The ways new federally supplied funding under the Action Plan for Official Languages will ultimately be allocated, the process of nailing down specific purposes and objectives, is likely to be clarified over the next several months, Eva Ludvig, president of the Quebec Community Groups Network, tells Sabrina Marandola on the CBC Radio afternoon show Let’s … Read more
The federal Action Plan funds destined to assist Anglophones in Quebec should be utilized for French-language instruction of the English-speaking community, said Quebec’s minister of the French language, Jean-François Roberge, to reporters in a scrum this morning. Read more (In French)
While the approach adopted by Jean-François Roberge, Quebec minister for the French language, is disappointing, it is quite normal that some Action Plan funding is already used and will continue to be used to help francize Quebec Anglophones, Eva Ludvig, QCGN president, explains to TVA Nouvelles: “We need help. We have young people who are … Read more
MPs representing Quebec ridings with a significant English-speaking population have raised objections to the Trudeau government’s Bill C-13, updating the Official Languages Act (OLA). None — other than Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — attended yesterday morning’s unveiling of the new Action Plan for Official Languages. MP Anthony Housefather earlier suggested he could not vote for … Read more
“There are specific programs in here for English-speaking Quebec, and there is work to be done by our community sectors to take full advantage of the opportunities presented to us,” says Sylvia Martin-Laforge, QCGN director general. QCGN President Eva Ludvig notes that additional Action Plan funds pledged by Ottawa have been earmarked “for economic development, … Read more
The minority English-speaking community in Quebec will get a portion of that budget to ensure its vitality.“We have not always received our fair share” of federal funding “and it’s starting to look different for the English-speaking community,” says Sylvia Martin-Laforge, director general of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), following the Action Plan announcement. Funding … Read more
Announcing details of the new federal Action Plan for Official Languages, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau singles out French speakers as the only minority group in danger in Canada. “We remain concerned that the French-language charter (of Quebec) is included” in the dramatically reformulated Official Languages Act, Bill C-13, which currently incorporates Quebec’s Bill 96 and … Read more
Despite a planned increase in funds directed to official language minority communities from the federal government, there is no guarantee that this will benefit Quebec’s English-speaking community, says QCGN Director General Sylvia Martin-Laforge. “How much English-speaking Quebecers will benefit from the official language investments in this budget is an open question. We hope to see … Read more
The QCGN is “apprehensive” about the agreement between the federal and Quebec governments which implements aspects of the Charter of the French Language within Bill C-13, says QCGN President Eva Ludvig. “At the risk of sounding cynical, the provincial government has not been a champion for the English-speaking community.” Read more
QCGN Director General Sylvia Martin-Laforge joins CBC Montreal’s Sudha Krishnan to discuss Bill 15, Quebec’s proposed reform of the health system, and the concerns many in the English-speaking community have about these proposed reforms (Interview begins at 18:10). Watch here
“On the one hand, the Quebec government welcomes international organizations and institutions — and their jobs and dollars — with open arms,” writes Matt Aronson, secretary of the Board of the QCGN: “Meanwhile, on the other hand, the government treats the presence of English in Montreal as something to be actively discouraged and barely tolerated.” … Read more
QCGN President Eva Ludvig explains that English- and French-speaking community associations and groups had been in agreement about what the modernization of the Official Languages Act stood for. “It’s when requests and demands from the Quebec government started being incorporated into it through amendments and through the latest version of the bill [that] things started … Read more
Townshippers’ Association co-founder Marjorie Goodfellow is recognized by the Office of the Commissioner for Official Languages for her 40 years of advocacy for the rights of Quebec’s English-speaking community. She encourages anyone who wishes to participate in protecting the rights of English-speaking Quebecers to write to their Member of Parliament, “and support the Quebec Community … Read more
The Liberal MPs who have spoken out against mention of the Charter of the French Language in Bill C-13 have undeservedly raised the ire of many in the French-language media, writes former QCGN president Marlene Jennings. Rather than accusing these MPs of spreading disinformation, critics “should focus their attention on the issues being raised.” Read … Read more
Alix Adrien, a longtime educator and QCGN board member, is named one of the CBC’s Black Changemakers of 2023. Now president of the Quebec Board of Black Educators, Adrien brought an infectious passion to the classroom during his teaching days, as well as patience and understanding for students in difficult situations. Read more
Columnist Michel C. Auger accuses the QCGN, Liberal MPs, and other community organizations advocating for English-speaking Quebecers of spreading misinformation about the Charter of the French Language amid the ongoing debate around the federal Bill C-13. Read more
QCGN President Eva Ludvig thanks the Liberal MPs who “have been very courageous and taking political risk” by defending Quebec’s English-speaking during the study of Bill C-13. Listen here
The Montreal Gazette is “an English language institution,” and a plan to cut a significant portion of the newsroom means that English-speaking Quebecers “will be losing an important voice for the community,” says QCGN President Eva Ludvig. Read more
Including references to Quebec’s Charter of the French Language within the federal government’s Bill C-13 sets a precedent for other provinces in the rest of Canada to use the notwithstanding clause to the detriment of francophone minority communities, warns QCGN President Eva Ludvig. Watch here
QCGN Director General Sylvia Martin-Laforge speaks to The Montrealer about the QCGN’s work in advocating for Quebec’s English-speaking community on the provincial and federal levels, and how the organization has evolved in recent years as linguistic issues have returned to the spotlight. Read more
The QCGN is profoundly disappointed that the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages has allowed references to Quebec’s Charter of the French Language to remain in proposed new federal language legislation to amend Canada’s Official Languages Act, reads an open letter from the QCGN in the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph. Read more
The concerns about the protection of the rights of English-speaking Quebecers in Bill C-13 voiced by the Quebec Community Groups Network, among others, “have been courageously brought forward in Ottawa by several Montreal Liberal MPs,” reads a piece by the Montreal Gazette Editorial Board. To see these MPs being chastised by fellow Parliamentarians and several … Read more
A petition calling for planned cuts to the Montreal Gazette newsroom is being circled widely across Quebec’s English-speaking community. “The Gazette provides the perspective of the English-speaking community and to all Quebecers,” says QCGN President Eva Ludvig. Read more
Contrary to what some political commentators have claimed, the attempt by Liberal MPs to remove mention of the Charter of the French Language from Bill C-13 was an attempt to correct a serious flaw in the bill that would have constitutional effects for linguistic minorities across the country, and not the act of a “crusade … Read more
Former QCGN and Townshippers’ Association President Gerald Cutting provides a personal perspective on language politics in Quebec in a commentary for The Townships Sun. Read more