablement à sa mission en tant qu'école minoritaire. Selon moi le
degré d'érosion est énorme, et inacceptable, si les élèves de la minorité ont à
tous les jours ou presque à sortir de leur école pour utiliser les espaces où la
langue usuelle est celle de la majorité. Le Dr. Landry a parlé de l'importance
pour l'école d'avoir ses espaces distincts et j'accepte son opinion à cet égard.
Cette opinion s'accorde d'ailleurs avec la jurisprudence en matière de droits
linguistiques scolaires.
(Because Boreal School does not have its own gymnasium, it does not have
a distinct space for any of these [athletic] activities. That leads to a significant
erosion of the linguistic homogeneity of the school, and adversely affects its
mission as a minority language school. In my view, the degree of erosion is
enormous and unacceptable if the students of the minority have to leave the
school almost every day to use spaces where the usual language is that of
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the majority. Dr. Landry spoke of the importance for the school to have its
distinct spaces and I accept his opinion in this regard. His opinion is in
accordance with the jurisprudence addressing minority language education
rights.) [My translation.]
[121] Reaching the same conclusion as in Yellowknife, the court held the
government had breached s. 23 by failing to provide to minority language students
the facilities their parents were entitled to demand. The court described the
inadequacies and directed they be remedied, without tying the hands of the board or
the government with respect to the manner in which those inadequacies would be
addressed.
[122] The consideration of these issues by the Supreme Court of the Northwest
Territories is informed by a careful analysis of the jurisprudence. In my view,
Charbonneau J. clearly seeks to effect the result intended by the guarantee of
minority language education rights in s. 23 of the Charter. I accept and adopt the
method and analysis employed in these helpful cases.
IV.
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
A.
Numbers
[123] The petitioners say there are only two issues to be determined: whether there
are a sufficient number of rights-holders to warrant the provision of educational
facilities, and whether the facilities currently afforded to rights-holders are sufficient
to meet the needs of that number of rights-holders. They say current enrolment
represents only the number of individuals prepared to exercise their minoritylanguage rights in the present circumstances. Section 23 is intended to do more
than simply guarantee that status quo. The existing facilities are a disincentive to
participation in minority language education, and there is evidence that the facilities
now afforded to Francophone children are inadequate to meet existing demand. A
relatively large proportion of the roughly 2,000 individuals identified as parents of
children who speak French at home in the catchment area would enroll their children
if CSF schools did not compare unfavourably with VSB schools.
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[124] The CSF says there is no challenge to Dr. Landry’s expertise and his report is uncontradicted. There is no suggestion of methodological error. His report therefore
stands as the best evidence of current and reasonably anticipated demand for
minority language education. The CSF says, given the size of the current
Kindergarten class, the floor estimate of numbers should significantly exceed current
enrollment of 370 and may be a large proportion of the children of rights-holders in
the catchment area which it says certainly exceeds 1,000.
[125] In response, the Minister says, first, evidence of unexpressed demand is
irrelevant. No demographic analysis is necessary, the numbers exist. The CSF is
obliged to accommodate all children of rights-holders who seek to study in French.
The current enrolment is therefore the appropriate measure of numbers for whom
facilities must be provided. The Minister says analysis of potential demand is only
necessary or helpful where there is no existing school facility that can be used to
measure demand. That is particularly so where, as here, in the Minister’s view, the
existing facilities are adequate to meet demand. The Minister says the CSF’s annual enrolment projections must be used as a basis for the “numbers warrant” test. The Minister says that to do otherwise than accept those projections is to look
behind the authority of the CSF, which is charged with the obligation of identifying
and addressing the needs of minority rights-holders.
[126] I reject the Minister’s argument that demand is determined by current enrollment or by the CSF’s annual enrollment projections. In the face of the evidence
of crowding and the effect of that crowding on enrollment, the conclusion that there
is unmet demand is inescapable. The CSF has an obligation to accurately report
anticipated enrollment. There is no basis upon which I can find that the CSF has
ever expressed to the Minister an opinion on the number of rights-holders in the
catchment area or the enrollment that might be anticipated if the current apparent
inadequacies are addressed.
[127] I accept the submission of the petitioners and the CSF that if enrolment were
not affected by the limitations of the existing facilities, there would be more than 370
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children registered at Rose-des-vents. Given the evidence of actual enrollment, the
population of rights holders and unmet demand, seen in the light of the experience
at école Brodeur, école André Piolat, and école Anne Hébert, I am of the view that
the Francophone minority population in the City of Vancouver west of Main Street
warrants provision of elementary school facilities capable of accommodating
approximately 500 students.
B.
Point of Comparison
[128] The Petitioners and the CSF say that in order to determine what facilities
should be afforded to those rights-holders, the court should look to the facilities
afforded to a comparable group of majority language students. They say in light of
the remedial purpose of s. 23, the court should require government to provide
services to the minority population equivalent to the services they could obtain by
assimilation. A Francophone option must be made available to the minority
language students on the west side of Main Street in the City of Vancouver that is as
attractive as the Anglophone schools they would otherwise attend. Any assessment
of facilities that does not reflect that objective of the comparison is misleading.
