Bill 40: Court of Appeal sides with English boards over Quebec government reforms

By Canadian Press on April 3, 2025.

MONTREAL — Quebec’s Court of Appeal has upheld a lower-court ruling that found a provincial law abolishing school boards violated English-language minority education rights.

The Quebec English School Boards Association called today’s decision a recognition of the anglophone community’s constitutional right to manage and control its institutions.

It expressed hope that the province would not seek to appeal the “crystal-clear decision” to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Quebec Superior Court ruled in 2023 that the province’s school board law infringed linguistic minority education rights, guaranteed in Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The law, which was adopted in February 2020, replaced French school boards with so-called service centres, but measures affecting English school boards were stayed pending the outcome of the court challenge.

Education Minister Bernard Drainville declined to comment, with a spokesman saying his office is studying the ruling.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2025.

The Canadian Press