Brief – Expert Panel on Language of Work and Service in Federally Regulated Private Businesses

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By The Honourable Marlene Jennings, P.C. President, and Kevin Shaar, Vice-President

Canada has two official languages and two official language minorities.

In its recent paper on official languages, English and French: Towards a Substantive Equality of Official
Languages in Canada, the Government of Canada makes a legislative proposal to increase the use of
French in federally regulated private enterprises. The paper outlines specific proposals to provide rights
to work and rights to services in French – but not in English – in federally regulated private businesses in
Quebec and in regions with a strong Francophone presence.

The Government of Canada’s proposal to grant language rights to one language group and not the other
runs counter to the purpose of the Official Languages Act and offends the government’s constitutional
obligation to ensure respect for English and French as the official languages of Canada. It also poses
significant challenges for the substantive equality of the English-speaking minority in Quebec.

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QCGN Analysis – English and French: Towards the substantive equality of official languages in Canada

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On Friday, February 19, 2021, the Government of Canada released its policy paper on reforming the
federal approach to Canada’s Official Languages. The government’s guiding paper builds on six themes:


1. The recognition of linguistic dynamics in the provinces and territories and existing rights
regarding Indigenous languages;
2. The willingness to provide opportunities for learning both official languages;
3. Support for the institutions of official language minority communities;
4. The protection and promotion of French throughout Canada, including in Quebec;
5. The Government of Canada as an example through strengthening of the compliance of federal
institutions; and,
6. An Act for the Canada of today and tomorrow: Mandatory review of the OLA and its
implementation.

Read full QCGN Analysis

Vision Vitality and Viability: Report on the Consultation by the Secretariat for Relations with English-speaking Quebecers

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In March 2020, the Quebec Community Groups Network reported on the fall 2019 “Building Bridges” consultation of the Secretariat for Relations with English-speaking Quebecers organized by the Coalition Avenir Québec government.

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QCGN Brief for Committee on Culture and Education Special Consultations on Bill 40: An Act to amend mainly the Education Act with regard to school organization and governance

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The Quebec Community Groups Network (“QCGN”) has not been invited to appear before the Committee in the course of its special consultations on Bill 40. Nonetheless, the QCGN submits this brief to the Committee.

In addition to providing an excellent education to students, Quebec’s English public schools exist to preserve and promote the language and unique culture of English-speaking Quebec. Schools are key and central institutions of the English-speaking community of Quebec. The Government of Quebec must recognize and support the linguistic and cultural rights of Quebec’s English-speaking community.

 

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Factum of the Intervener Quebec Community groups Network

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Read QCGN’s legal factum on the Supreme Court of Canada case of Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique v. British Columbia, at

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Poll: English-Speaking Quebecers: Views on Governance

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What do English-speaking Quebecers think about the current state of affairs in their home province? This five-part study is based on one of the largest opinion surveys to date of Quebec English-speakers.

Conducted by Léger Marketing for the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation (CEDEC), the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) and the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS), the survey was conducted via web panel between Aug. 29 and Sept. 4, 2019.

The poll sampled 1,936 Quebecers. This included 1,019 Quebecers with English as their first language, 773 Quebecers with French as their first language and 144 persons whose first language is neither English nor French. The survey has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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Poll – English-speaking Quebecers Views on School Boards

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What do English-speaking Quebecers think about the current state of affairs in their home province? This five-part study is based on one of the largest surveys of opinion conducted to-date of Quebec English-speakers. 

Conducted by Léger Marketing for the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation (CEDEC), the Quebec English School Board Association (QESBA) and the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS), the survey was conducted via web panel between August 29 and September 4, 2019.

The poll sampled 1, 937 Quebecers which included 1019 English-speaking Quebecers, 773 French-speaking Quebecers and 144 persons whose first language is neither English nor French. The survey has a margin of error of 2.5 19 times out of 20.

View poll here

Priority Setting Steering Committee Phase II Recommendations to the Department of Canadian Heritage

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Phase II report on the Priority setting Steering Committee Recommendations to the Department of Canadian Heritage written in November 2018.

 

Read here

QCGN Social Media Guidelines

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Social media has changed the way we communicate. Increasingly, our community learns about the Quebec Community Groups Network on Facebook and Twitter. It’s where our community and our critics leave their comments, applaud, and sometimes condemn our work. It’s an important, interactive communications tool that we must learn to harness and use strategically.

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Léger poll conducted for the Association of Canadian Studies and QCGN: Multiculturalism versus Interculturalism: Myth and Reality

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June 27,  marks Canadian Multiculturalism Day. In Quebec, policy-makers and intellectuals have since the introduction of federal multicultural policy expressed much ambivalence about multiculturalism and over the since the 1990’s have insisted that Quebec rejects multiculturalism and rather promotes interculturalism. It suggests that interculturalism promotes interaction between communities in contrast with multiculturalism that purportedly promotes ethnic specificity. Presumably the intercultural model gives rise to divergent approaches to newcomer adaptation with a more integrationist and less accommodation of cultural difference. In this third part of the series on difference and similarity in views between Quebec francophone and anglophone we look at issues of immigration, diversity and accommodation. As we observe the results point to some of the sharpest differences in attitudes. They also reveal that the independent of linguistic background, Quebecers do not see much difference between multiculturalism and interculturalism despite years of insistence that the two purported models offer distinct messages.

The survey was conducted by the firm Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies and the Quebec Community Groups Network with a national sample 1226 Quebecers 871 francophones 275 anglophones and 106 allophones and was conducted between May 14 and may 17 2018 via web panel with a probabilistic margin of error of 3.5 points 19 times out of 20.

Click here to view the PowerPoint presentation