Montreal school board's eviction plans rankles community groups

Montreal's largest French-language school board says it may need to evict community groups from 13 of its buildings to make space for an increasing number of students.

The Commision scolaire de Montréal (CSDM) rents space to about 60 groups, included publicly funded daycares and private businesses.

About half of those groups signed a statement that was read out yesterday at a council meeting, decrying the fact that the groups may be forced to leave.

CSDM president Catherine Harel-Bourdon says each year, enrollment increases by about 1,000 students.

The most affordable way to create space for them is to use the buildings they rent out to community groups, she said.

Students are eating in class rooms and don't have libraries, she said, and that can't continue.

The groups say they understand that, but they say so far the board hasn't given any details about which groups will be evicted and when.

Marie-Andrée Painchaud-Mathieu, co-ordinator of Carrefour d'education Populaire in Pointe-Saint-Charles, says the groups that are evicted likely won't find places to go with rent as affordable as what the CSDM buildings offer.

That means they will have to cut services or lay off staff, which in turn will affect the clientele, who are often vulnerable members of society.

"The groups get the impression they're not being respected as equal partners," Painchaud-Mathieu said.

The board says it will make a final decision on which groups, if any, will be asked to leave next month.