[129] The Minister says in determining what facilities ought to be looked to for
comparative purposes the court should place some weight upon two factors, in
particular, that distinguish the Francophone schools from Anglophone schools on the
west side of Vancouver. First, given the evidence is that the population in CSF
schools is increasing dramatically, the court should look at the level of services the
Province is able to deliver to students in areas where the school population is
increasing dramatically, such as Surrey, for appropriate comparators. Second, the
Minister says the school-aged population of Francophone students on the west side
of Vancouver is relatively less dense than the population of Anglophone students. It
is therefore most appropriate to compare the facilities provided to them with facilities
provided to Anglophone students in areas where the population is equally sparse.
[130] The petitioners say the Minister’s approach has been rightly rejected in the Yellowknife and Hay River cases. Preservation and promotion of the existence of a
Page 48
linguistic minority will not be effected in the City of Vancouver if Francophone
students are told that the cost of attendance at any Francophone school is that they
must be satisfied with the level of services afforded in other areas where the
population is growing quickly, or areas where the population is less dense. To do so
would simply result in the selection of Anglophone schools.
[131] The Minister further says setting a local standard, rather than a province-wide
standard, will impinge upon the ability of the CSF to exercise management and
control in allocating resources between its schools. The Minister suggests that, by
requiring the CSF to provide students with facilities that are equivalent to those
students might access in competing nearby schools, this Court would be requiring
the CSF to establish and provide facilities of varying standards in various regions of
the Province, dictated primarily by the facilities established by the majority language
school boards.
[132] I accept the submission of the petitioners that once it is determined their
numbers are sufficient to warrant an elementary school, the rights-holders are
entitled to an elementary school that is at least equivalent to that afforded to most
Anglophone students on the west side of the City of Vancouver. I am not
concerned that standard imposes constraints on the CSF. The jurisprudence clearly
establishes that, notwithstanding the existence of a school board with management
and control of the resources available to the minority language students, rightsholders may bring an action for a declaration that the facilities afforded to them are
inadequate. Section 23 gives rights to individuals; those individuals are entitled to a
remedy. Having determined that the minority language students in the City of
Vancouver have a right to facilities equivalent to those provided to their majority
language peers, this Court should not restrict its analysis of the claim for fear that
granting the declaration sought will tie the hands of the CSF to meet a standard
effectively set by majority-language school boards. The CSF itself does not raise
this objection to the comparative standard proposed by the petitioners.
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[133] The petitioners and the CSF say, in considering what facilities ought to be
afforded to the children of rights-holders, the analysis should be weighted in favour
of factors that are likely to have an impact upon a parent’s choice of school. In that exercise, the petitioners say, the structural integrity of the school may be of some
significance, but may be small in comparison with the size of the classrooms, their
aesthetic appeal, and the presence of an adequate playground.
[134] The Minister says it is not enough for the petitioners to point to certain
inadequacies in the facilities afforded to them. There must be an objective basis for
concluding those inadequacies will have an impact upon educational outcomes. The
Minister says strong educational outcomes and the generally supportive parent
satisfaction survey are evidence that the level of instruction provided to the students
in the existing facilities is sufficient to meet their needs. They say equivalence may
be addressed by looking at academic outcomes.
[135] I am of the opinion that in measuring equivalence I should look primarily to
factors that influence parental enrollment decisions. I should look to evidence of the
aesthetic qualities of the facilities and their structural integrity as well as evidence of
academic outcomes. The principal objective of avoiding linguistic assimilation
should be borne in mind. To the extent academic success contributes to enrollment
it must be considered but does not stand as a substitute for a comprehensive
measure of the equivalence of facilities.
C.
Facilities
[136] The Constitution requires the provision of full and complete education to
minority language students where numbers warrant, not a limited, partial or
truncated education, not an inferior or second-class education. The requirement that
the facilities provided to minority language students be equivalent to those provided
to the majority is clearly described in the jurisprudence as the result intended by
s. 23 of the Charter. The court must determine what is functionally equivalent. That
demands the application of common sense to the evidence before the court.
Page 50
[137] The parties have addressed the evidence from different perspectives. The
government does not challenge much of the evidence of the petitioners and the
CSF. The CSF has defined the catchment area to include all of Vancouver west of
Main Street. The CSF is obliged to receive and register as students any child of a
rights-holder living in that catchment area. Enrollment has grown and is growing.
There is no available flexible space in the school. The library is very small. The
washrooms are inadequate. The classrooms are significantly smaller than those in
other schools. The hallways are narrow and there is no storage space. The
playground is small and divided into small pieces. It is probable that the space
made available to Rose-des-vents at Jules Verne will diminish in the coming years.
Parents have moved to other schools because of crowding, inadequate facilities and
long travel times.
[138] On the other hand, the parents and the CSF do not challenge the
government’s position that academic results are reasonably good. Parents are satisfied with the quality of the instruction their children are receiving. There
continues to be high demand for enrolment at the school. Structurally the school is
sound. The number of students enrolled in each class in Rose-des-vents is more or
less equivalent to Anglophone schools. There would be more classroom space
available if there were not a daycare or pre-school at Rose-des-vents. Capacity
utilization rates would be lower if there was a global assessment of utilization for the
“co-terminous” Rose-des-vents/Jules Verne facility. The school will not be
overcrowded if only students who live reasonably close to the school are permitted
to enroll. There are Anglophone schools that may need seismic upgrades or
rectification of asbestos or lead problems more quickly than Rose-des-vents.
