After a moment of hope, disappointment set in on Nuns’ Island, where a purchase offer had been negotiated for land that would be dedicated to the development of a new public school that had been requested for years. years by many parents. Quebec, however, refused to conclude this transaction, raising the ire of residents and local elected officials.
The lack of public schools has been the subject of much discussion over the years in Nuns’ Island, a Montreal neighborhood served by the Réseau express métropolitain dedicated to welcoming several thousand new residents as part of various real estate projects. future. However, the two primary schools in the neighborhood are at maximum capacity, to the point that an annex had to be set up in an office building for one of them.
The thousand students aged 12 to 16 who live in the neighborhood must travel to schools located in Verdun or on the South Shore, since Nuns’ Island has no secondary schools.
However, in recent months, a glimmer of hope appeared on the horizon for residents, when the owner of several lots located along Chemin du Golf decided, on his own initiative, to include a priority in purchase for the City of Montreal and the government of Quebec. It is in this context that the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI) recently negotiated an agreement with this developer with a view to purchasing one of its lands to build a school, several sources confirmed at Duty. This purchase option was then submitted to the Ministry of Education following analyzes carried out by the Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Service Center (CSSMB), the latter confirmed by email on Tuesday.
“In light of recent school attendance data and ministerial forecasts, the CSSMB asked the [ministère de l’Éducation du Québec] to relaunch the construction of a school on Nuns’ Island. Indeed, current and forecast data, the non-existent secondary school supply in this sector as well as the reception capacity of the Monseigneur-Richard secondary school, in Verdun, justified this proposal,” explains the school service center. in an email sent to Duty.
This new school project was initially put on hold due to a drop in the number of students recorded on Nuns’ Island in the context of the pandemic.
News of the negotiations, which spread among neighborhood residents, made many of them optimistic. The City of Montreal also took advantage of the opportunity to purchase two lots totaling more than 7,000 m2 which had been put up for sale by the developer, who was also negotiating with the SQI, in order to develop a series of “collective facilities” there in the coming years. The municipal administration saw the possibility of creating new public spaces near a future school.
“More urgent” projects
However, the Quebec government recently confirmed to the City and the CSSMB that it would not release the necessary funding for the purchase of this land, not deeming the construction of a new public school in this neighborhood a priority. “We will not move forward with the acquisition of land for the secondary school in L’Île-des-Soeurs,” wrote to Duty Wednesday afternoon the head of press relations at the Ministry of Education, Esther Chouinard.
This specifies that the need for new schools on Nuns’ Island has evolved “since 2018”, so that this acquisition is no longer a priority. “Given the financing capacity of the ministry, we are obliged to concentrate on the most urgent school construction projects,” continues Ms.me Chouinard.
The office of the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, assures for its part that the project for a new school in L’Île-des-Soeurs is not abandoned, but rather “kept on pause”. “We must build the right school, in the right place, at the right time, looking at the situation throughout Quebec,” explained communications director Antoine de la Durantaye. “However, we will continue to assess the needs of the sector,” he specifies.
A missed opportunity
However, if Quebec does not purchase this land quickly, “it will be acquired by a developer, and we do not know when another land like this will be available,” warns the president of the Association of Owners and Residents of L ‘Île-des-Soeurs, Daniel Manseau. “This opportunity is not likely to present itself for many years,” he continues.
However, it is obvious that this project will one day have to come to fruition, believes Geneviève Guay, who is a member of the Coalition for Public Schools in L’Île-des-Soeurs. “Young people, when they arrive at secondary school, they leave our neighborhood” because transport costs are too high and the private schools that can accommodate them in the metropolis are too expensive, she sighs. “Unless we decide that Nuns’ Island is doomed to becoming a neighborhood of old singles, we need a high school,” says M.me Guay.
In recent days, residents sent a letter to Minister Bernard Drainville to urge him to move forward with the purchase of land intended to accommodate a public school in the neighborhood. A cry from the heart shared by the mayor of the Verdun district, Marie-Andrée Mauger, in a letter addressed to Minister Drainville co-signed with the head of urban planning on the executive committee, Robert Beaudry.
“The present two primary schools have cut into municipal parks. Unfortunately, there are no longer any municipal parks large enough to build a school, we urge you to pay particular attention to the unique reality of Nuns’ Island, with a strong feeling of isolation,” demand the two elected officials, who are thus urging Quebec to “get on track” with the project to create a new primary school and a secondary school in the neighborhood.