Summerside's French school, community centre gets $10M for upgrades

The provincial and federal governments announced a major investment Thursday to expand the Centre-Belle Alliance, which includes the French school,in Summerside.

The $10 million project will includerenovations to the building's community facilitiesand a 20,000-square-foot expansionto cole-sur-Mer.

The school's principalKaren Leblancsaid the funding willcreatenew classroomsincluding a new woodworking and mechanic shop, as well as improving science labs, cooking spaces and the gymnasium.

'Opportunity to finish school here'

"Right now the way we're set up, we can only offerthe minimal amount of physical education," Leblanc said. "Becauseit's going to be expanded then we can offer all the courses that we need to offer."

Leblanc saidthere are about 200 students at the school today and most of them are in younger grades. As they transition up to higher grades, the school needed more space to accommodate them and their learning needs, she added.

She saidlimited space has made it hard for students to stay at the school through their high school years.

"This is very important for the French-speaking population and for our Acadian population to have an opportunity to finish school here and have enough room to be able to have all the students," Leblanc said.

$10 million in funding

The federal government will pay $3 milliontoward renovating and expanding community and school spaces in Centre Belle-Alliance, focusing on the library, kitchen and child-care centre.

Last year in itscapital budgetthe province announced it would give more than$5 million to the project, and Thursday it increased that to more than $7 million.

Federal Minister of Tourism and Official LanguagesMlanie Jolyalso announced nearly $500,000 in federal funding for seven P.E.I. organizationsthat aim to preserve and promoteFrench language and culture.

"I think that all Islanders can be proud of having a resilient French community," Joly said. "We want to make sure that we can bridge both communities and also that we can strengthenpart of our national DNA which is the equal status of French and English in our country."

Construction to begin this summer

Noella Arsenault began advocating for a French school in Summersidemore than 20 years ago, taking her fightall the way to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2002, Ecole-sur-Mer was built. Students from the area who wanted French education previously had to be bused to Wellington to attend Ecole Evangeline.

The school has continued to add higher grades and classrooms piecemealover the years including junior high in 2012.

Attending Thursday's announcement and beaming with pride, Arsenault saidher dream became that much bigger.

Arsenault said creating more spaces where French speakers can gather,learn and most importantlyspeak Frenchis key for the community to thrive.

"Practice, practice, practice. If you don't use it you're going to lose it," Arsenault said.

"This is why we need these schools, these community centres for the populationto be able toembrace the culture and that is how we're going topreserve and flourish."

Construction on the school is expected to begin this July and take about a year.The French Language School Board says its sights are set on growth atcole-sur-Mer,and it hopes to see the number of students double in the next ten years.

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