Summerside's French school, community centre gets $10M for upgrades

The provincial and federal governments announced a major investment Thursday to expand the Centre-Belle Alliance in Summerside, which includes the French school.

Project includes 20,000 square foot expansion to French school

Brittany Spencer · CBC News · Posted: Mar 14, 2019 5:21 PM EDT | Last Updated: March 14, 2019

P.E.I.'s Education Minister Jordan Brown and federal Minister of Tourism and Official Languages Mélanie Joly at the announcement of a major expansion for Summerside's French school and cultural centre. (Brittany Spencer/CBC)

The provincial and federal governments announced a major investment Thursday to expand the Centre-Belle Alliance, which includes the French school, in Summerside.

The $10 million project will include renovations to the building's community facilities and a 20,000-square-foot expansion to École-sur-Mer.

The school's principal Karen Leblanc said the funding will create new classrooms including a new woodworking and mechanic shop, as well as improving science labs, cooking spaces and the gymnasium.

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'Opportunity to finish school here'

"Right now the way we're set up, we can only offer the minimal amount of physical education," Leblanc said. "Because it's going to be expanded then we can offer all the courses that we need to offer."

The plan for expansion at the school and cultural centre shows new construction in yellow. (Province of P.E.I. )

Leblanc said there are about 200 students at the school today and most of them are in younger grades. As they transition up to higher grades, the school needed more space to accommodate them and their learning needs, she added.

She said limited space has made it hard for students to stay at the school through their high school years.

"This is very important for the French-speaking population and for our Acadian population to have an opportunity to finish school here and have enough room to be able to have all the students," Leblanc said.

$10 million in funding

The federal government will pay $3 million toward renovating and expanding community and school spaces in Centre Belle-Alliance, focusing on the library, kitchen and child-care centre.

'If you don't use it then you are going to lose it and this is why we need these schools, these community centres,' says French education advocate Noella Arsenault, right, with Mélanie Joly. (Brittany Spencer/CBC)

Last year in its capital budget the province announced it would give more than $5 million to the project, and Thursday it increased that to more than $7 million.

Federal Minister of Tourism and Official Languages Mélanie Joly also announced nearly $500,000 in federal funding for seven P.E.I. organizations that aim to preserve and promote French language and culture.

"I think that all Islanders can be proud of having a resilient French community," Joly said. "We want to make sure that we can bridge both communities and also that we can strengthen part of our national DNA which is the equal status of French and English in our country."

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Construction to begin this summer

Noella Arsenault began advocating for a French school in Summerside more than 20 years ago, taking her fight all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada — in 2002, Ecole-sur-Mer was built. Students from the area who wanted French education previously had to be bused to Wellington to attend Ecole Evangeline.

'We can offer all the courses that we need to offer,' says principal Karen Leblanc of the expansion. (Province of P.E.I. )

The school has continued to add higher grades and classrooms piecemeal over the years including junior high in 2012.

Attending Thursday's announcement and beaming with pride, Arsenault said her dream became that much bigger.

Arsenault said creating more spaces where French speakers can gather, learn and most importantly speak French is key for the community to thrive.

"Practice, practice, practice. If you don't use it you're going to lose it," Arsenault said.

"This is why we need these schools, these community centres for the population to be able to embrace the culture and that is how we're going to preserve and flourish."

Construction on the school is expected to begin this July and take about a year. The French Language School Board says its sights are set on growth at École-sur-Mer, and it hopes to see the number of students double in the next ten years.