Gathering and Demonstration: EDUCATION FOR ALL!

MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 10am
in front of the Ministry of Education in Montreal
600 Fullum (south of Ste-Catherine, near métro Papineau)
carte: http://goo.gl/maps/6xvNZPlease get in touch about any accessibility needs.
Bring your own placards & noisemakers!We call on everyone in the Montreal-area who supports the right of all children, including “non-status” children, to attend primary and secondary schools, to show their support for Education for All at this demonstration.August 26 will mark just two days before the beginning of the school year. To date, there has been no information concerning how children of non-status immigrants can have free and safe access to Quebec’s primary and secondary schools.For more than 18 months, the Collectif éducation sans frontières, part of the Solidarity City campaign, has mobilized to ensure that all children, including children of non-status immigrants, can attend Quebec’s primary and secondary schools. As a result of this  concerted campaign, Quebec Education Minister, Marie Malavoy, finally announced on June 23 that it was her responsibility to ensure non-status kids would attend school. However, almost two months after her announcement, and just weeks before the start of the school year on August 28, there are still no details about how non-status kids can safely and securely attend Quebec’s schools.
—–BACKGROUND
Currently, children who are without status (ie. without immigration status in Canada) or Canadian-born children of parents without status, cannot attend Quebec primary or secondary schools. In other jurisdictions, like Ontario, California and Texas, non-status children are able to attend such schools with much more flexibility.In the past 18 months, migrant justice activists in Montreal have been in direct contact with several non-status families with children who have not been able to enroll into Montreal-area schools.School boards in Quebec, particularly in Montreal where the majority of non-status families live, have the discretion to allow non-status children to attend schools. We demand that all Montreal-area school boards exercise their administrative power to cease any and all barriers to children attending schools. More broadly, we demand that the Quebec government, which has overall responsibility for education, change the requirement

This demonstration is part of an ongoing campaign by the Collectif éducation sans frontières (Education Across Borders collective), which is part of the Solidarity City campaign of Solidarity Across Borders.
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DOCUMENTATION

For background materials, please visit: http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org/en/education-across-borders-collective

For more than 18 months, the Collectif éducation sans frontières, part of the Solidarity City campaign, has mobilized to ensure that all children, including children of non-status immigrants, can attend Quebec’s primary and secondary schools. As a result of this  concerted campaign, Quebec Education Minister, Marie Malavoy, finally announced on June 23 that it was her responsibility to ensure non-status kids would attend school. However, almost two months after her announcement, and just weeks before the start of the school year on August 28, there are still no details about how non-status kids can safely and securely attend Quebec’s schools.The Collectif éducation sans frontières addressed our concerns in an open letter to Minister Malavoy and Premier Marois in an open letter this past July 31. You can read the letter, written in French, here: http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org/wp-content/uploads/LettreOuverteMaroisMalavoyJuillet2013.pdfWe are now calling on the active support of our allies to increase the pressure on the Quebec government, so that clear information is provided publicly to enable access to Quebec’s schools to all children, regardless of their immigration status.
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This week, we encourage our allies to both phone and write the Minister of Education (and, also, if possible, the Premier and the Presidents of select Montreal school boards).

We ask that you write personalized letters, that highlight the main points we’ve addressed in our open letter (you can definitely borrow our talking points, which are in our open letter: http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org/wp-content/uploads/LettreOuverteMaroisMalavoyJuillet2013.pdf).

— You can write to Marie Malavoy as follows:
e-mail: ministre@mels.gouv.qc.ca
post: Marie Malavoy, Ministre de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport
600, rue Fullum, 9e étage
Montréal, Québec, H2K 4L1

— You can phone the Minister of Education, Marie Malavoy, at her office at the following number: 514-873-4792

— You can send a letter to Premier Pauline Marois by visiting the following website:
— https://www.premier-ministre.gouv.qc.ca/premier-ministre/joindre-pm/courriel/index.asp

— You can phone the Premier`s office at the following number: 514 873-3411

— We ask that you also cc your letters to the following Presidents of school boards:
Vincent Arciresi, Président de la Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l’Île : vincent-arciresi@cspi.qc.ca,
Lucie Désilets,
Présidente de la Commission scolaire Marie-Victorin : circ_15@csmv.qc.ca,
Catherine Harel-Bourdon, Présidente de la Commission scolaire de Montréal : harelbc@csdm.qc.ca,
Diane Lamarche-Venne, Présidente de la Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys: presidence@csmb.qc.ca,
Louise Lortie, Présidente de la Commission scolaire de Laval: LLortie@cslaval.qc.ca

— If possible, we ask that you phone the President of the School Board in your area; we’ve provided phone numbers below:
Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l’Île : 514-642-9520 #19900
Commission scolaire Marie-Victorin : 450-670-0730
Commission scolaire de Montréal : 514-596-7790
Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys : 514-855-4500
Commission scolaire de Laval : 450-662-7000

— For all your actions, please cc and inform the Collectif éducation sans frontières at solidaritesansfrontieres@gmail.com
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Solidarité sans frontières: www.solidaritesansfrontieres.org
Solidarity Across Borders: www.solidarityacrossborders.org
Solidaridad sin fronteras: www.solidarityacrossborders.org/es

e-mail: solidaritesansfrontieres@gmail.com
facebook: www.facebook.com/CiteSansFrontieres
twitter: @SolidariteMTL
tél.: 438-933-7654
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