[139] The Minister responds to the evidence of inadequacy by saying first, that the
facilities are adequate because they meet a reasonable standard of equivalence and
do not fall below any established standard. Second, the Minister says the facilities
available on the co-terminous Rose-des-vents/Jules Verne site are sufficient to meet
the needs of the K-12 Francophone population. Further, the Minister argues, the
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facilities would not be inadequate if some were not used for “non-core activities”, if non-rights holders were not enrolled or if the catchment area is re-defined.
[140] The petitioners say the existing facilities are inadequate by any measure.
There may be almost 800 school age children of rights-holders in the catchment
area who would attend a new or larger elementary school and facilities should be
sufficient to accommodate them. The petitioners say the Rose-des-vents facilities,
inside and outside the school, are the worst afforded to elementary students in the
City of Vancouver. The hallways, classrooms, washrooms, and library are all small
and inadequate. There is overcrowding. There is inadequate room for storage for
special classes, for pre-school operations, and for activities. While the area for play
outside has been improved as a result of a contract with the City, the facilities that
are available without additional supervision are not adequate to permit the students
to engage in a broad range of recreational activities. The petitioners say the Minister
has recognized the high priority of a new Francophone school, implicitly
acknowledging the inadequacy of the current facilities.
[141] The Minister says the court should look to objective criteria such as the FCI
index, which demonstrates that the structural quality of the school building is
adequate. The Minister says overcrowding is not so problematic as to adversely
affect the quality of the education provided to the students, and the capacity
utilization at the school is not much above average.
[142] I accept the submission of the Minister that the Court should use as many
objective criteria as possible in engaging in the analysis called for by the Charter. I
place some weight upon all objective measures of equivalence in evidence. It is an
error, however, to suggest that the FCI index is particularly helpful in this case.
[143] I accept, as well, that some complaints made by parents and teachers arise
out of problems that appear to be common in elementary schools. With respect to
the K-12 configuration, the Minister says the CSF itself intends to construct purpose
built K-12 schools in other places. Anglophone districts operate K-12 schools.
Some intentionally do so to foster inter-generational learning. The evidence of the
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Minister suggests that shared elementary and secondary use of a facility may be
managed in such a manner that it is not a disincentive to enrollment. With respect to
the use of a gymnasium, the Minister leads evidence that the facilities available to
the students at Rose-des-vents are equivalent to those provided to Anglophone
students in VSB schools. It is common for classes to share gymnasiums the size of
that used by Rose-des-vents students. I am not satisfied that the gymnasium
facilities generally fall below the standard described in the Anglophone schools.
[144] However, as the petitioners argue, it is not necessary that the school be found
to be wanting in every respect. Nor is it significant that the students, like those in
Yellowknife, have some facilities that are not afforded to their Anglophone
counterparts (in this case, the access to and use of laptop computers). The question
is whether, bearing in mind all of the facilities provided to them, a disparity exists
between the facilities afforded to minority and majority language students. The
evidence, in my view, clearly establishes such a disparity.
[145] The Minister says the K-12 facilities are not inadequate. If one takes into
account the classrooms that are made available in Jules Verne and the relatively low
capacity utilization at that school, the capacity utilization of the co-terminous facility
is not unusually high. Looking at the K-12 facilities afforded to students at Rosedes-vents/Jules Verne, the school is not significantly overcrowded in comparison
with Anglophone schools and the total number of students at Rose-des-vents and
Jules Verne can be accommodated at the facility they jointly occupy. I am invited to
consider the global adequacy of the Rose-des-vents/Jules Verne facility.
[146] I reject the submission that Rose-des-vents and Jules Verne should be
considered to be one facility for the purposes of this petition. The application is
brought by the parents of elementary students in the catchment area. The question
is the adequacy of the facilities afforded to elementary school students. The
evidence clearly establishes that there are two institutions established to serve
Francophone students on the west side of the City of Vancouver, an elementary
school and a secondary school. The secondary school has permitted the
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elementary school to use some of its facilities pursuant to an agreement. There has
been some friction between the institutions. The needs of the secondary school will
increase over time and in the near future the facilities in the secondary school may
no longer be at the disposition of the primary school. The evidence before me,
however, was not tailored with a view towards assessing the needs of the secondary
school or the space available to it. The question was not framed in relation to the
joint use of facilities. At no point before argument did the Minister take the position
that it was inappropriate to address the question of the facilities afforded to
elementary students in the City of Vancouver. The CSF addresses the needs of the
elementary school population distinctly from the needs of the secondary school
population. I am not prepared to accede to the suggestion made by counsel for the
Minister in the course of argument that the question be reformulated so as to
address the collective needs of the K-12 population in the relevant catchment area.
[147] The Minister says there are very few prescribed standards for the condition of
educational facilities in British Columbia. The facilities provided for elementary
students vary greatly between schools and school districts. The petitioners cannot
establish that the facilities provided to them do not meet Provincially-mandated
standards. If the services afforded to the Francophone students in the City of
Vancouver fall within the acceptable range, then the Minister says this Court should
not grant the declaration sought.
[148] I am of the view that argument is ill-founded. The jurisprudence clearly
identifies the intent of s. 23 as remedial. Requiring government to meet only minimal
legislated standards would rob s. 23 of its remedial function. Government cannot
avoid its obligation to provide instruction and facilities to minority language students
by failing to establish standards, or establishing low standards.
