Speaking with columnist Allison Hanes, former QCGN President Marlene Jennings reflects on her 18 months as head of the organization, and the ongoing battle against Bill 96. Read more
With the passage of language law Bill 96, the Quebec government plans to issue not only all marriage certificates only in French, but all birth and death certificates, too. “It’s just another example of what we would consider pettiness in dealing with English speakers,” said Eva Ludvig, the interim director of the Quebec Community Groups … Read more
Columnist Emilie Nicolas suggests that groups and individuals opposing Bill 96, including the QCGN, form a coalition to counter the Coalition Avenir Québec’s brand of Quebec nationalism. “For a counter-narrative to emerge, more unity, and stronger coalition-building is necessary,” she writes. Read more
Under the dramatic overhaul of the Official Languages Act currently being considered, the federal government would in effect abandon English-speaking Quebec by discarding the fundamental principle of linguistic duality from coast to coast to coast, QCGN President Eva Ludvig today told the Senate Standing Committee on Official Languages. Read more
The Quebec government wants the proposed federal language law reform to take a different approach toward the province’s English-speaking minority and francophone minorities in other parts of the country. The province has sent 14 suggested amendments to members of a parliamentary committee currently studying the bill. The Quebec Community Groups Network, a Quebec anglophone rights group, described … Read more
The Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), one of the organizations that are part of Quebecers against Bill 96 – Quebec’s French-language law – launched an Access to Justice website, something they say will work to inform English-speaking communities in the province about their rights to access justice, services, and resources. Read more
Marlene Jennings has announced that she is stepping down as president of the Quebec Community Groups Network, the English-language advocacy group that has been in the spotlight for the past year speaking out against the newly passed language law Bill 96. Read more
Marlene Jennings has stepped down from her role as president of the Quebec Community Groups Network, the QCGN announced Friday. “Thank you for your Herculean efforts these past 18 months,” the group said in a tweet. Read more
Changes are coming to Quebec Community Groups Network, an English-language support group in Montreal. QCGN president Marlene Jennings has decided not to seek another mandate after serving in the post for two years. Read more
“I would like to express our community’s deep disappointment with the federal government’s recognition of the Charter of the French Language as amended by Bill 96 in the Official Languages Bill,” QCGN President Marlene Jennings said in committee on Monday. Read more
D’Arcy-McGee Liberal MNA David Birnbaum, the party’s point person for the English-speaking community, reported hearing Legault make remarks about citizens in the West Island in the legislature during the question period. The premier received a strong rebuke from the Quebec Community Groups Network, the umbrella group for English-language organizations. Read more
Almost as soon as the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s Bill 96 was passed into law on Tuesday last week, Montreal constitutional rights lawyer Julius Grey was announcing the creation of a legal team to contest the legislation updating the province’s 45-year-old Bill 101 language law. “We will also be supporting upcoming legal challenges to the … Read more
English-language advocacy groups and some pundits reacted with dismay and consternation to a full-page advertisement taken out by the Quebec government in the Montreal Gazette Tuesday defending its recently passed Bill 96 legislation. “Just take a look at all the people, learned, credible individuals, who have addressed each of those issues,” said QCGN treasurer Eva Ludvig. … Read more
Toronto Star reporter Tonda MacCharles highlights the growing divisions brought on by Quebec’s Bill 96. She writes: “The Quebec Community Groups Network, a not-for-profit umbrella group, has mobilized against it, organizing two rallies this month, and vowing to mount court challenges.” Read more
Ontario MP Pierre Poilievre is the only candidate in the Conservative leadership race to stay mum on Quebec’s controversial new language law, Bill 96. The law’s consequence to the federal government (touching on official languages and the Constitution) mean “these are not minor questions that nobody really cares about,” said Joan Fraser, a retired Liberal … Read more
Montrealers came out Thursday at Place du Canada to rally against Bill 96, Quebec’s French language reform. The bill was officially adopted at the National Assembly on Tuesday – and leaders of the province’s English-speaking community say they will continue to be vocal against it. “We have a long way to go, but we’re on … Read more
Around 500 people led a protest Thursday against Bill 96 — the province’s new language reform law that brings sweeping new changes that some say it not reflective of an inclusive Quebec. “Premier Legault and the CAQ has completely re-ordered the societal democracy that we have built,” says QCGN President Marlene Jennings, “And when I … Read more
The Coalition Avenir Quebec’s Bill 96 — aimed at protecting and bolstering the French language in Quebec — may have been passed into law earlier this week, but that has done little to quell the English-speaking community’s opposition to the legislation. Quebecers Against Bill 96, a group created by the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) , the … Read more
Leaders of the province’s English-speaking community vowed to speak loudly and often against Bill 96, which was passed in the National Assembly on Tuesday. “We are very concerned about the erosion of rights of all Quebecers that were introduced by a government that seems to care more about scoring political points for the upcoming election than … Read more
Quebec’s government has successfully passed sweeping French language protections that critics warn will reshape all aspects of public life. “Bill 96 is the most significant derogation of human rights in the history of Quebec and Canada,” Marlene Jennings, head of the Quebec Community Groups Network, which promotes the rights of English-speakers in the province, said in … Read more
The tug-of-war over Bill 96, which was approved Tuesday, pitted the majority government and politicians who declared the French language’s viability was at stake against advocates who warned the law could weaken civil liberties in Canada’s second most populous province. “Bill 96 will make it virtually impossible for someone to receive quality health and social … Read more
There will be legal challenges and a public pressure campaign against Bill 96, which was voted into law Tuesday afternoon. The Quebec Community Groups Network has vowed to support any fight against the law, and plans to mount a public awareness campaign, starting with a protest in Montreal set for Thursday evening. Read more
Bill 96, the provincial government’s controversial legislation aimed at protecting the French language in Quebec, has been adopted in the National Assembly. “It’s a sad day. I think it’s a sad day for all of Quebec,” said QCGN director Sylvia Martin-Laforge. Read more
The Quebec government has secured the largest expansion of its language laws in more than 40 years, imposing new rules to reinforce the use of French in the public service, education and business despite bitter opposition from the province’s English-speaking minority. “The mood now in the English-speaking community is quite bleak,” said Joan Fraser, a … Read more
The Quebec Community Groups Network has criticized Bill 96 for many reasons, in part for infringing on citizens’ privacy rights, greatly reducing the ability to receive public services in English and for issuing fines for speaking languages other than French at work. Read more