The B.C. Supreme Court has ordered the provincial government to pass a law within six months providing the Francophone School Board with powers to expropriate private property to build new French-language schools.
The court found that, unlike other school boards in B.C., the Francophone School Board is the only one without expropriation powers despite it having the “greatest need” for new schools.
The board says in a statement that the ruling posted this week is a “partial victory,” recognizing its challenges compared to other school boards, and it acknowledges that Vancouver does not provide “equivalent education” in French.
Board president Marie-Pierre Lavoie says the court ruling gives the board “access to better tools to support its hard work in finding sites and building schools.”…