Southwestern Ontario’s French-language Catholic school board is mourning the loss of a long-time school trustee.
Conseil scolaire catholique Providence has announced that Sylvie Barbeau (Chmielewski) passed away on Saturday at the age of 60.
Barbeau was a school trustee on the board for nearly 35 years and was also a teacher at École catholique Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin over the course of her career in education.
“Sylvie will be sorely missed. She was greatly appreciated for her tireless work on behalf of our parents and students,” said board Chair Jacques Kenny in a statement. “Proud to be a Francophone and a Catholic, Sylvie never ceased campaigning to ensure that our schools would be able to offer a high-quality education to all our families.”
In addition, she was a member of a number of Francophone community associations for many years, including Les dames de Sainte-Anne, Paroisse Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin, Centre communautaire francophone de Sarnia, Entité du Sud-Ouest Ontario, Sarnia Lambton Ontario Health Team and was a volunteer at the River City Shelter.
In recognition of Barbeau’s contributions to French-language Catholic education, the flags at the head office and all the schools within the board will be flown at half-mast for the next few days.
Funeral arrangements for Barbeau are not yet known.