At the 39th annual general meeting, Acting President Suzana Straus outlined our organization’s achievements with respect to the priority issues of the past year, which was a very busy one.

Here are some of the highlights mentioned by the Acting President:

• The legal case regarding Francophone education in our province reached important milestones this year. The appeal filed by the Conseil scolaire francophone de la C.-B., the Fédération des parents, and co-appellant parents was heard by the British Columbia Court of Appeal in January 2018. That court dismissed the appeal in July. We’re now waiting to hear if the matter can be brought before the Supreme Court of Canada.
   
• The Fédération des parents has carried out several advocacy activities with various levels of government, in relation to: early childhood; Francophone education; and the “Action Plan for Official Languages 2018-2023: Investing in Our Future” that was launched by the federal government in March 2018.
   
• Last February, we published a study entitled “Francophone Childcare Centres for Early Childhood in British Columbia: Issues, Findings and Recommendations.” Starting with the fact that a large number of Francophone parents are unable to find a place in a Francophone child care centre for their child, this study outlines the current situation and its issues, and proposes an approach to deal with these challenges. The study can be found on our website (click here).
   
• It was also a year of collaboration with numerous partners: organizing the Summit on the Transmission of French Language with eight other community organizations; promoting the school board elections along with five other Francophone community organizations; continuing the CAFE (Centre d’appui à la famille et à l’enfance) project in collaboration with about ten other partner organizations, to name only a few examples.

The full strategic plan of the Fédération des parents can be viewed on its website (click here).

Also at the annual general meeting, delegates from the member associations of the Fédération des parents elected four of the seven representatives who will serve on the board of directors for a two-year term.

An election for the President of the Fédération des parents was held this year; Suzana Straus, who had been acting in this role in the interim, was elected to the position. Ms. Straus succeeds Marie-Pierre Lavoie, who had left the position in July to run in the CSF school board elections..

Christine Leroux, Lucie Vallières, and Geneviève Deschamps were returned, respectively, as Member for the Okanagan-Columbia Region, Member for the Metro Vancouver Region, and Member for the South Vancouver Island Region.

Following the election, the composition of the 2018-2019 Board of Directors is:

• Suzana Straus, President;
• Roch Massicotte, Vice President and Member for the North Vancouver Island Region;
• Geneviève Deschamps, Secretary and Member for the South Vancouver Island Region;
• Christine Leroux, Treasurer and Member for the Okanagan-Columbia Region;
• Marie-Hélène Hinse, Member for the Northern BC Region;
• Karine LeBlanc-Sault, Member for the Fraser Valley Region;
• Lucie Vallières, Member for the Metro Vancouver Region.

Regional Meetings of Parents' Associations

After the AGM, the delegates of the parents’ associations met in subgroups to discuss issues in their school communities. In a round-table format, parents were able to discuss their successes as well as their challenges while being carefully listened to by members of the Fédération des parents team. As is usually the case, this interactive discussion among parents’ associations seemed too short. However, it allowed for the sharing of common issues, looking at opportunities for the Fédération des parents to support the parents even more effectively, and building relationships between members of the network of parents’ associations.

In addition, APÉ representatives left with an invitation to continue the discussions; the Fédération des parents took this opportunity to announce a new private Facebook group dedicated to the APÉs. Created and moderated by the Fédération des parents, this private group is reserved for parents directly involved with an APÉ’s board of directors who wish to share information with parents involved with other similar boards. The goal of this initiative, which is optional for the parents to join, is to allow participants in the parents’ association network to more easily exchange information for the purpose of communicating expertise and best practices.