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The City of Hamilton has signed over a plot of land to allow for a long-awaited French-language high school.

The agreement between the city and officials from the French public and Catholic school boards will allow the construction of a school at 700 Garner Rd. E. in Ancaster.

In the agreement, the 14-acre vacant site will be the future home of a joint secondary school, while the city will take ownership of 16 Broughton Ave., a 9.5-acre site on the east Mountain, the original location of the new school, which will be formally developed as a park.

“This land exchange is the result of years of determined advocacy, partnership and hard work by local leaders, Francophone families, city council and staff, and our French public and Catholic school boards,” said Mayor Andrea Horwath. “The community shared their frustration with the lack of progress with me in the summer of 2022. Together, we stayed focused on what our community needed – greater access to French-language secondary education in Ancaster and the protection of valuable greenspace for residents.”

The new school will replace Mountain’s Académie catholique Mère-Teresa on the east mountain and Westdale’s Georges-P.-Vanier, which have been long-deemed by both parents and students as subpar.

The planned, 800-seat joint high school will have capacity for 400 students from each board in separate wings. There will be shared community space that will likely include a cafeteria stage or auditorium, sitting areas and shop classrooms.

In explaining the lengthy timeline, a spokesperson for the MonAvenir Catholic School Board outlined in November 2016 the Ministry of Education allocated $26 million for the construction of a joint secondary school project in Hamilton with financing for 400 pupils for each the Catholic and public school boards.

The following month, the MOE approved funding for site acquisition for MonAvenir and Conseil scolaire Viamonde for the site bought by Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir and reimbursed the school boards.

Between 2018 and 2024, there was a lengthy search and various stalled site proposals until the City of Hamilton acquired the current site in January 2024 and in May of that year, the land swap was approved by the MOE.

Given the time lapse between the original funds allocated and now, Virginie Oger, communications adviser with the MonAvenir Catholic School Board, said, “Given current construction market conditions, the boards are finalizing updated design and costing and intends to submit a revised funding request to the ministry in the coming months. The final project budget will be confirmed following completion of the design phase and ministry review.”

The architect of the project is Toronto-based Snyder and next steps are a site plan application and building permit, with groundbreaking planned for fall 2026.

“The city will continue to work closely with the school boards and with the owner of the surrounding subdivision to execute the required obligations under the agreement, including finalizing the subdivision agreement, to allow for the completion of the exchange and development of the lands,” stated a City of Hamilton news release.

City officials did not give further details or timelines on the parkland planned for Broughton Avenue.