Eviction of francophone preschools in Vancouver renews debate over minority language rights

When francophone parent Olivier Baenninger moved to Vancouver in 2011, he fully expected his children would be schooled in French.

Baenninger grew up in Geneva and later studied political science at McGill, where he learned about Pierre Trudeau's push for a multicultural society, including making French education available across Canada. 

"Vancouver is growing and becoming more international, and we should be welcoming to this plurality," said Baenninger.

"And part of that is allowing for bilingual education as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is supposed to allow for."

But Baenninger says his children struggle with the language, especially in a minority setting. Their difficulties persist even though the children attend francophone schools and despite being spoken to at home in French. 

So he was shocked to find out late last month that the francophone school board is evicting the preschools and daycares from the grounds of two of its schools to make more space for students by September.

"It's the whole French, francophone, preschool system that's in jeopardy right now," he said.

Heated debate

On Saturday morning, more than 20 parents showed up at a tense meeting at the francophone school board in Richmond to express their dismay at the closures, which affect more than 40 children.

Currently the parents rent the space at École Rose-des-Vents and Anne Hébert for $1 per year from the school board, and they run the preschool and daycare themselves.  

The board's president, Marie-France Lapierre, says it supports the preschools in principle and is trying to find other solutions, but there's only so much it can do. 

"Our mandate at the school board is kindergarten to Grade 12," she said. "When there's no more space, our priority is for the students."

While Vancouver's anglophone schools may be suffering from declining enrolment, its few francophone schools — which operate fully in French and are separate from immersion programs — are overflowing. 

Supreme Court backs parents

In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the rights of students at École Rose des Vents in Vancouver had been violated because the school was too small and had inadequate washrooms and library space.

And in September, the B.C. Supreme Court agreed that some aspects of French-language education in B.C. were underfunded and ordered the B.C. Education Ministry to put aside capital funding specific to the French schools.

But the judge also said there was no requirement for B.C. to provide early childhood education in French under the charter. 

So the school board upheld its decision, and now Baenninger says the parents are struggling to find a new space for the preschool.

Few options available

They hoped to buy a second-hand portable to put on the school grounds to keep it as close to the actual school as possible, but he said a new one wouldn't be ready by September. 

As for leasing an entirely new space, Baenninger says there's no way the proper licensing could be put in place by September. 

There is one private francophone preschool he knows of, but says it too has more demand than it can accommodate. 

Which leaves Baenninger and the rest of the parents with little choice but to put their children in a preschool that teaches partially in French, or even in English. 

"That's not what I signed up for when I moved here," he said.