[149] Turning then to the argument that the inadequacy is a result of misuse of
resources that ought to be directed to “core services”, the Minister says that use of
some of the facility for daycare or after-school care decreases the space available
for core Francophone education. I accept that only the core education is
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constitutionally protected, but the use of facilities for daycare or pre-school cannot
be ignored in comparing the facilities available to the two official language groups in
Vancouver. The evidence is that where space permits Anglophone schools can
devote space to the use of non-profit daycares and pre-schools. The evidence,
further, is that most Anglophone schools have available space and many do offer
that service. To deprive the Francophone school of the opportunity to make that
service available to its students is to cause it to be less competitive with its
Anglophone counterparts. It is true that the Constitution does not protect the
provision of such services. What it does protect, however, is equality of treatment.
It cannot be said that the availability of pre-school care in Anglophone schools is
irrelevant to the question of whether the linguistic minority is being given equivalent
treatment.
[150] Even without giving some weight to the evidence that the pre-school and
daycare are essential aspects to the development and preservation of the linguistic
community that feeds and sustains the minority education system, some weight
should be given to the capacity to operate a daycare in considering the equivalence
of the facilities afforded to the majority and minority language students and their
families. Furthermore, I am of the view that facilities available to elementary
students would compare unfavourably with most Anglophone schools in the VSB
even if no use were made of classrooms for daycare or pre-school uses.
[151] In the course of argument, the Minister raised some concerns with respect to
the registration of the children of non-rights-holders at Rose-des-vents. There was
no evidence that the number of such children forms any substantial portion of the
enrolment, and in any event, there is no support in law for the position that those
students should not be taken into account in calculating the needs of the children of
rights-holders. So long as the school is permitted by the CSF to enrol such
students, their numbers should be included in the calculation of capacity utilization
and their presence should be considered in determining whether or not adequate
facilities are made available to the children of rights-holders.
[152]
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The Minister submits that the adequacy of facilities should be assessed in
relation to the needs of students within a smaller or re-defined catchment area, such
as that portion of the City of Vancouver within reasonable commuting distance of the
existing school. That, too, amounts to recasting the question before me. The CSF
in this case has chosen to define the catchment area for purposes of analysing the
needs of Francophone elementary students as the area of Vancouver west of Main
Street. I am not asked to determine whether that is an appropriate definition of the
catchment area, but rather to determine whether the facilities afforded to the
students within the catchment area are sufficient to discharge the government’s constitutional obligations. I have considered the potential demands of all children of
rights-holders within that catchment area and, in order to determine whether the
constitutional obligation is met, compared the facilities offered to them with those
offered to the same population of students by the VSB.
D.
Accessibility
[153] As noted above, the constitutional requirement that minority language
students receive educational facilities where their numbers warrant implies that
those facilities will be accessible to the students. Accessibility is a complex
question. First, in addressing the “numbers warrant” question, it will be necessary for the courts to define the area in which the population of rights-holders is
estimated. In instances where there is a school board exercising management and
control on behalf of the rights-holders, it will usually be appropriate to leave the
description of relevant catchment areas to the board. Using the board’s definition of the catchment area, the court should then apply the sliding scale described in the
case law in addressing challenges to the adequacy of the instruction or facilities
provided. In Arsenault-Cameron, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized, at
paras. 49-50, that the pedagogical requirements of the minority need not be met in
an identical way to those of the majority. That is as true of transportation
arrangements as it is of physical facilities. The nature and extent of the facilities
afforded to students will have some impact upon transportation arrangements.
Minority language boards, like majority language boards, may decide that it is
Page 56
preferable to have students travel long distances to a larger and better-equipped
facility or, in some instances, to have students travel shorter distances to smaller
facilities, such as the VSB annexes, where they may have less options and limited
facilities. Minority language students in remote locations may prefer to be included
within the catchment area of a particular school rather than find themselves in a
situation where their numbers do not warrant a dedicated facility. It may be for that
reason that in Arsenault-Cameron the Court held that travel times that may be
reasonable for official language minority students in some circumstances cannot
absolutely govern what is appropriate in other circumstances. In ArsenaultCameron, the Court was only required to consider whether the Minister had
breached the Charter rights of the parents of minority language students by failing to
adopt the recommendation and decision of the minority language school board. The
board had therefore exercised its judgment and made a determination with respect
to appropriate travel times. The Minister was held to have acted improperly in
substituting his decision for the board’s and applying a standard that was not appropriately driven by pedagogical considerations.
[154] The CSF says there is evidence rights-holders are being discouraged from
exercising their rights as a result of long travel times to the school. The CSF is of
the view that it is being adversely and disproportionately affected by a freeze on
transportation allowances.
[155] The Minister says the court cannot establish an absolute limit on appropriate
travel times. Insofar as the CSF has determined what is acceptable, it has
established a 45 minute bus ride as the standard that ought not to be exceeded.
That is not being exceeded in Vancouver. In other areas, such as the Gulf Islands
and Gold Trail School Districts, students have longer travel times. The Ministry of
Education itself sets no standard that may be used to determine whether a student’s travel time is excessive. It says the court should look at sparsely populated districts,
rather than the City of Vancouver for comparable and reasonable travel times.
