Funding Requested for a New French-Language Catholic High School in Hamilton

The CSDCCS is outraged

TORONTO, March 25, 2014 /CNW/ - The Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud (CSDCCS) is outraged to see that the rights of the French-speaking Catholic community to have school facilities equal to those of the majority have been ignored, once again, by the Ontario Ministry of Education.

For years, the CSDCCS has been calling for the necessary funding to provide an adequate school building for its high school students. Last November, it initiated legal proceedings against the Ontario government. However, on Friday, March 21, the Ontario Ministry of Education has announced funding to build a new English public high school in Hamilton. The CSDCCS however, is still left waiting.

"The Ministry of Education missed a good opportunity to show its support of the French-speaking Catholic population" mentioned Nathalie Dufour-Séguin, CSDCCS's President. "The government has turned a deaf ear and is refusing to recognize the urgency in meeting its constitutional obligations towards French Catholics in Hamilton. The CSDCCS is currently exploring all other possible legal and political courses to make this government understand."

The announcement made by the Ministry of Education highlights the government's stubborn refusal to meet the needs of the French-speaking Catholic community in Hamilton, Brant and Haldimand-Norfolk for a new high school. This refusal contributes to the assimilation of young francophones when already too many of them are turning to English high schools that are outfitted with more attractive and modern infrastructures.

The ministry of Education has refused funding for a new building at Académie catholique Mère-Teresa high school.

"We do not intend to let this injustice slide. The French-speaking Catholic population has been waiting for 15 years and is no longer willing to settle for just a few scraps" added Ms. Dufour-Séguin. "It is more than time for the government to fill the growing gap between Francophones and Anglophones with respect to the school facilities that both communities should have access to."

CSDCCS's school trustees are seeking parent and community support to demand, with a strong and united voice, from their member in the Ontario provincial parliament their right to modern school facilities equal to those in the majority.

The Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud welcomes this year more than 15,000 students, with its 44 elementary schools and 10 high schools based on a territory more than 40,000 km² stretching from the Niagara Peninsula to Peterborough and from Lake Ontario (Toronto) to the Georgian Bay. Its head office is located in Toronto.

SOURCE: Conseil Scolaire de District Catholique Centre-Sud

Mikale-Andrée Joly, Director, Corporate Relations, Tel.: [phone] ext. 73130, 1-800-274-3764 ext. 73130, [email protected]