The open letter was signed by former Liberal leaders Daniel Johnson, Jean Charest and Philippe Couillard and their Parti Québécois counterparts Pierre-Marc Johnson, Lucien Bouchard and Pauline Marois. Six former Quebec premiers have signed an open letter supporting a motion by the Legault government calling for a toughening of the enforcement of Bill 101 and extending the … Read more
There is pressure on the Canadian government to subject federally chartered agencies and businesses to Bill 101. It should do no such thing. In recent months there has been a campaign in Quebec, orchestrated by independentist parties and nationalist movements, and now joined by a bi-partisan group of former Quebec premiers, to induce the Canadian government to subject … Read more
The Facing Common Challenges for a More Vital Community Consultation was held on December 1, 2020 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. via Zoom with 72 stakeholders in attendance. During the consultation we reviewed the primary themes and challenges identified in the first year of the Community Growth Plan before introducing our objectives for year 2. The first objective is to have a mobilization strategy developed by community partners working in concert. This strategy is to allow stakeholders … Read more
November 24, 2020 – Quebec’s Minister Responsible for the French Language, Simon Jolin-Barrette, announced on Tuesday a plan to table a bill aimed at strengthening French in the province. “Quebec was born in French, and it will stay French,” Jolin-Barrette said at a news conference on Tuesday. Read more
November 25, 2020 – Members of Quebec’s English-speaking community have reacted with skepticism over promises by the Legault government to respect the rights of the minority in its overhaul of the French Language Charter. “We heard the same thing about Bill 40, and the Quebec English School Boards Association is in court now defending our … Read more
During a recent meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages, the decline of the French language in Quebec was questioned. Other statements during the hearing suggested that Canada’s English linguistic minority does not exist. Let us quickly deal with this last point. Under the law of Quebec and Canada, there is … Read more
Canada’s Official Languages Act was made law in 1969, was substantially amended in 1988 and is now overdue for an overhaul. As the issue of language rights re-emerged in the final weeks of 2020, it was obvious that many elements of the debate have changed since 1988, but, as Royal Military College professor Stéphanie Chouinard … Read more
Dear House Leaders: On October 1, 2020, Government House Leader Simon Jolin-Barrette introduced a motion in the National Assembly regarding the exclusive use of French by members of the legislature in their addresses to members of the press gallery, unless dealing with issues of safety and public health. The motion was supported by all parties. … Read more
The Quebec Community Groups Network is heartened by an encouraging decision last week from the Court of Appeal in our community’s fight against the imposition of Bill 40. In August, the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) had obtained an injunction from Superior Court suspending application of Bill 40 for English boards until the merits … Read more
The upcoming Throne Speech provides Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a golden opportunity to make good on a longstanding pledge – and take the final steps needed to modernize the Official Languages Act. Time and circumstances have converged. As Parliament resumes later this month, consensus on how to update the Act has already been achieved. … Read more
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prepares his third Throne Speech and a return to Parliament, he has a golden opportunity to make good on his longstanding pledge to modernize the Official Languages Act and fulfill his vision of linguistic duality and strong official language minority communities. Read more
Our community has the Constitutional right to manage and control our schools. The Coalition Avenir Québec government has taken this right away from our English-speaking community – and together we must fight to take back this fundamental right. All nine of our English school boards along with the Quebec English School Boards Association have launched … Read more
Rather than picking fights with our community, we urge the Legault government to alter course, work with us, and cease defining us as a problem, writes QCGN President Geoffrey Chambers in this opinion piece for The Gazette. Chambers argues that today’s English-speaking community is invested in Quebec. We have encouraged and enabled our children to … Read more
Quebec Superior Court has granted a stay to English school boards challenging a provincial government law abolishing them, pending the outcome of a legal challenge on its merits. The province passed the law — known as Bill 40 — in February, abolishing school boards and replacing them with service centres, eliminating school board elections for … Read more
A Quebec Superior Court judge has ruled in favour of the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) request for a stay on Bill 40, the law that abolishes school boards and replaces them with service centres. “We are very pleased with the decision today which has the effect of suspending the application of Bill 40 … Read more
Quebec’s English School boards will remain as they are after the province’s superior court judged in favour on a stay of Bill 40 on Monday. The Quebec English School Board Association (QESBA) is applauding the court’s judgment on the education reform bill, a legislation that abolishes boards across the province and replaces them with service … Read more
Quebec’s plan to change English school boards into service centres has been put on ice temporarily after a Quebec Superior Court justice ruled that the plan raised “very serious questions” pertaining to the constitutionality of Bill 40. Justice Sylvain Lussier also ruled that the disappearance of English-language school boards (and their transformation into English-language school … Read more
It is more important to understand why there is a difference in reporting anxiety levels among Quebecers than to deflect, writes Jack Jedwab, President of the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS). An ACS/QCGN survey reveals that some 34 per cent of Quebec anglophones know someone who has been diagnosed with the virus compared with 21 … Read more
A new poll commissioned by the Quebec Community Groups Network and conducted by Leger shows anglophones and allophones are more worried than francophones about contracting COVID-19. When asked why he thinks angolphones fear catching the virus more than francophones, Legault suggested English media coverage may be to blame. Read more
A new poll shows that English speakers in Quebec are significantly more worried about COVID-19 than French speakers, and are almost twice as likely to wear a mask. Faced with these numbers on Wednesday, Legault lashed out at English-language media, saying at a press conference that the Montreal Gazette in particular “has a certain responsibility.” … Read more
English-speaking Quebecers are more likely than francophones to be afraid of contracting COVID-19 and more likely to know an infected person, according to a new Léger Marketing survey. The survey, commissioned by the Quebec Community Groups Network and the Association for Canadian Studies, found 68 per cent of anglophones polled were afraid of contracting COVID-19, … Read more
The Quebec Community Groups Network and the Association for Canadian Studies commissioned Léger Marketing to conduct a Web survey on COVID-19 and the perceptions of English-speaking Quebecers. Results indicate that English-speaking Quebecers are more afraid of getting the virus than their francophone counterparts and more likely to be afraid of an immediate family member getting … Read more
The Quebec Community Groups Network believes that during this unprecedented crisis, it is essential that members of linguistic minority communities have access to quality information in our language. In response, QCGN’s team has created an online information tool that provides access to reliable information in English from trusted sources. Our coronavirus response hub, put together by QCGN … Read more
Last fall, representatives of the QCGN attended the community consultation sessions organized by the Secretariat for Relations with English-speaking Quebecers. The QCGN maintains that while the consultation opened a dialogue, the process addressed surface symptoms. It largely failed to identify specific pragmatic solutions – in language instruction, health care, education, and elsewhere – required to … Read more
Statement by the Quebec Community Groups Network This has been a difficult week for Quebec’s English-speaking community as our rights continue to be dismissed and our relations with the Quebec government deteriorate further. On Monday, the Alliance for the Promotion of Public English-language Education in Québec (APPELE-Québec), an alliance of 16 groups representing parents, educators … Read more