Page 57
[156] As a result of their geographic dispersal within the City of Vancouver,
Francophone students cannot reasonably expect to be able to attend a school within
walking distance of their homes. For that reason, it is reasonable for transportation
to be provided to them so that they can attend a school that is as accessible to them
as an Anglophone school would be. Schools in Vancouver are readily accessible to
Anglophone students. In order to compete with those schools, the Francophone
system must afford bus transportation to its students. It must do so without charging
them for transportation. It must establish an efficient means of transportation so that
the bus ride is not a significant disincentive to enrolment. It may be preferable for
Francophone students to travel longer than Anglophone students must travel if that
is regarded by the CSF as a means of making available to them all of the range of
activities and courses that can be afforded in a larger school. There is evidence that
some students in the Anglophone system attend at small schools or annexes in the
first few grades of elementary school that are located close to their home. These
annexes do not have the full range of facilities available to students at larger
elementary schools. The decision to use resources in this fashion is a pedagogical
decision made by educators who are in the best position to make decisions with
respect to the appropriate use of resources to achieve educational outcomes. One
disincentive may be offset by other attractions and advantages to a school.
[157] I am not prepared in this case to find that transportation afforded to students
at Rose-des-vents is inadequate in every instance where it takes a student more
than 45 minutes to get to school. I am prepared, however, given the evidence with
respect to the facilities afforded to students at Rose-des-vents, to say that long travel
times in this case are clearly not offset by superior facilities or programs, and that
together with inadequate facilities, long travel times act as a disincentive to
enrolment, preserve the status quo, and defeat the purposes of s. 23 of the Charter.
I am not prepared to grant the declaration sought to the effect that inadequate
transportation arrangements have been made for students at Rose-des-vents, any
more than I would be prepared to grant a declaration that the library alone is
inadequate. What can be said on the evidence is that, collectively, the facilities,
including transportation facilities, afforded to the children of rights-holders in the City
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of Vancouver west of Main Street are presently inadequate to meet the standard of
equivalence required to satisfy the constitutional guarantee established by s. 23.
V.
JUDGMENT
[158] I find that the petitioners are not being afforded the minority language
educational facilities guaranteed to them by s. 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights
and Freedoms. I am satisfied, weighing all the evidence of the facilities made
available to Francophone students in comparison with the facilities made available to
Anglophone students, that the former are not equivalent to the latter. I am further
satisfied that the disparity is such as to limit enrolment in the minority Francophone
program and contribute to the assimilation which is sought to be avoided by s. 23.
[159] I have weighed the evidence adduced by counsel for the Minister with respect
to the need of many school districts and the competition for scarce resources. It is
important, however, to bear in mind, as the court held in Dufferin Peel, at para. 7, the
Constitution was intended to avoid subverting rights to economic policy. The
constitutional commitment embodied in s. 23 is a compromise that serves a political
purpose and the state should be taken to have recognized the economic obligations
flowing from the commitment in s. 23 at the time the rights were embodied in the
Charter, and given constitutional substance.
[160] There will, therefore, be a declaration in favour of the parents living west of
Main Street in the City of Vancouver who have the right to have their children
receive primary school instruction in French that they are not being provided the
minority language educational facilities guaranteed to them by s. 23 of the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
[161]
I will retain jurisdiction to hear applications for any further relief that may be
sought by the Petitioners arising out of the issues raised by the pleadings.
“P. Willcock J.”
The Honourable Mr. Justice P. Willcock
Page 59
Schedule A
Rulings on admissibility
Petitioner’s Affidavits
Affidavit
Paragraphs
Objection
Ruling
Luc Morin
#1
9, 21-26,
30, 38-42
Hearsay
Wherever Mr. Morin deposes to the belief that parents
are opting to move their children or enroll them elsewhere
because of a deficiency in the facilities or travel times, his
evidence is inadmissible as to the parents’ motives.
It is admissible as some evidence there are individuals
not exercising their rights and some evidence of
assimilation.
Luc Morin
#1
10-19, 26,
34, 35
Relevance
Paragraphs 10-19 are admissible because the
relationship between the elementary and secondary
schools on the site is in issue.
Paragraph 35 is admissible, as comparative
transportation times are relevant.
Luc Morin
#1
43-48
Relevance
Evidence with respect to the transportation budget freeze
is irrelevant. It goes to capital and revenue issues that
are not before me.
Luc Morin
#1
49-57 and
61-81
Relevance
Evidence with respect to the urgency of the application is
irrelevant to the matter before me This evidence is
inadmissible.
Luc Morin
#1
49-57
Relevance
Evidence with respect to efforts to resolve the
Associations’ concerns is irrelevant and inadmissible.
Luc Morin
#2
6-12, 15-16
Relevance
The evidence of the CSF that the facilities are inadequate
is admissible and relevant. Evidence of growth in
numbers over time is relevant. Evidence the government
did not independently assess numbers of rights-holders is
also relevant. All this evidence is admissible.
Luc Morin
#2
28, 48
Hearsay
Evidence of the concerns of parents neither identified nor
testifying themselves is inadmissible.
