• • • • duration or a full-time graduate or post-doctoral program of study that is a minimum of one year in duration; Have been issued an employment authorization to work temporarily in Canada (e.g. temporary foreign workers); Filed a refugee claim; Have been issued a federal Temporary Resident Permit (TRP); or Are persons with diplomatic status in Canada290 Individuals who are not described above have not been considered “residents of the board”; and therefore, must pay tuition fees for public education.291 British Columbia Education Legislation In British Columbia, elementary education includes Kindergarten to Grade 7. Secondary school includes Grade 8 to Grade 12.292 Under British Columbia’s School Act, a person is entitled to access an educational program provided by the board of a school district if the person is of school age, and is resident in that school district.293 Furthermore, a school board must provide an educational program in a school operated by the board free of charge to every student of school age resident in British Columbia.294 A student is “resident” in British Columbia if the student and the student’s guardian are ordinarily resident in British Columbia.295 Unfortunately, the School Act does not define “ordinarily resident” for the purposes of enrollment. Instead, the Ministry of Education’s policy on the “Eligibility of Students for Operating Grant Funding” states “[b]oards must determine, in a fair and even-handed manner, whether an applicant falls within the definition of ‘ordinarily resident’”296 With respect to the eligibility of foreign nationals, the policy states: Immigration status is relevant but does not determine ordinary residence. The determination of whether a person is ordinarily resident should never be based solely on the person’s immigration status. A person need not be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident to be ‘ordinarily resident’ in BC for the purposes of Section 82 of UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Reports submitted by States parties under article 9 of the Convention: International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination : 19th and 20th periodic reports of States parties due in 2009 : Canada, 8 June 2011, CERD/C/CAN/19-20, at para. 318, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/506181602.html [CERD State Report 2011]. 291 Alberta Education Act, supra note 286 at ss. 13(2)-(3) & 57, and Ibid. at para. 318. Elementary and secondary school tuition fees in Alberta for individuals requiring a study permit range from $4,000-$6,000 per semester. A refund for the fees could only be obtained if the individual cancels before the start of the semester, they are unable to obtain a study permit, or they obtain permanent residence before September 30 of the current school year, see Study in Alberta, “How much does it cost?” (2015), available at: http://www.studyinalberta.ca/primary-andsecondary/cost/ [How much does it cost?] 292 Statistics Canada, “Levels within pre-elementary and elementary-secondary schools, by jurisdiction” (13 December 2010), available at: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-582-g/2010001/c-g/c-g1-eng.htm 293 School Act, RSBC 1996, c 412, at s. 2(1), available at: http://canlii.ca/t/52cdg [BC School Act] 294 Ibid., at s. 82(1). 295 Ibid., at s. 82(2). 296 Ministry of Education, “Eligibility of Students for Operating Grant Funding” (18 March 2013), available at: http://tinyurl.com/qzrmekv. 290 61 61