The Vancouver School Board (VSB) is encouraged that the Court recognized our good faith efforts to support French-language education. VSB was substantially successful in its defence of the recent case initiated by the Conseil Scolaire Francophone de la Colombie-Britannique (the "Conseil") against His Majesty the King in Right of the Province of British Columbia, the Ministry of Education and Child Care, and the VSB, 2025 BCSC 962. The proceedings related, in part, to the Conseil’s claim that it is entitled to the freehold transfer of specific school sites from the VSB to the Conseil. The Conseil was seeking the transfer of the QEA site, the Laurier Annex site, and the Dr. A.R. Lord site.

On March 11, 2024, approximately five months before the start of the 117-day trial, the VSB offered the Conseil a 99-year lease of QEA and proposed negotiations to subdivide and co-develop the A.R. Lord Elementary site to meet the Conseil’s needs in Vancouver. The Court determined that this lease offer was reasonable and consistent with the VSB’s obligations under section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

The Court also found that the VSB and Conseil should continue to discuss how to subdivide and co-develop the A.R. Lord Elementary site and engage the Ministry of Infrastructure’s assistance in this regard. The VSB looks forward to engaging with the Conseil and the Ministry to further the Charter rights of Conseil students and improve the conditions for all students in Vancouver Northeast. 

The VSB has a long-standing record of collaboration with the Conseil, including leasing multiple school sites to the Conseil, such as Queen Elizabeth Annex, Laurier Annex, Chief Maquinna Annex and Henderson Annex. This reflects our commitment to supporting French-language education rights while fulfilling our statutory responsibility to manage public education assets for students enrolled with the VSB. 

Despite the protracted litigation, we remain committed to upholding the Charter rights of all students and to working collaboratively with the Conseil and the Province to support the vitality of the francophone community in Vancouver. Litigation is costly and time consuming, and pulls funds away that would have been used to improve student well-being and success. The VSB continues to prefer collaboration over litigation. 

The VSB is committed to ensuring that our facilities planning aligns with our duty to provide safe, accessible and sustainable learning environments for the approximately 50,000 students in our school district while also balancing the needs of the francophone rights holders in Vancouver. We remain open to constructive dialogue and continue to work toward mutually beneficial solutions. 

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