“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
A federal bill aimed at modernizing the Official Languages Act is proposing radical changes that will have adverse impacts on the interpretation of this quasi- constitutional law and Quebec’s English-speaking community. That was the message the Quebec Community Groups Network took to parliamentarians examining Bill C-13 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
The Quebec Community Groups Network is calling on the Government of Canada to immediately remove all reference to Quebec’s Charter of the French Language from Bill C-13, the proposed legislation amending the Official Languages Act, and creating a new law that will impose language of work and service obligations for French only on federally regulated … 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