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EMSB very pleased with partial stay on Bill 96

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Montréal, April  18,  2024 - The English Montreal School Board (EMSB) is very pleased with a Québec Superior Court decision that provides a partial stay of provisions of Bill 96 and the Charter of the French Language. This ruling also benefits other English language boards and the Quebec English School Boards Association. EMSB Chair Joe Ortona notes that the  Superior Court stayed parts of the law that would require English school boards to communicate exclusively in French when writing with key institutions of the English-speaking community, such as the Quebec English School Boards Association or the English Parents’ Committee Association of Quebec.  The EMSB had challenged the application of amendments to the Charter of the French Language adopted in 2002 that the government only brought into force in June 2023, without any consultation of the English-language community. “This is a significant win, of which the EMSB should be proud,” said Mr. Ortona. “While we offer rich programming
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EMSB seeks leave to appeal Bill 21 to the Supreme Court of Canada

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Joe Ortona is interviewed about the Bill 21 appeal Montreal, April 10, 2024 – The English Montreal School Board intends to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to hear an appeal in the case of Bill 21, An Act respecting the laicity of the State. On April 10 the Council of Commissioners voted to mandate the law firm, Power Law, to file on its behalf an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada and, if granted, an appeal of the Québec Court of Appeal’s judgment of February 29, 2024 on Bill 21.  The EMSB is challenging provisions of Bill 21 on the basis that they violate minority language education rights under Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as gender equality, protected under Section 28 of the Charter. Previously, the EMSB had successfully argued before the Québec Superior Court that Bill 21 violated the section 23 right to management and control, by preventing English-language school boards from hiring teachers wearing religious symbo
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EMSB students to take part in multi-level educational and artistic initiative

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April 11, 2024- Embark upon an itchy, stinky, sticky journey with "The Adventures of Eva the Louse," a musical project that weaves together the talents of 175 students from 13 EMSB schools and the EMSB Chorale. This ambitious, multi-level educational and artistic initiative is led by opera singers and choir conductors Dimitris Ilias and Maria Diamantis founders of Chroma Musika (Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Assassin’s Creed Origins, Eurokids Festival). Dimitris Ilias and Maria Diamantis  Eva, a plucky louse with a zest for adventure! Living the dream in the wild jungle of Paul's hair, a nine-year-old with a serious case of anti-comb syndrome, Eva and her lousy friends enjoy a blissful, carefree life. That is, until the Great Delousing turns their world into a topsy-turvy, shampoo-splattered nightmare! As Paul's head becomes a no-lice land, Eva and her gang must make a daring leap of faith... onto Grandpa's head. But, plot twist – Grandpa's as bald as a bill
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EMSB marks Black History Month

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Montreal, February 27, 2024 – The English Montreal School Board has been marking  Black History Month with programming at many of its schools and centres. On Thursday, February 1,  James Lyng Adult Education Centre in St. Henri   kicked off Black History Month with a steel pan band performance by Salahpan. Students were then surprised with fresh Jamaican patties from Manago Bakeries. Svens Telemaque, a noted speaker on youth empowerment, did class visits at Marymount  Academy International for Secondary  III, IV and V  classes on  Thursday, February 1  and  he did so again on   , February  16 .   Equitas, formerly known as the Canadian Human Rights Foundation, finished up their anti-racism workshops at the school for Secondary II, III, IV and V  during the month.  Educator and community worker Simeon Pompey will be doing class visits  in  late March  at Marymount to Secondary I and II classes. Overture with Arts was at Marymount.  Willingdon Junior  and Senior Campuses  and Merton Ele
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Rosemount High School to launch much-anticipated Arts-études program on Thursday/ Lancement du programme Arts-études tant attendu à l'école secondaire Rosemont

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Montreal, February 14, 2024 - Rosemount High School (3737 Beaubien) will  inaugurate  its new Arts-études program, the first-of-its-kind amongst English high schools in Quebec on Thursday, February 15 (10:30 am) as part of Hooked on School Week. A total of 165 students across all grade levels (Secondary I to V) are taking part in the five-year program this academic year, with music now playing an integral part of the students’ daily class schedules.   “It is about giving a holistic study in music, theory and practice,” said Anthony Cooperwood, Director of Bands at Rosemount High School, who is in his seventh year at the school. “We start from the very beginning. You will learn what a scale or a whole note is, and what the different keys are. From there, we will teach you how to read those elements and how to perform them on the instrument that you have selected. Students sometimes come here with no musical experience. We teach you everything.” While music instruction has long been a
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The Voices of Olympia : Students focus on Feminization of poverty and its impacts on the Empowerment of Girls and Women in Canada

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Montreal, December 11, 2023 - The Voices of Olympia Canada (VOOC) held  its launch ceremony for the 2023-2024 Edition of the School Competition on   December 6 at Royal West Academy in Montreal West. Students and staff at the Voices of Olympia competition (Kris Bennett Photo) Students from nine different schools, including two from Ottawa, made presentations on an important topic, transposing into a Canadian context the priority theme that was discussed at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) in March 2024: Feminization of poverty and its impacts on the Empowerment of Girls and Women in Canada.    The EMSB was represented by Marymount Academy International in NDG, Vincent Massey Collegiate in Rosemount, Laurier Macdonald High School in St. Leonard and three teams from host Royal West Academy,  as well as St. Francis Xavier and  Holy Trinity High Schools from  Ottawa, The Bishop Strachan School, The Study and Villa Maria. The Laurier Macdonald High School team p
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EMSB Asks Québec Superior Court for Stay of Provisions of Bill 96 and the Charter of the French Language requiring use of French in Internal Communications in the English education network

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Montreal, November 7, 2023 - The English Montreal School Board (EMSB) announced today that it is seeking a stay of provisions of Bill 96 and the Charter of the French Language requiring the use of French in the majority of the EMSB’s internal written communications, as well as internal documents, and written communications between English school boards, among others. “We are taking action now,” explained Joe Ortona, Chair of the EMSB, “because in recent correspondence with the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF), the situations in which the EMSB is permitted to use English only in internal communications have been interpreted very narrowly . While we offer rich programming in French in our schools and are committed to ensuring our students have strong French language capabilities so that they can live and work in our province, it is important to emphasize that we are an English school board and a key institution of the English-speaking community. “We are launching our
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