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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