Dieppe council chambers packed for discussion about anglophone school

Dieppe residents came out to city council in droves on Monday night to voice their opinions both for and against controversial plans for a new Anglophone school in their community. . The plan is for a K-12 school that would hold more than 1,800 students. Right now Lou McNairn School which goes up to grade five is the only anglophone school in Dieppe. Parents say a new one in their neighborhood is much needed. I came out to this meeting for my children. When they go to middle school we are worried their potential middle school is bursting, as most of them are, and we're concerned. I'm going to do my best to advocate for her to have a better school that's less overcrowded and a playground. I hope to put in a recommendation for the school to be built, and I hope that this comes together to make something more so than a language of versus unity. I'd rather see Anglophones and Francophones work together to make something new. It could be up to an hour that we're sitting in traffic, but it's more important to me To me that they stay in this community that we love. We have a wonderful school to go to eventually, a nice new school, and Dieppe needs it. But some Francophone advocates worry that the addition of an Anglophone school will weaken the French majority that exists in Dieppe and attract more non-French speakers to the area. In the metropolitan area of Moncton, there's no real space where Acadians hold a majority. And have a space where the French language can live without always having to constantly switch to English, right? And so that's what this majority space, this precious, rare and unique space provides in Dieppe. That's why we want to preserve it. Why don't you speak French? It's in the French community. I learn English. Why can't you learn French? It's bilingual. The definition of bilingual is not Anglophone State Unilingual English. Both communities make an effort to speak the other language. Dieppe issued a statement on Monday which says the city is still considering all sides of the issue and has an independent firm conducting consultations with stakeholders. We acknowledge that the legitimate concerns are there. I mean, we're not saying one way or the other that there's a one-way solution to all of this. But what we are concerned is that we have to do our own work. We want to make sure that the population of Dieppe knows that they're welcomed. But while Dieppe City Council can make a recommendation on where the school should be built, the decision ultimately rests with the province. So at this stage, we are looking at land, and the Department of Education is always looking at land. proactively and trying to see where the best lands are. Like this is a perfect example of a collaboration with the municipality on finding land that works for everybody. The municipality, communities and that's the stage that we're at with the Dieppe school and at this point in time there has no decision that has been made and we are working with our partners on moving forward. Dieppe's mayor says results are expected back from the consulting firm in December. Parents hope that the new school's construction could still be on track, which at the earliest means welcoming students in 2031.