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<h1 class="gmail-detailHeadline">English-speaking dad makes human rights complaint over French school division policy</h1><h2 class="gmail-deck">Superintendent says if complaint successful, English schools will likely have to change policies too</h2><div class="gmail-byline"><div class="gmail-bylineDetails">CBC News<span class="gmail-bullet"> · </span><time class="gmail-timeStamp" datetime="2018-06-01T02:49:42.338Z">Posted: May 31, 2018 9:49 PM CT | Last Updated: 11 hours ago</time></div></div><div><span class="gmail-imageMedia gmail-leadmedia-story gmail-full"><div class="gmail-placeholder"><div class="gmail-placeholderImage gmail-aspect-56"></div><img alt="" src="https://i.cbc.ca/1.4686943.1527816504!/fileImage/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/16x9_780/brian-benes.png" class="gmail-loaded gmail-largeImage"></div><span class="gmail-leadimage-caption">Brian
Benes says he doesn't want Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine schools
to change how they operate day-to-day, but he wants to be accommodated. (Radio-Canada)</span></span><div class="gmail-commentCount"><div class="gmail-viafoura"><a class="gmail-commentCount-link" href="http://www.cbc.ca/"><span class="gmail-vf-counter gmail-vf-widget">0</span><span> comments</span></a><span class="gmail-commentCount-icon"></span></div></div><div class="gmail-story"><span><p>A
Manitoba dad has filed a human rights complaint after he says officials
at his children's French-language school won't send school notices in
English.</p><p>"All I would like is for DSFM to develop a different
attitude towards me," said Brian Benes, whose two daughters attend École
Lagimodière, part of the
Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine, in Lorette.</p><p>"I would like to
be treated like everybody else in the school division, and I would like
them to respect my requests for an accommodation to assist me due to my
English culture … and I would like them to form a policy that allows
them to accommodate any other future English parents."</p><p>Benes and
his ex-wife, who is Francophone, enrolled their children in the division
years ago, when the couple was still together, he said.</p><p>The kids
stayed in the division after Benes and his wife divorced, he said, but
he doesn't speak French and can't read notes sent home from the school.</p><div><span><ul class="gmail-similarLinks"><li class="gmail-similarListItem"><a class="gmail-similarLink" href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/partners-for-french-education-bureau-manitoban-1.4400256"><span class="gmail-similarLinkText">Province's handling of French education shows 'lack of respect,' say concerned parents, teachers</span></a></li></ul></span><span><ul class="gmail-similarLinks"><li class="gmail-similarListItem"><a class="gmail-similarLink" href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/teachers-funding-rally-education-1.4679192"><span class="gmail-similarLinkText">'Kids not cuts': Manitoba teachers march on legislature for increased funding</span></a></li></ul></span></div><p>He
said he's spoken to teachers and school officials in English, but has
been told schools in the division will only distribute written materials
in French, except when related to health or emergencies.</p><p>Last
week, he says his younger daughter was vaccinated at school but received
a note in French. School division superintendent Alain Laberge said
that material was provided by the health authority, and he sent Benes a
link to the English information himself.</p><p>About a month ago, Benes filed a complaint with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission challenging the division's policy.</p><p>"For
them to refuse to communicate me in so many different aspects, it hurts
and it's frustrating because I am a very involved parent in my
children's life," he said.</p><p>"I'm a positive parent like most
parents, but I've never been able to be involved in their schooling
because of the language barriers."</p><h2>'This is our soul'</h2><p>Superintendent
Laberge said the policy has been in place since the DSFM was created in
1994, and comes from the Manitoba school law that created it. That law
requires the DSFM to administrate its schools in French.</p><p>He said
it's no different from how English-language schools provide written
material to parents in English. Providing materials in both languages
would make DSFM schools essentially the same as immersion schools, he
added.</p><p>"We do understand that some parents can't understand. They
made a choice to send their kids to a French school. They divorced, it's
unfortunate, I understand that," he said.</p><p>"But this is our mandate. This is our soul."</p><div><span><ul class="gmail-similarLinks"><li class="gmail-similarListItem"><a class="gmail-similarLink" href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-students-school-low-test-scores-1.4641304"><span class="gmail-similarLinkText">Manitoba scores improve but students still last in reading, science, math</span></a></li></ul></span></div><p>Laberge
said more than 65 per cent of parents in the division are in exogenous
couples — where only one of them speaks French — and guessed about five
or six per cent of parents don't speak French at all. The division has
had calls from parents concerned about the policy in the past, he said,
but it's never been challenged by a human rights complaint.</p><div><span><span class="gmail-imageMedia gmail-image gmail-full"><div class="gmail-placeholder"><div class="gmail-placeholderImage gmail-aspect-56" style="padding-bottom:56.29%"></div><img alt="" src="https://i.cbc.ca/1.4686948.1527816541!/fileImage/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/original_780/ecole-lagimodiere.png" class="gmail-loaded gmail-largeImage"></div><span class="gmail-leadimage-caption">Benes's two daughters attend École Lagimodière in Lorette, Man. (Radio-Canada)</span></span></span></div><p>He said the division and its legal counsel are co-operating with the Human Rights Commission.</p><p>"We
leave the answer to them," he said. "If they're telling us that we need
to translate everything, we need to sit down and change our policy —
which, by the way, will probably mean that the English school division
will have to change its policy as well."</p><p>Benes said he's been told
by the commission that mediation of the complaint will begin in the
next four to six weeks. He said he doesn't want to change the way the
division runs its schools, but he wants accommodation.</p><p>"I fully
believe in the reasoning why DSFM was created," he said. "I understand
the reasoning behind it, the legislation behind it, but I think they've
gone too far and they just need to accommodate me."</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p></span></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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