English-speaking dad files human-rights complaint over communication with daughters’ French school division By: Nick Martin Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, May. 30, 2018 Last Modified: 6:29 AM CDT Thursday, May. 31, 2018 Updates

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This article was published 30/05/2018 (2709 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A father in Lorette has filed a human-rights complaint against the province’s French-language school division over its unwillingness to communicate with him in English.

Brian Benes, who has shared custody of his two daughters with his bilingual francophone ex-wife for the past six years, is not able to communicate in French and claims the Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine and staff at Ecole Lagimodiere in Lorette will speak to him in English only on occasion and his requests for translated written communications are rarely granted.

“They’ve said, ‘Your daughters should translate for you,'” said Benes, whose girls are in grades 5 and 8. “I was told, ‘We don’t speak English at all, we communicate in French…

“Even the small victories I have had, I had to deal with a lot of resistance from the organization at every level. I’m not just doing this for me, my hope is that DSFM is forced to create and change policies on how they deal with parents that are not francophone.”

The DSFM is a French-language school division in which parents enrol their children knowing everything is conducted in French, superintendent Alain Laberge said. Students eligible for enrolment have one or both parents with francophone heritage they want to develop in their children, but the parents don’t necessarily speak French as a first language themselves, he said.

“They sign a form agreeing that everything will be in French,” Laberge said. “We administer our schools in French.”

The exception is in the event of an emergency or a situation involving a student’s health and well-being, he said; staff are required to use the child’s most easily understood language.

Laberge said division employees regularly use English when speaking in parent-teacher meetings and other situations but he asks parents to make an appointment to see staff after hours so students don’t hear English being used inside schools.

It would be a tremendous burden on staff time and resources to translate everything that goes home in writing by letter or email, given parents agree to have their children educated in an environment that is entirely French, he said.

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“If we sent everything home bilingual, what would be the difference between us and French immersion?”

He said many division schools use Facebook for written contact with families, so that parents can instantly translate communications online. They can also use translation services available on Google and other sites, he said.

Generally, Benes said, teachers younger than 30 have been more accommodating and will speak in English at parent-teacher meetings if requested. Despite the division’s position health matters will be in English, he said vaccination permission forms come home in French.

“I have submitted requests for help and accommodation at every level of the organization,” Benes said. “This includes teachers, principals, the deputy superintendent, superintendent and their board of trustees. They have all maintained the same stance with me and I continue to deal with daily challenges as an English-speaking parent. Further, I do not get offered the same support or assistance as francophone families.”

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca