Yes, it was. I could tell you about that too. Arichat is the capital of Richmond County, on Isle Madame.
In an article that was published in the 1930s, one writer claimed that, if Sydney continued to grow, its population would exceed that of Arichat. That's incredible.
In short, Arichat College became St. Francis Xavier University because anglophones moved it to Antigonish. Just imagine how busy it would be on Isle Madame today if its inhabitants still had that institution.
Now getting back to Mr. Beaulieu's motion.
I've been offended by one thing in this issue of francophone institutions in and outside Quebec. I mentioned the Université Sainte-Anne earlier. We've managed to keep it in an Acadian community, but we lost the battle on Isle Madame. It's one thing to lose something but at least to be recognized, but quite another to lose something and not even be recognized.
I visited St. Francis Xavier University about a decade ago. You can't imagine how disappointed I was to see that the card describing the university's history made no mention of its origins in Arichat, on Isle Madame. The history began with its establishment in Antigonish. That's an example that shows how we've lost ground.
Mr. Beaulieu's motion amplifies the entire issue of making progress on the ground. We can control our destiny in education. It's all well and good to have educational institutions, but those institutions require funding and tools. That's what troubles me, and that's why this motion is so important. We need to support the continuum.
Now that I've told you that part of the story, let's go back to 1982.
The year 1982 was challenging. If I'm not mistaken, it was the year of the Night of the Long Knives in Quebec. Section 23 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognized, for the first time, the right to minority-language instruction; that is to say, in French in communities outside Quebec and English in Quebec. And that's where, to a certain degree, things broke down. I've forgotten the exact legal term that applies to the situation, but Quebec was entitled to invoke or not to invoke that section. The fact remains that 1982 was an exceptionally successful year for Acadians and francophones across Canada.
In the early 1990s, we witnessed the creation of francophone school boards. You can see how all these things are coming together. My colleague Mr. Beaulieu's motion concerns post-secondary education. We're now talking about the school level.
I remember that all Acadian schools in Nova Scotia were under the authority of the anglophone school boards. I obviously don't want to take anything away from the good teachers and community people who have done an outstanding job. However, it's really hard to achieve your full potential when you don't control the management of your own system or your own destiny. Once again, we had to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada to determine whether the French-language education right should be subject to the authority of the anglophone school boards or whether francophone communities had a right to decide on their own destiny. The court ruled in favour of the francophone communities, and that's when we began to see the creation of francophone school boards.
The Conseil scolaire acadien provincial was established in Nova Scotia in 1996. The student population was approximately 3,800 at that time and is more than 7,000 today. In other words, the student population has doubled.
It wasn't easy at the time. One of the biggest problems was that, in most provinces, there was only one francophone school board among many anglophone boards. The arguments and discussions around the table were becoming more complex. Needs weren't really understood as much as they should be. All of this greatly complicated the situation.
The Conseil scolaire acadien provincial in Nova Scotia has now been in existence for 28 years. So it's a very young institution, and it's still growing, but the going wasn't easy in the early stages. Let me explain the situation.
From 1999 to 2001, the government transferred old school buildings to our francophone school board and told it to do whatever was necessary to renovate them. At the same time, barely a few kilometers reay, a brand new school offering all the new programs was being built and provided with all kinds of resources. Our francophone school board, which only had old buildings, didn't have the money or tools to provide the same services. It was a very complicated situation.
The students' parents subsequently sued the Government of Nova Scotia and, indirectly, our school board. However, as you know, our board had no control in the matter and couldn't proceed with purchases or renovations in the schools without the province's consent.
We therefore had to go to court to ensure that those schools, which were mixed, would become homogeneous schools. It was very hard and a real battle in which Acadian parents sued other Acadians. I'm talking about Acadians who were responsible for managing the school board but who weren't responsible for the construction and renovation of the schools. They wound up in court too. The case involved three schools and we ultimately won.
I'd like to acknowledge the key role that a certain individual played in that case. That person was Arthur LeBlanc, who is the current Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. He's also the first Acadian to hold that office. Can you imagine that? An Acadian from Isle Madame no less was appointed Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Nova Scotia. It's a first. He still holds that office. It's virtually a miracle. The term is normally for five years, but he has occupied the position for seven. I think he's waiting for the Congrès mondial acadien to be held before he resigns. I'm very pleased with the work he has done. Many programs for Acadians have been implemented as a result of his vision.
Going back to the case I mentioned earlier, this man was the presiding judge in that instance.
All of which is related to the subject of post-secondary education. I'm talking about the school level, but there's also the preschool level, of course. It all lines up because, as you know, education is a continuum. It was in this context that Mr. Beaulieu moved that the committee study the subject of post-secondary education institutions. We're looking for answers on this side.
So the judge in the case I told you about was Arthur LeBlanc, who is now Lieutenant Governor of the province. Mr. LeBlanc did what no judge in Canada had previously done under the common law. Mr. Chair, I know that you're a lawyer and that you'll read up on what Judge LeBlanc has done before you go to bed tonight. He actually set a precedent.
As you know, the strength of the common law is that it allows us to evolve by relying on past decisions.
So Judge LeBlanc rendered his decision. He told the province that it had a duty to ensure that francophone schools were established in such and such a place and to provide homogeneous education in French to Acadians.
It was a good decision, and everyone was pleased. However, the judge went further and did what no other judge had done before him: He not only ordered the province to do the work; he requested that it appear again before the court every six months to inform him of progress made. Can you imagine?
However, that had never happened. You know better than me that, ultimately, decisions that judges render don't always achieve their objective. Some people can make genuine efforts, and perhaps parallel efforts as well, to move cases forward, but, in this instance, the party representing the province never had to report to the judge.
Do you think the Province of Nova Scotia agreed with the judgment ordering it both to take measures and to report on progress made? No, it naturally refused to do so. Instead the province appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. As a result, the matter was no longer within Judge LeBlanc's jurisdiction, and he therefore lost the necessary authority to compel the province to report from time to time. I bet you can guess what happened next.
