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“There’s a sense, not unjustified, that the federal government is more interested in getting along with the Quebec government than protecting us,” Joan Fraser tells the CBC. The English-speaking community has been left on edge, adds the former senator and editor-in-chief of the Montreal Gazette, now a board member of the Quebec Community Groups Network … Read more

Montreal, June 15, 2023 – The Quebec Community Groups Network is profoundly disappointed that Bill C-13, the overhaul of the Official Languages Act, is now headed for Royal Assent while still containing references to Quebec’s Charter of the French Language. Meanwhile the QCGN applauds Quebec Senators Tony Loffreda and Judith Seidman who stood firm against … Read more

The Senate passed Bill C-13 last night with a vote of 60 to five. QCGN President Eva Ludvig expressed disappointment with the result, as C-13 still includes references to Quebec’s Charter of the French Language. Read more

“Once in each generation, it seems, Quebec’s English-speaking community faces a period of intense stress and strain over language,” writes QCGN President Eva Ludvig in an op-ed for the Montreal Gazette. She lays out the challenges that lie ahead for Quebec’s English-speaking community, which include Bills 23, 15, 40, C-13, “[a]nd of course, the continued … Read more

As Bill C-13, modernizing the Official Languages Act, undergoes its third reading in the Senate, English-speaking Quebecers fear that their concerns have gone unheard. For them, the federal government is playing by the Quebec government’s rules. “Until now, we’ve always hoped that the federal government would be our protector, supporting us as a minority language … Read more

Bill C-13 saw no changes by the Senate, which completed its study of the proposed language legislation yesterday evening. The Quebec Community Groups Network had requested that Senators work to remove all mention of the Charter of the French Language from Bill C-13. Read more

The Senate’s official languages committee hears from individuals and groups – including the Quebec Community Groups Network – concerned with how the inclusion of the Charter of the French Language within Bill C-13 would impact the rights of Quebec’s English-speaking minority. Read more

Joe Ortona, chair of the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) writes to each member of the Senate urging the upper chamber to fulfill its role “as the Chamber of sober second thought” and propose amendments to Bill C-13 “to ensure the rights of minority-language communities in this country are not mutually exclusive.” Ortona’s appeal cites … Read more

Anthony Housefather, Liberal MP from the Mount Royal riding and lone parliamentarian to vote against Bill C-13, tells the Sherbrooke Record he “did exactly what I am supposed to do” by voicing his opposition to the inclusion of Bill 96 references. Advocacy groups including the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) have repeatedly raised concerns that … Read more

Members and stakeholders attending the 28th annual meeting over the weekend of the Quebec Community Groups Network reiterate the collective commitment of the English-speaking community to this province, to the future of the French language, and to the importance of community vitality. Read more

Commentator Robert Libman takes note of the forceful pushback by the Quebec Community Groups Network, among many others, on the embedding of the Quebec Charter of the French Language –as buttressed by Bill 96 – in the new Official Languages Act under study at the Senate. Read more