Supreme Court orders French school in P.E.I.

Francophone students in small communities do have the Constitutional right to an education in French, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Thursday.

The decision prompted a group of parents to pop champagne corks in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, where the province had refused to build a French school.

An ecstatic Noelle Arsenault-Cameron, who led the campaign, explained what the ruling meant to her family.

"Well my kids are too old, they won't be able to attend school in Summerside. I wish they could have been, but my grandchildren will be able to benefit from this," she said with tears in her eyes.

The government argued there weren't enough francophone students in the town of about 14,500 to justify the expense.

But parents said it was a guaranteed right, and that they were fighting for the very survival of their culture because fewer children are speaking French in their part of Canada.

"It is clearly necessary to take into account the importance of language and culture in the context of instruction, as well as the importance of official-language, minority schools to the development of the official-language community, when examining the actions of a government in dealing with the request for services in Summerside," the Supreme Court said.

The charter section dealing with language rights is aimed at "redressing past injustices and providing the official-language minority with equal access to high-quality education in its own language in circumstances where community development will be enhanced," the justices added.

Summerside's francophone community has about 900 members -- about 150 of them are students in Grades 1 to 6. The nearest French school is in Abrams Village, roughly 30 kilometres away.

In 1997, a judge ruled that francophone children in Summerside have the right to a French education at an English school in the town -- a compromise solution.

But the province challenged the decision, and an appeal court overturned the ruling in 1998.

The French school board already has plans for more schools in other P.E.I. communities.

"So what is left to do is establish French language schools in the areas where we believe there is an important concentration of Acadian and francophones," said Supt. Gabriel Arsenault.

The parents and the French school board say they'd like a school built by September, but the province's education minister hasn't committed to any time frame yet.

Lawyers say the high court ruling could change the way governments deliver education to minority groups across the country.