Luc Morin
#2
49, 51 and
elsewhere
Relevance
Statements that students have been “forced to” use facilities or that activities “must be” split are not inadmissible statements of opinion. They are common
parlance, well understood by the court. Objection to this
evidence is time consuming, a waste of judicial resources
and not warranted.
Luc Morin
#2
52
Hearsay
Mr. Morin may testify to advice he has received with
respect to planning decisions.
This evidence is not adduced for the truth of the
statements made to Mr. Morin.
Luc Morin
#2
55-66
Hearsay
Evidence of the observations or opinions of parents not
identified is inadmissible to prove the truth of the
statements adduced. Mr. Morin’s summary of other affidavits is admissible but of little weight.
Page 60
Luc Morin
#2
67-68
Relevance
Evidence with respect to efforts to remedy deficiencies is
irrelevant to the questions now before me. Para. 67 is
argument and inadmissible
Steven
Fedder #1
and 2
3,6 and 8
and 3
Relevance
Dr. Fedder’s evidence of the reasons for withdrawing his child from Rose-des-vents is relevant and admissible.
Isabeau
Iqbal #1
3,7,9, 10
Relevance
Ms. Iqbal’s evidence of the reason she withdrew her child from Rose des Vents and the recent improvement in his
school life is relevant and admissible.
Isabeau
Iqbal #2
8
Relevance
A statement that students “had to play” in a cement area is not inadmissible. Its meaning is well and easily
understood.
MarieChristine
Pelletier#1
3-10
Relevance
Ms. Pelletier’s evidence of the reason she withdrew her children from Rose des Vents is relevant and admissible.
MarieChristine
Pelletier#1
8
Hearsay
Evidence of the motives of a student other than her child
is inadmissible.
MarieChristine
Pelletier#2
3-11, 13-15
Relevance/
Opinion
Ms. Pelletier’s evidence of the reason she withdrew her children from Rose des Vents is relevant and admissible.
Her description of the superior facilities at the school they
now attend is relevant. The basis for the conclusion is
set out in the affidavit.
Bernie
HadleyBeauregard
3, 6-8
Relevance
Mr. Hadley-Beauregard’s evidence of the reason he withdrew his children from Rose-des-vents is relevant
and admissible.
Quynh Doan
4-10
Relevance/
Opinion
Mr. Doan’s evidence of the reason he registered his children at Queen Mary Elementary rather than Rose des
Vents is relevant and admissible. His opinion the
facilities at the former were superior to those at the latter
is also admissible. The basis for the opinion is clear.
Phillippe Le
Billon
3-11
Relevance/
Opinion
Mr. LeBillion’s evidence of the reason he registered his children at Queen Eliizabeth Annex and the superiority of
that school to Rose-des-vents is relevant and admissible.
Nadine
Cahan
3-8,
10,12,16,
18-22
Relevance/
Opinion
Ms. Cahan’s evidence of the reason she is considering
registering her children at Quilchena Elementary and her
opinion that school is superior to Rose des Vents is
relevant and admissible. Her own comparison of Rose
des Vents with Lord Tennyson, L’Ecole Bilingue and Quilchena Schools is also admissible.
Nadine
Cahan
6-19
Hearsay
Evidence of the opinion of friends about facilities at other
schools is inadmissible.
Luce
Lafontaine
4-6
Hearsay
Ms. Lafontaine’s evidence that long bus rides may lead her to withdraw her son from Rose-des-vents is relevant
and admissible. It goes to the link between assimilation
and adequacy of transport.
Page 61
Paschale de
Kerckhove
5,7,10-13
Relevance/
Opinion
The passages in paragraphs 10-13 objected to by the
Minister are inadmissible argument and opinion. The
balance of the affidavit is admissible.
Joseph
Pagé
4
Relevance
The evidence of Mr. Pagé with respect to the efforts of
the Association to bring concerns to the attention of the
Minister is relevant because the Minister takes the
position that current enrollment is a measure of demand
for Francophone facilities or that the “numbers warrant” test should be addressed by looking at the CSF’s enrollment projections.
Respondent’s Affidavits
Affidavit
Paragraphs
Objection
Ruling
Yelenia
Wood
6, 8-11, 1522
Relevance/
Opinion
Ms. Wood’s evidence about the role of the pre-school in
the Francophone system, the demand for enrollment and
the facilities available to it is relevant and admissible, for
reasons set out in the judgment.
Nicole
Chagnon
18, 58, 64
Hearsay
All of the evidence said to be hearsay is repetition of
direct evidence in other affidavits.
Nicole
Chagnon
19, 20, 22,
23,35,3741, 48,5761,64,69,7
2-78, 81,
86, 90, 93
Relevance
Statements to the effect students were “forced to” do certain things are not inadmissible statements of opinion.
They are common parlance, well understood by the court.
Nicole
Chagnon
63,
82,84,87,8
9, 91,95
No
Foundation
These are statements of opinion without foundation.
They are inadmissible.
Jacinthe
Gautier
11,13, 14,
16, 21
27,33, 41
Relevance/
Argument
All objections to the relevance of Ms. Gautier’s evidence, particularly the evidence of language acquisition, are
unfounded.
Jacinthe
Gautier
12, 14, 19,
24, 28
No
Foundation
These are statements of opinion without foundation, they
are inadmissible.
Rodrigue
Landry#1
Entire
affidavit
Relevance/
Argument
There is no basis for the exclusion of the relevant and
helpful report of Dr. Landry from the evidence in this
case.
