English Montreal School Board launches another lawsuit against Legault government

Joe Ortona, chair of the English Montreal School Board. (CTV News file)

It’s the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) versus the Legault government all over again.

Quebec’s largest English-language school board has launched another legal battle against the province over alleged violations of the rights of Quebec’s minority language community.

The EMSB is taking aim at provisions in Bill 94, passed into law on Oct. 30, 2025. It replaces the elected commissioners on a committee that manages and distributes school tax revenue to the two English-language school boards on the Island of Montreal — the EMSB and the Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) — with the director general of the school board.

• READ MORE: Legault leaves behind major bills still facing constitutional challenges

EMSB Chair Joe Ortona claims that unlike the elected commissioners, directors general are not accountable directly to the English-speaking community and that under the changes in Bill 94, the majority of the people sitting on the Comité de gestion de la taxe scolaire de l’île de Montréal (CGTSIM) would be appointed by the provincial government.

“So there’s absolutely no local control anymore,” Ortona said in an interview Tuesday.

According to a lawsuit filed in Quebec Superior Court last month, the bill infringes on section 23 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which “guarantees the minority language community a degree of management and control over minority language educational facilities.”

“The Government was reckless or willfully blind” regarding the unconstitutionality of provisions of Bill 94 that attack the management and control rights protected by section 23, the lawsuit argues.

The EMSB said it requested a meeting last October with Education Minister Sona LeBel to discuss concerns with the bill, but received no response, according to the lawsuit. The document also says that the EMSB and LBPSB sent the minister a joint letter on Dec. 4, 2025, to request a meeting, which was also ignored.

Marylène Le Houillier, a spokesperson for Education Minister Sonia LeBel, said her office would not comment on the lawsuit since it is before the court.

School taxes represent roughly 17 per cent of the EMSB’s revenues in the 2025-2026 school year and are managed by the CGTSIM. Of the $73 million in tax revenue, approximately $6 million was allocated for school transportation. The lawsuit says the remainder of the tax revenue is used to pay for school administration salaries, commissioner remuneration, adult education expenses, repairs and building maintenance, caretaking and energy costs.

‘Historic’ Bill 40 ruling back us up, EMSB says

In its legal filing, the EMSB says its case is bolstered by its legal victory in April 2025 when Quebec’s Court of Appeal ruled parts of Bill 40 were unconstitutional when it sought to replace English school boards with school service centers. In that case, a panel of three appeal court judges agreed that the bill violated the section 23 rights that allow certain individuals who are not members of the linguistic minority in Quebec to vote and run in school board elections for the English-language education sector. Anglophone groups called it a “historic decision.”

The Quebec government has asked the Supreme Court of Canada to hear its appeal of that decision.

“In the Bill 40 case, the Court of Appeal of Québec confirmed the minority language community’s right to choose its representatives as well as its right to management and control over the allocation of funding,” the EMSB stated in its new lawsuit against Bill 94.

“The Court notably declared invalid provisions replacing the chair, an elected commissioner, with the director general as the spokesperson of the board, recognizing that the director general did not have the same role and freedom to act as the chair, chosen by the linguistic minority to represent it.”

Ortona said the province simply wants to centralize control over education and has been trying to do so since the CAQ came into power.

“Their idea is, well, we’re going to get rid of all of the democratic autonomy that exists in education. We’re going to get rid of all of the democratic elections. We’re going to get rid of all of the democratically elected officials and we’re just going to appoint wherever we want and we’re going to do whatever we want,” he said.

The EMSB is asking the court to declare that three sections of Bill 94 infringe on Charter rights and do not apply to English-language school boards. It is also asking the court to order the Quebec Attorney General to pay $250,000 in compensatory and punitive damages plus interest.

The EMSB is a frequent critic of the Legault government. It’s involved in several other lawsuits concerning other controversial bills, including ones against Bill 21 (secularism), Bill 96 (language reform), and Bill 40.