By Michael Boriero – Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Quebec’s education reform law, Bill 40, which would eliminate English school boards and turn them into school service centres, is back in the province’s Superior Court on April 14.
The legal challenge against the controversial law has been at a standstill for months, after Quebec Superior Court Justice Sylvain Lussier ruled that the new law would not apply to English school boards in the province in August 2020.
Lussier’s decision was subsequently upheld in Quebec’s Court of Appeal nearly a month later in September. The Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA), which is supported by all nine English language school boards, filed an injunction against the bill in May 2020.
According to QESBA Executive Director Russell Copeman, the importance of autonomy and independence at the local level has been magnified during the pandemic. The French school service centres don’t have as much freedom to make local decisions, he explained.
