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| Photo: Soldier Eric Aumand and daughter |
By Mike Kane Putbacktheflag.com
We recently received a letter from a Canadian soldier that details intimidation and harassment by Quebec's Ministry of Education that nearly cost his daughter entry into English school. Below you will read details of the exchange that went on between Mr. Aumand and the person responsible at the ministry.
Mr Aumand's letter to PBTF:
The person who called me is Mister Fu Sun, he is the Designated Person of the Ministry of Education (Ministère de l'Éducation) and "personne responsable d'admissibilité à l'enseignement en Anglais" and confirmed by the English school board here in Quebec.
Mr. Fu Sun called the school board to get my contact information and lied to them on the phone telling them he only had a few questions to finalize our file as we filed under the military exemption status to send our daughter to an English School. Well, that was a lie, and the School Board apologized profusely this morning to me because of this and are taking actions to try and ensure he doesn't do this again, as according to them, this is not the first time he does this.
Mr. Fu Sun called me and told me that he needed PROOF that I would be posted outside the province in order to allow my kids the right to an English education, he wanted proof that I would be imminently posted. When I told him that the only time a military member gets proof is when we get our posting messages, that is the ONLY time we can confirm. We get this approximately around the month of April of any possible posting.
He then asked me if I was aware that the law had changed, and that the exemption was no longer granted, I told him that according to my knowledge, that was only a proposed item in Bill 14, he said and I quote "non, monsieur (chuckle) vous vous trompez."
He was trying to convince me that the laws had changed on the exemption and that there was "jurisprudence". I found out this morning, speaking with the school board that he was referring to a case where a military member a while back was ill, and because of his illness (post Afghanistan and illness related to the mission) he would never be posted, so, his request had been denied due to the fact that he would never be posted outside Quebec. What Mr. Fu Sun is trying to do now, is create further jurisprudence to essentially require proof that a member will be posted within a certain time in order to obtain the right to send our kids to an English school.
He asked me on the phone last night if my daughter was currently IN her English school, when I said yes she was and that I had filed under my exemption, he told me, and I quote, "mais monsieur, c'est illégal, vous n'avez pas encore le droit lorsqu'on n'a pas approuvé votre demande"
When I asked who makes the decision, he told me that he was the one making decisions. When I asked him to cite the law that states that my military exemption had changed, he laughed and tried to change the direction of the conversation. This man tried to intimidate me and scare me into thinking that I was breaking the law so I could pull my child out of school myself.
Please spread this letter as far as you can so everyone is aware of the situation in Quebec. I would hope that this never happens to another military family.
Eric Aumand - Canadian Military and father
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