Would you make a good French school board member, councillor or mayor?

The elections are coming to town this October, and there’s still time to run for a seat on the Halifax Regional Council or the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial Council. The CSAP is the French-language school board—the only school board in the province—and its board members are elected every four years at the same time as municipal elections.

Mayor Mike Savage isn’t running again, so the October 19 election day guarantees a big shakeup in the mayor’s office, but there are also significant changes coming for the CSAP. Currently there are 18 board members that manage 23 CSAP schools across the province. The CSAP is governed by the provincial Education (CSAP) Act. In May, the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board approved a motion raised by the CSAP to reduce the seats on their board from 18 to 13. This means there are 13 CSAP school board seats available to run for—and vote on for those eligible—in the election.

The nomination period for all seats runs from Aug. 29 to Sep. 10. Ahead of this, the city is hosting two information sessions for those interested in or curious about running. These will be run by the returning officer for the Halifax Regional Municipality, Iain MacLean, with staff from the Elections Office. MacLean is responsible for candidate registration and the candidate nomination process, along with Election Office staff, as authorized under the Municipal Elections Act.

The first session will be held on Monday, Aug. 12, at 6pm. at the Henry G. Bauld Centre at 35 Wilfred Jackson Way in Westphal. The second is Wednesday, Aug. 21, also at 6pm, at the Halifax North Memorial Public Library at 2285 Gottingen Street in Halifax. There will be a Q&A period at both sessions.

You don’t need to register to attend these sessions, and a closed-captioned recording of what’s presented on both nights will be available here. For anyone requiring specific accommodation requests to attend either session, contact the Election Office by calling 902-490-VOTE (8698) or emailing [email protected].

Details for keeners

Some nitty-gritty: To become an official nominee for mayor, councillor or CSAP council member, you need to make an appointment to register as a candidate with the municipal election office.

You’ll also need to schedule an appointment time during the Aug. 29-Sep. 9 nomination period to submit all relevant forms to successfully make it onto the 2024 candidate list by nomination day, which is Sep. 10. More information on the election process can be found here and here.

For the HRM municipal elections, there is already a list of candidates on halifax.ca who have submitted a required form related to campaign financing—a bylaw that does not apply to CSAP candidates. There are no registered CSAP candidates listed ahead of the nomination period.

HRM staff tell The Coast that city councillor Lisa Blackburn, who is not running for re-election, may attend these information sessions, “pending availability,” and that CSAP representatives will not be present.

CSAP elections are administered by municipal returning officers across the province, who are guided by the Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

CSAP’s elected board members represent the interests of their respective regions and work with other board members to accomplish the CSAP's role, responsibilities and mandate as a whole. A guide for prospective candidates in French is available here.

You must be an “entitled parent” or “entitled person” under the Education (CSAP) Act to vote in the CSAP board election and to run for one of the 13 board positions. Entitled parents and persons are Canadian citizens whose first language “learned and still understood” is French, who received primary education in Canada in a French-first language program; or who have a child who has received or is receiving primary or secondary schooling in Canada in a French-first-language program.

The CSAP board manages the governance of all French-first-language education programs and supervises the school board's supervisors. Following the provincial Education (CSAP) Act, CSAP board members elect a chair and vice-chair every year. The superintendent of the CSAP, Michel Collette, reports directly to the board.

CSAP elected members to represent the interests of their respective regions and work with other board members to advance the CSAP's role, responsibilities, and mandate with respect to equal protection of minority education rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The CSAP is responsible for 23 schools and roughly 6,500 students across Nova Scotia. CSAP overall enrollment numbers have increased steadily year after year, since 2014. However, certain CSAP school enrollment percentages have decreased in recent years, with Halifax students and families choosing to switch out of CSAP schools and head to the closer English school that offers French immersion instead of travelling to school by bus.

The current 18 CSAP council members and the districts they represent can be found here.

gd2md-html: xyzzy Wed Aug 07 2024