FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 14, 2005
French college closure: OPSEU to ask for leave to appeal court decision
TORONTO: The Ontario Public Service Employees Union will ask for leave to appeal the July 4 Superior Court decision on Collège des Grands Lacs.
The decision denied the union's application to declare the 2001 closing of the Toronto-based French-language college illegal and unconstitutional.
Union counsel Sean McGee of the Ottawa-based law firm Nelligan, O'Brien, Payne is filing the application.
"Our members are adamant that the closing of Collège des Grands Lacs in 2001 by the Harris Conservatives was unjust and discriminatory against francophones, particularly visible-minority francophones," said OPSEU President Leah Casselman.
"The evidence in this case made it clear that the French-language community needs this college. It also showed the Harris government gave up on the community before giving the college a proper chance to prove itself. OPSEU will ask the Court of Appeal to come to the same conclusion," said McGee.
"Many people are counting on our union to defend the rights of those who suffered from this decision. We will continue our fight for justice in the courts, and in the realm of public opinion," Casselman said.
About 60 community-based organizations are supporting the union's fight to re-establish an autonomous French-language college based in the central and south-western region of Ontario.
Casselman said the new Minister of Colleges, Chris Bentley, should step in personally. "Bentley and the Liberals should join us in finding ways to fix this situation. Instead they seem more comfortable defending Mike Harris's discriminatory actions"
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For information:
David Cox, OPSEU Communications 1-800-268-7376
Sean McGee, Nelligan, O'Brien, Payne 613-231-8232
