schools. In addition, minor children who require a study permit to study at elementary and secondary school are subject to school fees.284 b. Article 22(1) – Provincial Legislation Alberta Education Legislation In 2012, the Government of Alberta drafted new education legislation to replace the existing School Act.285 The new Education Act, and its subsequent amendments, have received royal assent. However, at the time of writing they are not yet in force.286 Although Alberta’s School Act is the current education law in Alberta, this section focuses on the compatibility of Alberta’s new Education Act with the 1954 Convention. In Alberta, elementary education is Kindergarten to Grade 6. Secondary school includes junior high school, which is Grade 7 to Grade 9, as well as senior high school, which is Grade 10 to Grade 12.287 Under the new Education Act, the right to access education in Alberta is available to every person who: is between the ages of 6 and 21, is a “resident of Alberta”, and has a parent who is a “resident of Canada”. “Resident of Alberta” is defined as: a person who is lawfully entitled to be or to remain in Canada, and who is living and ordinarily present in Alberta, but does not include a tourist or visitor to Alberta.288 A “resident of Canada” for the purposes of the Education Act means a person who is lawfully entitled to be or to remain in Canada, and who is living and is ordinarily present, in Canada, but does not include a tourist or visitor to Canada.289 It is not entirely clear who is considered to be “lawfully entitled to be or to remain” in Alberta and Canada in order to be eligible for public education under the Education Act. For example, the School Act is more specific and its eligibility criteria require persons be “lawfully admitted to Canada for permanent residence, or a child of an individual who is lawfully admitted to Canada for permanent or temporary residence.” Assuming “lawfully entitled to be or to remain” under the new Education Act is intended to mean the same as “lawfully admitted to Canada for permanent residence, or a child of an individual who is lawfully admitted to Canada for permanent or temporary residence” under the School Act, then a foreign national could be eligible for admission to attend public schools in Alberta if they: • Have been issued a study permit and have registered and paid tuition for a full-time provincially recognized diploma or degree program that is a minimum of two years in Canada’s Reply to CESCR 2006, supra note 282 at 12. School Act, RSA 2000, c S-3, available at: http://canlii.ca/t/52fj7 [Alberta School Act]. 286 Education Act, SA 2012, c E-0.3, available at: http://canlii.ca/t/52fkf [Alberta Education Act]; and Bill 19, Education Amendment Act, 3d Sess, 28th Leg, Alberta, 2015 (assented to 30 March 2015), available at: http://tinyurl.com/nmp8ml5; and see, Alberta Education, “The Education Act and Regulatory Review”, available at: http://education.alberta.ca/department/policy/education-act.aspx. 287 Study in Alberta, “Structure of the Alberta School System” (2015), available at: http://studyinalberta.ca/primaryand-secondary/overview/structure/. 288 Alberta Education Act, supra note 286 at s. 1(4)(a). 289 Ibid., at s. 1(4)(b). 284 285 60