Nichholas
Kenny#1
Entire
affidavit
Relevance/
Opinion
The historical summary of Dr. Kenney is admissible as a
summary of reliable public records relevant to
understanding the historic context of the linguistic
minority, a factor expressly described in the jurisprudence
as relevant to the statutory objective of addressing
assimilation.
Pierre
Gallipeau
9,18,20,23
No
Foundation
These are statements of opinion without foundation. They
are inadmissible.
Ms. Chagnon’s description of the perceived advantages of early childhood education and the pre-kindergarten
and daycare programs is relevant and admissible.
Page 62
Pierre
Gallipeau
19, 22
Relevance/
Hearsay
Mr. Galipeau’s own observations are admissible and relevant; evidence of the observations of others relayed
to him is not.
Line
Thivierge
7-10,19
Relevance
There is no basis for objection to Ms. Thivierge’s evidence with respect to registration patterns or concerns
expressed by potential registrants or the difficulty making
herself heard on the telephone.
Line
Thivierge
7, 13-15,
20-22
Hearsay
Evidence of the motives of parents for registering
elsewhere is not admissible through Ms. Thivierge, but
her evidence with respect to the nature of concerns
expressed to her as registrar may be received as some
evidence of factors that may affect enrollment.
Dulciane
Houde
6,11,20,21,
23,24
Hearsay
Paragraphs 11, 20 and 24 are inadmissible. Her
evidence of the administration policy and the views
expressed to her by her students is admissible as it is not
relied upon for the truth of the views expressed.
Dulciane
Houde
20,24
No
Foundation
These are statements of opinion without foundation. They
are inadmissible.
Paul
Rostagno
3-9
Relevance
Mr. Rostagno’s evidence of the reason he registered his children at Queen Mary Elementary School and the
superiority of that school to Rose-des-vents is relevant
and admissible.
Zohra
Sehboub
13-16 22,
28-31,
33,34
Hearsay
and no
foundation
Paragraphs 22, 28, 30 and 34 are statements of opinion
without foundation and are inadmissible. The balance of
the evidence that is a summary of direct evidence
deposed to elsewhere, and a description of the observed
effect of the circumstances described upon students is
admissible.
Shahpar
Shoaï
8,9,11, 13
16, 18, 22,
27
Mario Cyr
17-24,
26-29,
34, 37,40,
41, 43,
47-49,
51, 52
Relevance
Mr. Cyr’s affidavit is relevant to the history of the current situation on the Jules Verne/Rose-des-vents common
site and the status and role of the pre-school and after
school programs, issues raised and addressed by the
Minister.
Hugo Voyer
11-22
Relevance
Mr. Voyer’s evidence is relevant to the status and role of the French-language daycare program, an issue raised
and addressed by the Minister.
Stéphane
Lebihan
23
Relevance
The objection to this affidavit demonstrates excessive
zeal on the part of counsel. The objection is to
Mr. Lebihan saying Rose-des-vents “does not or is not able to offer” certain programs. The Minister does not object to Mr. Lebihan saying the program is not offered
but objects to Mr. Lebihan saying that perhaps it cannot
offer the program. The statement is not objectionable in
light of the balance of the facts deposed to by the affiant.
The objection is time-consuming and a waste of judicial
resources.
Paragraphs 18, 22 and 27 are statements of opinion
without foundation, they are inadmissible. The balance of
the affidavit is relevant and admissible.
Page 63
MarieAndrée
Asselin
9, 14, 18,
21, 23-31,
33-34
Relevance
Ms. Asselin’s description of disincentives to registration at CSF schools, the importance of proximity in attracting
volunteer parents, and the role and importance of preschool and daycare programs is relevant and admissible.
Paragraph 14 is hearsay and inadmissible.
Jean-Pierre
Gauthier
9-12,
23,2631,33
Relevance,
Hearsay
Mr. Gauthier’s evidence with respect to the Frenchlanguage daycare, afterschool and kindergarten
programs is relevant and admissible. His evidence of his
own observations of the facilities available at VSB
schools is admissible. That which is hearsay is
inadmissible.
Claude
Giroux
22, 23,25
Relevance
Mr. Giroux’s evidence of his efforts to re-schedule events
so as to permit more efficient use of the gym is
admissible. So is his evidence of the effect of space
constraints on sports programs.
Laurent
Brisebois
18-21,31
Hearsay/R
elevance
Mr. Brisebois’ evidence that the sharing of the Jules Verne/Rose-des-vents site was expected to be temporary
is relevant to the question whether the collective facilities
should be considered.
Kelly
Grittner
19, 3038,42, 4547,52-54,
56,57, 65
Relevance/
Hearsay
and
Opinion
The evidence in paragraphs 19 and 30-38, 42 and 52
relates to whether the CSF is making the most efficient
use of its Rose-des-vents transportation budget. That
matter is now irrelevant to the issue before me. The
evidence in paragraphs 45-47 is not hearsay and is
relevant and admissible. The evidence in paragraphs 5457 and 65 is inadmissible as argument.
Sylvain
Allison#4
39,41,44,4
7,48,53,55,
60,7276,80-85
Relevance
The history of the modification of the school to create the
present configuration is relevant to the capacity
evaluation and to understand classroom size.
