In 2025, the government of British Columbia announced that it had provided the province's French-language school district, Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique, with $26 million for the acquisition of a plot of land in Abbotsford.
Just weeks before the sale, BC Assessment had given the 12.16 acre lot at 3044 Pratt St. a valuation of $9.8 million — less than half the final purchase price of $24.6 million.
Records obtained by Sitka Media showed that the property was bought for $1,150,000 in 1996, then sold six years later for $599,000. In 2021, HGE Investments Ltd. — a now-defunct firm operated by former Abbotsford mayor Henry Braun and his brothers — sold the land for $1.9 million to a company registered as 1260177 BC Ltd. At the time, the property was valued at $3.26 million.
The nameless Langley-based entity, which was incorporated on August 5, 2020, then asked for an assignment of the purchase agreement to Gursimer Holdings Ltd. Both listed Nirvair Singh as a director.
Just months later, on August 24, 2021, an application was filed with the City of Abbotsford seeking to amend the Official Community Plan and rezone the land from Country Residential Zone to Multi-Family Residential to allow for a 130-unit townhouse development.
In January 2022, 1260177 BC Ltd. sold the property on to Valley Views Ventures Ltd. for $13.5 million. That firm shares the same address as Azure Properties Group.
Ten months later, the land was advertised for development.
A number of people familiar with the property, including Braun, told Sitka Media that of the 12.1 acres, the net developable land is closer to seven acres, and an estimated two to five are flat enough to immediately begin building.
"Most of the property has steep slopes and environmental issues," Braun said. "My understanding when we sold it was that only two acres is usable."
When told how much CSFCB paid for the land, he called it a "poor financial decision," but expressed hope that "there might be more to this purchase than meets the eye."
"Time will tell," Braun concluded. "In any event, the public should be outraged at how our current government spends our hard-earned money."
For nearly three years, 3044 Pratt St. sat on the market, and on July 31, 2025, the aforementioned re-zoning application was withdrawn. Just thirteen days later, Valley Views Ventures sold the property to CSFCB, also known as School District 93, for $24.6 million.
On September 3, 2025, the government of BC put out a press release explaining that CSFCB had received $51 million for "site acquisitions" in Colwood and Abbotsford — $25 million and $26 million, respectively.
Officials did not name 3044 Pratt St. as the site in question, nor did they give a breakdown of costs. Subtracting $24.6 million from the government's contribution leaves $1.4 million for brokerage fees, other closing and acquisition costs, and miscellaneous expenses.
On March 13, 2026, a new re-zoning application was submitted, this time seeking to amend the Official Community Plan and switch the land from a Country Residential Zone to an Institutional Zone "to permit the development of a K-12 French-language school with an integrated daycare."
Why the purchase price was significantly higher than the assessed value has still not been revealed, nor has the extent of the province's involvement in choosing the site. When asked by Sitka Media in September 2026, the Ministry of Infrastructure said it could not comment.
"Due to the ongoing election campaign, government is in a temporary caretaker mode and communications are limited to critical health and public safety information," a spokesperson said.
CSFCB was reached for comment, but did not respond.
A local real estate agent who wished to remain anonymous told Sitka Media that at the end of the day, it could be as simple as supply and demand — Valley Views Ventures had the land; CSFCB really needed a centrally-located space for their new school and was willing to pay whatever it cost.
Sitka Media has filed a freedom of information request with the Ministry of Infrastructure, and will update the story with findings when they are made available.
Since 2017, Victoria has approved approximately $300 million to "support and expand francophone-education infrastructure throughout BC. The school at 3044 Pratt St. will be the first of its kind in Abbotsford, and add to the existing four dozen CSFCB institutions across the province.
CSFCB and concerned parents have been asking the province for years to help increase the number of Francophone education facilities. The matter has gone to court over allegations Victoria violated their rights under Section 23, which guarantees minority-language educational rights.
In 2010, the school district sued the province, alleging systemic underfunding at the expense of the Francophone community. Six years later, the Supreme Court of BC ruled that some of the French-speaking students' Section 23 rights had, in fact, been infringed.
The case went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2020, where the majority ruled that students must get the same quality of education regardless of whether they study in English or French, and that Francophone schools should be built in select BC communities.
Among them was Abbotsford. The court ruled that parents in the city "are entitled to have their elementary school age children receive instruction at a homogeneous minority language school with space for 85 elementary school students (or such other number as the parties agree to) that provides an educational experience that is substantively equivalent to the experience at nearby majority language schools."
Parents in the Central Fraser Valley (which includes Abbotsford, Mission, and Chilliwack) were also found to be "entitled to have their secondary school age children receive instruction at a homogeneous minority language school that is a combined elementary and secondary school, that has space for 120 secondary school age students (or such other number as the parties agree to) and that provides an educational experience that is substantively equivalent to the experience at nearby majority language schools."
It was determined that "the lack of minority language educational facilities in Abbotsford prevents the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique from providing a global educational experience that is substantively equivalent to the experience at nearby majority language elementary schools." The same was said at the secondary level.
The province had argued that building new schools for such a small number of students did not make sense, however the majority ruled that "saving money wasn’t a good enough reason to justify breaching Section 23."
After years of litigation, it appears as though Abbotsford Francophone community will finally get a school of its own — with a hefty price tag.
