Fundraising campaign on for court challenge to Quebec education reforms

English-speaking organizations battling Bill 40 Several English-speaking organizations are taking the Quebec government to court over changes to education in the province.

MONTREAL — The Ligue d'aciton civique and parents of students are launching a fundraising campaign to fuel their challenge to Bill 40, the law changing school governance in Quebec.

During a press conference on Friday in Montreal, the groups said they wanted to challenge the law, particularly on two points: having to pay a school tax without being able to vote in school elections and alleged discrimination by the fact school elections will be maintained within the English-speaking communities, but not French-speaking ones.

They hope to raise $100,000 to finance a future court challenge to the law.

The former president of the Commission scolaire de Montréal, Catherine Harel-Bourdon, and the executive director of the Quebec English School Boards Association, Russell Copeman, were at the news conference.

The Ligue d'action civique was founded to promote citizen participation and will serve as trustee to raise funds through its website.

Bill 40 transformed school boards into school service centres and abolished school board elections in French-speaking communities. The law provides for several other provisions, relating to the training of teachers and the mechanisms for reviewing student grades, among others.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2020.