As the school year opened in Quebec on Thursday, about 75 children who wanted to attend English-language schools had their hopes dashed by the province's Court of Appeal.

'I don't know why here they don't let you make the decision. Where I come from, we learn both English and French, and we came out very good.'—Pounam Carpanen, parent

Last week, the court ruled that 25 Quebec families could send their children to English public schools, provided the children had attended English private schools for at least one year. The ruling went against Quebec's Charter of the French Language.

On Thursday, Appeal Court Judge André Rochon suspended the ruling until the provincial government could appeal it to the Supreme Court of Canada, a process that could take years.

A lawyer for the families, Brent Tyler, had to break the news to those who came along to the Montreal courthouse for the decision.

"It seems that, for Justice Rochon, it was somehow unfair to have some people benefit from the judgment, and other people not," Tyler said.

Pounam Carpanen, whose three children might have been allowed to go to an English school, said she was frustrated with the latest ruling.
 
Carpanen, who came to Quebec from Mauritius, said she doesn't understand why the system has to be so complicated.

"I don't know why here they don't let you make the decision. Where I come from, we learn both English and French, and we came out very good," she said.

Until 2002, non-francophone families had taken advantage of a loophole in the language law, Bill 101, that allowed them to send their children to English schools if they had at least one year in an English private school.

In 2002, the provincial legislature passed Bill 104, which closed that loophole.

Lawyers for the 25 families went to court that year, claiming Bill 104 violated the federal Charter of Rights and freedoms.

Last week, the Court of Appeal agreed with them.

At the time of that decision, Tyler said the rights enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms had trumped those in the Charter of the French Language. He also said he expected Quebec to appeal the decision.

On Wednesday, Tyler described as mean-spirited the province's application to have the ruling suspended until it is appealed.

Bill 101 was brought in by the Parti Québécois government in 1977 to preserve the use of French language by placing strict rules, among other things, on which children could attend English schools in Quebec.