
Quebec seeks leave to appeal school board reform ruling to Supreme Court of Canada
A spokesperson for Quebec's justice minister confirmed this week the province will appeal a ruling from the Quebec Court of Appeal rendered in April.T
That ruling upheld a Quebec Superior Court decision from August 2023 which found the province's law abolishing school boards violates linguistic minority education rights, guaranteed in Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The law, known as Bill 40, was adopted in February 2020 and transformed French schools boards, which were governed by elected commissioners, into service centres run by a board of directors overseen by the province.
The Court of Appeal said last month that the law "radically alters the mission of these school service centres compared to school boards."
The law's measures affecting English school boards were stayed pending the outcome of the court challenge.
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Lester B. Pearson School Board to join budget- cut lawsuit against Quebec government
Another English Montreal school board has joined a lawsuit against the Quebec government over budget cuts in education. The Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) is the latest to join the Quebec English School Board (QESBA)'s legal challenge after a unanimous vote Thursday night. It threatened to sue the province in late July, and the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) voted to take part on Monday. QESBA is challenging Quebec's education budgetary rules and wants them stayed. Last June, LBPSB's Council of Commissioners also adopted a resolution calling on Quebec to reverse cuts. The province is demanding its education network slash a total of $567.7 million from the 2025-2026 fiscal year: English school boards and French-language service centres were asked to cut $510.8 million, and private schools an additional $56.9 million. The school boards taking part in the lawsuit say the budget measures imposed on the entire education system are 'unreasonable and unworkable,' preventing them from presenting balanced budgets. 'As minority language school boards in Canada, English school boards are entitled to specific rights — including the authority to manage and allocate resources in ways that best serve our communities,' said the LBPSB in a news release. LBPSB Chairperson Judy Kelley says the nine English school boards under QESBA were looking at how it could be beneficial for them to join the lawsuit separately as they are all uniquely affected. She says schools are still in the process of budget correcting after the announced cuts, followed by Education Minister Bernard Drainville reinvesting some $540 million into the system, with strings attached. 'There's very specific attachments to how we can use that money. It's a real juggling act to see if you can counter some of the original budgetary regulations and rules with the new money or not,' she told CTV News. She pushed back against Drainville saying the government has increased its spending in education in its provincial budget, saying the reality is more complex. For example, teachers signed a new collective agreement that enshrined salary increases so labour is more expensive, on top of inflation. School boards also manage buildings, handle maintenance, provide services for students in school, transportation, and more. 'Imagine in all the costs in running a school board. It's not just about paying a teacher's salary to be in a classroom,' she said. 'There's so much that goes on and, in every area, costs have risen, and the funds given do not begin to match what the costs are.' Kelley stresses that all budget compressions affect student services in one way or another. The school board is confident Quebec's courts will side with them in a timely decision 'that safeguards the future of [its] students.'


CTV News
19 minutes ago
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As memories fade, Canadians mark 80 years since the end of the Second World War
Chief of the Defence Staff Jennie Carignan, centre, salutes after placing a wreath during a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Pacific and the end of the Second World War at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick OTTAWA — Relatives of war veterans gathered at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Friday to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender and the official end of the Second World War. Sweat poured down the faces of those assembled in the August midday heat as the Canadian Armed Forces bugler performed the Last Post. Michael Babin, president of the Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association, said there are no living veterans remaining out of the nearly 2,000 Canadians who took part in the Battle of Hong Kong in December 1941. He said the last known veteran from that fight died a little more than a year and a half ago, at the age of 106. Babin is one of many with direct ties to the war who expressed the concern on Friday that the history of that battle — and the stories of the many Canadians who fought and died there — are not being passed on to younger generations. 'There are no veterans left any more to tell their stories, so it's up to us — the children and the grandchildren — to tell their stories and to remember them,' he said. 'Most Canadians don't (know about this battle) because most of the action took place in Europe and that's what Canadians heard about and that's what's taught in the schools. But to send 2,000 men and two nursing sisters to Hong Kong was significant, and all of them were volunteers.' Babin said that of the 1,975 Canadian volunteers who went to Hong Kong, only 1,418 returned — 290 were killed in the battle and others later died as prisoners. His own father, Alfred Babin, was released from nearly four years of captivity as a prisoner of war on Aug. 15, 1941. Mitzi Ross said her father, Lance Ross, was hit in the neck by shrapnel but survived the battle. He was captured and sent to Japan to work in a mine as a prisoner of war. 'All of the men that were in these camps had to work in mines or shipyards, things like that. It was really a horrible, horrible experience. When they came back they all had PTSD but nobody knew what it was at the time,' she said. 'They all had hard lives after their return (to Canada).' Francois Vigneault, a retired captain who served 36 years with the Royal Canadian Air Force, said his father's cousin, Laureat Vigneault, was killed in the Battle of Hong Kong. He said his body was never recovered and, thanks to a bureaucratic error, it took his family years to learn that he had been killed in action. 'For me, it's a very important battle (but) it's very unknown for Canadians,' he said. Anne Okaley said her father became a PoW after the Hong Kong conflict; she's still researching what his exact role was in the battle. Okaley said she worries about people forgetting these stories as time passes — and the risk of grim history repeating itself. 'I just hope the memory carries on,' she said. 'We're not going to be here forever to carry it on, so I'm really grateful for my nephew who is going to carry the torch forward.' By Kyle Duggan.


CTV News
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Outlook for Canada's trade relationship with the U.S.
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