After years of waiting for funding from the Ministry of Education (MEQ), two Montreal popular education centres (CEPs) received a lease termination notice Thursday morning from the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM), Montreal’s largest school service centre.
In addition to claiming nearly $300,000 in overdue rent, the CSSDM is asking the CEPs in question, namely the Carrefour d’éducation populaire de Pointe-Saint-Charles and the CÉDA, to vacate their premises within 30 days. The Comité Social Centre-Sud (CSCS) also received a formal notice demanding payment of the rent within 10 days, otherwise it would also face lease termination from the CSSDM.
Related:
Carrefour, CEDA, and CSCS dispute their landlord’s claims and state that they refuse to vacate the premises they have occupied for over 50 years.
In a press release, they say they have the unwavering support of all the other CEPs, who denounce these “intimidation tactics” and claim that the situation is “entirely fabricated” by the Education Ministry.
The alliance of six CEPs in Montreal (InterCEP) says they deplore the fact that the situation has worsened to the point where threats of eviction and recourse to the courts are being discussed. InterCEP says that all CEPs fulfill an essential educational mission recognized by both the CSSDM and the Education Ministry.
After the first year in which the CEPs were unable to pay the rent demanded by the CSSDM due to lack of funding, interCEP says they succeeded in getting the MEQ and CSSDM to recognize the urgency of resolving the situation. After receiving a formal notice from the CSSDM for non-payment in Oct. 2023, the CEPs contacted the MEQ to resolve the impasse. At that time, Education Minister Bernard Drainville announced one-time, non-recurring funding to allow the centres to pay the rent required by the CSSDM until March 2024. This year, interCEP says they were expecting the MEQ to finally announce a lasting solution to the situation, which has persisted since 2017, so that all CEPs could pay the rent imposed by the CSSDM, but that did not happen.
The solution to keep the six CEPs in their buildings is, according to a press release issued by the Carrefour d’éducation populaire de Pointe-Saint-Charles, however, inexpensive for the government. With a ministerial budget of over $20 billion, interCEP is asking the government to create a subsidy of less than $2 million per year.
“Imagine someone who couldn’t find a penny to share while walking around with a $100 bill. It’s the same order of magnitude we’re talking about here,” explains Xavier Philippe-Beauchamp, spokesperson for interCEP.
The insecurity faced by interCEP also directly affects the 15 or so associations organized by the CEPs. These include food banks, housing committees, and early childhood centres.
Minister Drainville’s responsibility to find a solution: opposition
The opposition parties in Quebec City, as well as the province’s community organization groups, are unanimous: they say it’s up to Minister Bernard Drainville to find a solution to the current situation and save the future of the CEPs. In addition to statements from the MNAs representing the ridings where the CEPs are located, the CEPs have received some 50 endorsements from allied community groups in recent months.
CEPs are community organizations that have been rooted in their neighbourhoods for over 50 years. Housed in surplus CSSDM buildings, they offer literacy, French-language training, computer literacy, and much more. For several years, they say they have been threatened with eviction from their premises.
CityNews reached out to the CSSDM for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
