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.
Pinet is from a small Acadian community on Chaleur Bay in New Brunswick. He has lived in Nova Scotia since 1996 on the Bedford/Sackville side of the HRM. He has two children in CSAP schools, and his wife is a teacher in Halifax. He works as a wealth management advisor. 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.
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Below are Pinet’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.
Pinet: I grew up in a great bilingual community of 50/50 English/French. Having grown up in a linguistic minority community, we’re always building and doing something, especially now that there’s renewed interest in our Acadian communities and communities from all nations and cultures. What’s important about the CSAP Act passing this summer is that it has been a work in progress. It’s a collaborative effort from the CSAP and other levels of government, and it gives us something to help us guide our own unique situation going forward regarding how we deliver programs or develop aspects of what we do as a school.
This act is a launching pad, and it’s being recognized by other school boards in similar situations us across the country. It’s not something that we can just rest upon, but we can use it to bring our culture and our history back into our communities and schools. When you do that, and you discover more culture, then you get a more considerable pride, and maybe you’ll say ‘Hey, I’m gonna introduce myself in French,’ or ‘I’m gonna ask for services in French,’ or ‘Let’s teach our kids in French.’ This law really gives us the legal power to treat our unique circumstances and promote who we are: not just the Acadians but the francophones and the francophile networks.
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?
Pinet: This decision was based on consultation with communities. We listened to people who spoke up and looked at data from different francophone school Conseils across the country who were in positions similar to ours. The public wanted reduced board members, and it is a done deal.
As a trustee, I stand by the decision of the Conseil not only because it’s my duty, but also because I truly believe in it, and believe everyone had a say in it. We were 18 members–that’s the maximum. Now we have 13 members. I don’t feel it’s the group size but how we all work together.
Do you make better decisions when you’re 18 versus 13? Everybody has an opinion on that. Numerically, we have roughly the same percentage of representation, around 16%, either way. Is it equitable to the amount of students? Everybody knows those numbers. But how many members do we need? In the next four years, with two councillors in the city, we’re going to see whether that works well.
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?
Pinet: I have not heard that much from people who reached out to me. The Conseil is about working as a team. I understand there are some parents who are frustrated—especially on the peninsula when I live more on the Bedford/Sackville side. I’ve been to those schools. I volunteered at those schools. And I haven’t found this to be a problem as much. But there are challenges everywhere, and there are only so many resources to go around, and they’re not the CSAP’s resources. I think what we do is make the province aware of where we’re at and what we could be doing.
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.
Pinet: Very aware. We discussed the topic at the last board meeting, as it was explicitly on the agenda. There are things we’re putting in place, based on the Conseil’s last meeting, for parents to have more resources to email and call us about this service.
Last year with the Conseil, Arsenault and I were looking at bus service delays. The board and the one employee we manage, our superintendent, had a lot of talks last spring about getting more statistics on how often those buses are on time. We didn’t solve that issue. Obviously, it’s coming back, and there are ongoing conversations. But it’s happening—everybody’s aware of the problem. I can certainly tell you that it’s not leaving the board’s agenda until we have a satisfactory resolution to what’s going on from an operational standpoint. For the board to get involved in something, it has to get pretty big.
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.
Pinet: It’s scheduled for sometime in 2026, as per the information we get from the province. CSAP’s strategic plan encompasses the well-being of the individual, identity building, efficient leadership, and efficient practices based on foundational data. This is where we will focus our efforts and resources. This will be more than a school. There will be a community centre (whose new name will be announced in November), a cafe, an amphitheatre, a community kitchen, meeting rooms and more. A francophone community hub has been in the works for years and will unite our community and others in the HRM. Consultations on the centre with CSAP families have been going on for years, since before discussions of the new school.
As for the new school, I’ve gotten a lot of comments from the parents that diverge a little bit from what’s been out there. They’re really excited, saying, “Build it.” I think consultations for that school have been going on for a really long time.
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?
Pinet: People might want to take up this with the provincial government.
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The Coast: How concerned are families with the power the CSAP has to make infrastructure decisions?
Pinet: We’ve talked about infrastructure a bit already, and I’ve written a motion that is a few sentences that I’ve had on the board table for quite a while. The motion would bring in the different data we have coming out from the 2021 census and have us conduct other studies that we might want to do to determine where things go. I’ve never had to make the motion because we’ve already been changing how the administration makes decisions internally. I can’t say more but in terms of what I’ve seen in the first two years versus the last two years of being on the board, I’d say we’re moving in the right direction in terms of having a positive impact.
In my many conversations with CSAP families, I’ve noticed that the issue is more about understanding what the Conseil can and can’t do. I will begin posting more on social media about the role of the board regarding our responsibilities in the near future.
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Read each HRM candidate’s complete series of responses to The Coast’s questionnaire in the links below.
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Meet CSAP candidate Jeff Arsenault
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Meet CSAP candidate Jean-Philippe Bourgeois
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Meet CSAP candidate Katherine Howlett
This article appears in Oct 1 – Nov 6, 2024.