Mr. Allison’s evidence with respect to his son’s registration in Jules Verne is relevant evidence of
overcrowding in the shared facility, which goes to the
continued availability of space for elementary school
classes in the secondary school building. The evidence
in paragraphs 80-85 is irrelevant insofar as it goes to
possible solutions to transport problems, an issue not
before me.
Sylvain
Allison#4
57,70-71
Hearsay
Evidence of advice received by Mr. Allison as secretarytreasurer of the CSF is admissible if it is not adduced for
the truth of the advice.
Réjean
Gosselin
11
Hearsay
This hearsay is inadmissible.
LucieMaude
Desroches
11,18,23,3
1-32,33
No
foundation
and
hearsay
Ms. Desroches does not depose to any experience as a
VSB teacher. There is no apparent foundation for her
evidence with respect to conditions in VSB schools. This
evidence is inadmissible.
Myléne
Boulanger
12-15,
21,22,25,2
8,30,36
Hearsay
and
relevance
Ms. Boulanger’s evidence is all admissible, with the exception of paragraph 36, where she repeats the
hearsay evidence of a mother.
Page 64
Annie
Bédard
13-18, 20,
22,24-26,
2830,33,38,3
9
Relevance,
opinion,
argument
All of Ms. Bédard’s evidence, which is primarily about her experience as principal of the French Language
secondary program that preceded the CSF program at
Jules Verne is relevant to the context of the application.
It is not so argumentative as to be inadmissible.
Claude
Martin
8-30,32-34
Relevance
and
Foundation
The evidence of the principal of Jules Verne with respect
to the importance of sports programs, and the limitations
of shared space and the problems sharing the space has
posed are all relevant and admissible.
Angéline
Martel
Entire
affidavit
Expert
opinion
Angeline Martel’s evidence of observations on her
inspection of VSB elementary schools is admissible.
Angéline
Martel
8,9,10,14,1
6, 17,
62,64,69,7
8, 113, 115
No
foundation
or hearsay
The foundation for the opinions expressed is apparent.
The adjectives used by Ms. Martel are unobjectionable.
Richard
Leduc
19, 22,
25,26, 29,
31, 33, 35,
37, 38
No
foundation,
Relevance,
Hearsay
Mr. Leduc does not depose to any experience at VSB
schools that would serve a foundation for his evidence
with respect to conditions in VSB schools in paragraphs
19, 22, 25, 31, 33, 35, and 38. That and paragraph 37 is
inadmissible.
Carole
Massé
9-15, 17,
18, 25, 27,
29,30, 3541
Relevance,
hearsay,
foundation
The evidence of the former principal of Rose-des-vents
with respect to the history of the facility is not admissible
as to issues going to decision-making or responsibility,
but is admissible as evidence as to context and intended
use of the shared facility. Paragraphs 18, 25, 30 and 35
are without foundation and inadmissible. Her evidence
with respect to the value of early learning programs is
admissible.
Sylvain
Allison
2,4, 8, 9,
11-16, 2252
Relevance,
hearsay
The evidence of shared use of the space is relevant to
the minister’s position that the shared space is available to Rose-des-vents. The description of the arrangements
for use of modulars is relevant.
Paragraphs 23-51, speaking to the announcement of
plans for a new school are irrelevant as is evidence of
funding of other VSB capital expenditures.
Shannie
Harvey
16-18, 25, 36,
39-43, 45,
51-52, 55, 57,
59-60, 62, 64,
73, 76, 79, 81,
83, 86, 87, 88,
93, 96, 98,
100-101, 104,
114, 117-120,
123-124, 131,
134-136, 141142, 145-146,
148, 153, 156,
159, 160, 165,
168-170, 173174, 180-181,
184-190-191,
194, 197, 201,
204, 211, 214,
224, 230-234,
237, 242, 245
Page 65
Opinion/
Argument
Shannie Harvey’s evidence of observations on her inspection of VSB elementary schools is admissible.
Evidence that a school appears to be “spacious”, “functional”, “accommodating” or “big” is all admissible.
Shannie
Harvey
19-20, 98,
100, 110111, 160,
198, 215,
222, 223
Hearsay
The specific hearsay evidence in the affidavit of
Ms. Harvey, statements made to her by VSB staff
members with respect to their facilities and programs, is
admissible as necessary and reliable evidence. It comes
from an evidently reliable source and is practically
necessary to describe the English-language facilities in
an efficient manner.
Shannie
Harvey
34-35, 107,
119, 129,
137, 163,
247
Relevance
All the evidence of Ms. Harvey is relevant to the issue
before me.
PascaleSara
Frenette
5-16,
18,19, 2324
Relevance,
opinion,
argument
Ms. Frenette’s evidence of the reason she did not enroll her daughter at Rose-des-vents is relevant and
admissible.
Michelle
Marsan
8, 9, 14,
19, 21-26,
28,30-31,
34-35, 3740, 46-49,
Relevance,
opinion,
hearsay
Ms. Marsan’s evidence of observations on her inspection of VSB schools is admissible. The specific hearsay
evidence in the affidavit of Ms. Marsan, a statement
made to her by a VSB staff member with respect to their
facilities and programs, is admissible as necessary and
reliable evidence.

in the supreme court of british columbia

Transcription

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