Meet CSAP candidate Jeff Arsenault

It’s municipal election season, meaning it’s also time to elect new French school board (or Conseil) trustees. As of this week, advance voting has begun, with early online and phone voting available now until Oct. 16. Find HRM voting information here.

CSAP candidates across 10 districts run in municipal elections to represent their districts while also sitting on a provincial Conseil representing the interests of all CSAP voters, families, and students in Nova Scotia. In this election, only two CSAP districts are contested. Halifax is one of those two districts.

Not sure how to vote for a CSAP candidate? In the HRM, here’s how:

Look up your district here and your voting location here
Check to make sure that you’re on the elector list in the HRM here or calling the Voter Help Line at 902-490-VOTE (8683) or 1-844-301-VOTE (8683) to be added to the list
Make sure you fit the requirements to be an eligible CSAP voter listed here
Request a CSAP ballot when you vote (either online, by phone or in person)

Four candidates are running for two seats in the HRM. Three of the four candidates are running for re-election, having served on the CSAP board for the previous four-year term: Jeff Arsenault, Katherine Howlett, and Marc Pinet.

The fourth is Jean-Phillipe Bourgeois, a CSAP parent on the peninsula who’s been advocating for an urban school at CSAP meetings and publicly for years.

Arsenault lives on the peninsula, is the father of two CSAP students, is an Acadian, and is an architectural technologist, designer, and urbanist by trade. He co-founded the Action Committee, which pushed for a CSAP school in downtown Halifax and resulted in the opening of école Mer et Monde in 2018. Information about each candidate can be found in French here.

The Coast requested all four HRM candidates answer the same 11-item questionnaire on concerns facing CSAP families.

Below are Arsenault’s remaining responses to the questionnaire.

The Coast: This summer, the province proclaimed the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial Act. In your own words, describe the significance of this legislation and what it will change.

Arsenault: It is a great achievement, and we must recognize the Progressive-Conservative government’s willingness to work with the CSAP to produce a piece of legislation that the Liberal government had watered down such that it would have been detrimental to our community. But, we can never wipe our hands and say that is done. Not only is the minority constantly made to fight for our rights, but we also need to be on guard constantly and fighting to keep our gains as they are often just as quickly clawed back or ignored.

The Coast: In May, the UARB approved the Conseil’s request to reduce the number of elected members from 18 to 13. This means the HRM will now have two members, down from three, to represent its constituents. What will this change?

Arsenault: I have said a lot about that in the past. I even appeared before the UARB to state my position. Ultimately, it’s a moot point. We need to look at an alternative solution: to split the CSAP so that Halifax has its own Conseil. We will never get what we have the right to have in HRM unless we have our own HRM school board speaking to the government directly on our behalf. Currently, the Conseil has been a barrier to achieving equitable service for the francophone community here.

The Coast: Based on what was presented to the UARB, the two newly elected CSAP members in the HRM will now represent over 10,000 eligible voters, or just under 43% of voters province-wide, and 3,317 students, or over 52% of students province-wide. How big of a problem will representation be at the Conseil, and how do you plan to address it?

Arsenault: It was a problem before and will continue to be. I will continue to promote the idea that we need our own council for Halifax. The board can absolutely change my mind by making amends to the parents of HRM and showing how we will achieve what we need together rather than apart, but that’s not up to me.

The Coast: How aware are you of the problems with the Transco bus service for HRM students? Explain what is being done to fix these problems.

Arsenault: I’ve been acutely aware of Transco’s problems. The CSAP’s superintendent says the service success rate is quite high. But there are greater challenges with bussing in the city—especially on the peninsula, where I live. Both routes that serve my children (Mer et Monde and one at Mosaïque) have had unbelievable amounts of issues, all of which are predictable. I had previously warned the school board and the superintendent about the problems, but nothing was done. It took a crazy bus journey where families were legitimately concerned for their children’s safety for hours to cause some action by the Conseil. That action was/is too little, too slow. This happens when no one is held accountable for failures, or there’s an ambivalence to the issue by those responsible.

The Coast: When will the new CSAP school on the peninsula open? Explain how this school fits the Conseil’s Strategic Plan for 2024-2030 and how families were consulted about the selection and design process.

Arsenault: The opening date is set for fall 2026. The community needed consultation on any aspect, including site selection, program delivery and design. They didn’t have it. It is a poorly conceived project that does not improve service for francophones on the peninsula. The Conseil should have pressured the government, but with only three board members from Halifax and only one of them (me) on the peninsula, the message was usurped by confirmation bias from rural councillors who don’t understand how the urban environment is different from theirs.

The Coast: The Department of Public Works selected the chosen site at Oxford Street and Bayers Road and presented it to the Department of Education, who approved it. However, they only presented one site to the department. Do you agree this was/is the best site for a peninsula school, or were there other sites discussed?

Arsenault: I do not agree with that site at all. Viable alternatives, in order of what would serve our community best, would be the old St. Patrick’s site on Quinpool, Oxford school on North Street, Citadel High site, Bloomfield school… and others.

The Coast: How concerned are families with the power the CSAP has to make infrastructure decisions?

Arsenault: People in my community have zero faith in the school board and have completely disconnected from any mobilization efforts to fight for what we deserve. I know this because I’ve been engaged long before sitting on the Conseil. I have had countless conversations with CSAP parents on this topic.