Quebec targets adult vocational education courses

Montreal’s largest English-language school board is denouncing the Quebec government’s plan to extend Bill 101 to adult and vocational education, calling it a “political stunt” that could hurt immigrants, weaken the English school system and worsen labour shortages.

The proposed legislation, promised by Premier Christine Fréchette during the Coalition Avenir Québec leadership race, would apply French-language requirements to adult education and vocational training programs. The government says the move would close a loophole in Bill 101 and strengthen the use of French in the workplace. French Language Minister Jean‑François Roberge has defended the proposal as necessary to protect the French language.

But the English Montreal School Board says the measure could redirect as many as 27,000 students from English-language programs into the French system, even as many newcomers struggle to access government-funded French courses.

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English-language advocacy group TALQ also condemned the proposal, accusing the CAQ government of continuing divisive language policies that could damage the English education system without significantly helping French. “The intent is the real problem,” said the group’s director general, Sylvia Martin-Laforge. “The intent of the impact of strangling again the English-speaking system.”

Martin-Laforge also questioned the government’s justification for the proposed changes, saying Quebec has not released studies or data supporting the need for the measure.