The imminent arrival of a new French-language school in Mount Royal continues to cause a stir, while Mayor Peter Malouf still refuses to give citizens the truth. In the municipality, a persistent rumor that this new school will be set up on park land is worrying many residents, who are worried about losing a “green lung” that is particularly important for the most vulnerable.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
“We must preserve all our green spaces. We cannot afford to lose a green space of such magnitude. No, we have to go back to the source of the demand, and conduct a real study to identify the real needs,” said independent councilor for District 2 of the Town of Mount Royal, Maryam Kamali Nezhad.
For more than a year now, discussions have been taking place in this municipality of 22,000 inhabitants about the arrival of a new French-language elementary school. The city, hit by a demographic upheaval that generated a large number of new French-speaking students, came to the conclusion that it needed to have a fourth elementary school to accommodate this young clientele.
A solution was launched from the outset: build this school on land adjacent to Dunrae Gardens School, an English-language primary school. This space, property of the English-Montreal School Board (EMSB), has however since been discarded. According to our sources, it is now Ernest-B.-Jubien Park that would be considered the most “suitable” place to host the new school.
Citizens who are impatient
A group of about 900 citizens has filed a petition in recent weeks opposing the construction of a school in Ernest-B.-Jubien Park, considered a “green lung”.
“The disappearance of this park would affect a lot of people in the area, and especially people who are rather disadvantaged compared to other areas. There is a center for the elderly, tenants in apartments, a CHSLD, so many people who use the park and for whom it is an essential value on a daily basis, ”says the spokesperson for the signatories of the petition, Françoise Grey.
She and her group also offered an “alternative solution” to the administration: 1000 Lucerne Road, the site of an old synagogue that was soon to be demolished.
It’s already zoned institutional. It is the ideal place at the moment, which would not sacrifice a green space, and which would not deprive people of islands of freshness in a context of climate crisis.
Françoise Le Gris, spokesperson for the signatories of the petition opposing the construction of a school in Parc Ernest-B.-Jubien
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
1000 Lucerne Road
Mme Le Gris also deplores that the administration “keeps the population in the dark” about its intentions. In June, in the middle of a council meeting, Mayor Peter Malouf had promised citizens to give answers on the chosen location within a few weeks, which has not yet been done. “There is a management committee behind the file whose members or mandate are not even known. Everything is blurry. We are in really strange procedures on both sides. The reality is that there is no need for residents for a school,” she says.
An “extremely political” choice
Maryam Kamali Nezhad believes that the administration’s approach is “extremely political”. “They want a simple and quick choice, then say in the next election campaign that they delivered the school. But you have to ask yourself the question: does the need come from surrounding areas like Côte-des-Neiges, like Saint-Laurent? If so, imagine the traffic it will bring to our neighborhoods, ”she worries.
No decision has yet been “officially taken”, however, says Mayor Peter Malouf, who says he has studied no less than “17 scenarios” with the Marguerite-Bourgeoys school service center (CSSMB), the possible manager of the new school. . “You have to work with the priorities of the service center for the type of site. It is not something that is easy to determine. […] Me, I work on facts, not on emotions, ”says Mr. Malouf.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Mayor of Mount Royal, Peter Malouf, in November 2021
“We are aiming for the benefit of the children. Currently, we have young people who are in trailers and who do not even have a yard in which to go and play. We have to find a place for them, that’s the priority”, also replies the mayor, who criticizes the “activists” for “systematically attacking” his administration.
Mr. Malouf says he studied the file “from top to bottom”. “We know how many children will come from Mount Royal, how many from the outside, we look at all of this in depth. And we will be able to share all our analysis with the citizens eventually, ”he assures, without advancing on a precise date. He adds, however, at the end of the interview: “Don’t forget that there is an election on October 3, and we have to know who we are going to do business with. »