Weighing the impact of a Bill 101 reform – CTV News

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Following a meeting with Language Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, QCGN President Marlene Jennings discusses the impact that reinforcing the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) could have on the community in an interview with CTV Montreal’s Maya Johnson.

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THE BIGGEST ANGLO GROUP IN QUEBEC HAS OPENED A DIALOGUE WITH MINISTER JOLIN BARRETTE. WHAT WENT ON DURING THIS CONVERSATION?

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QCGN President Marlene Jennings went on CJAD 800 to discuss the recent meeting with Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette. During this meeting, QCGN representatives presented the concerns of English-speaking Quebec ahead of coming proposals to reinforce Bill 101. Without providing details of his plan, Minister Jolin-Barrette said he aims to protect and promote French while respecting the rights of the community.

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Marlene Jennings apologizes for backing premier in school spat

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Marlene Jennings says she was wrong to back Premier François Legault when he suggested the English Montreal School Board was not qualified to decide about school openings and closings.

“When you are wrong, you are wrong!,” Jennings, head of the Quebec Community Groups Network, said in a tweet Thursday.

“And boy was I wrong to support Legault on school closures (or not).

“EMSB was right and I was wrong. I apologize unreservedly to EMSB. Full stop.”

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Anglo school boards hit back at Jennings for siding with Legault

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QUEBEC — A war of words has erupted after Marlene Jennings, head of the Quebec Community Groups Network, sided with Premier François Legault over whether the English Montreal School Board is qualified to make decisions about re-opening schools.

“I love it!!!,” Jennings tweeted Wednesday after Legault questioned the EMSB’s decision to resist his government’s order to send older high school students back to class full time — an order the government soon rescinded.

Opinion: Canada’s official language minorities should have same rights

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English-speaking Quebecers, and indeed all Canadians, should be wary of the consequences of the measures that are being considered.

In September’s speech from the throne, the federal government declared that “the defence of the rights of francophones outside Quebec, and the defence of the rights of the English minority within Quebec, is a priority for the government.”

The government’s recent policy paper, English and French: Towards a Substantive Equality of Official Languages in Canada, contradicts that commitment and represents a substantial shift in the treatment of official languages. Despite reassurances from Official Languages Minister Mélanie Joly, the government has put forward specific proposals that would provide rights to work and receive services in French — but not provide the equivalent in English.

Large consensus Around the Protection of the French Language

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Eight of every 10 Quebecers surveyed consider that the French language needs to be protected in Quebec. Among non-francophones, 42 per cent agree.

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The OQLF gets a Significant Funding Increase… & What Sort of Money are Anglo Groups Getting?

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(AUDIO) A significant increase starting next year in funding for French-language protection agencies forms an element of Quebec’s latest budget, note Marlene Jennings, president of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), and Liberal MNA Greg Kelley, Official Opposition critic for relations with English-speaking Quebecers. Both are guests on CJAD’s Montreal Now show to discuss changes in language funding announced in Thursday’s budget. The budget also includes a small increase in funding for Quebec’s English-speaking minority community.

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Wading Through Language Issues

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(VIDEO) Kevin Shaar, constitutional lawyer at the Quebec Community Groups Network, talks about languages acts and different jurisdictions with CTV news anchor Mutsumi Takahashi.

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Montreal and special interest groups’ reactions mixed after Quebec budget

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An unexpected area of funding was the $4 million for English-speaking Quebecers, money the Quebec Community Group Network (QCGN) expects to help get English speakers better access to government services.

“To gather actual statistical data that can be used to determine where the gaps are, where we need help,” said QCGN president Marlene Jennings.

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Opinion : Bilingual Juges… Almost

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In this opinion piece by Patrice Garant, a public law professor, explains the principle of judicial independence mentioned by former Quebec Court Judge Claude Laporte in a recent article. M. Garant also supports the constitutional right Quebec citizens have to use either French or English in courts.

Langue française : Appuyons Simon Jolin-Barrette et Mélanie Joly!

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BILINGUISME INSTITUTIONNEL

Alors que tout le monde s’entend sur l’importance de renforcer le français, vouloir imposer systématiquement le bilinguisme aux juges francophones de districts majoritairement francophones, sous prétexte que certains de leurs résidants sont anglophones, laisse pantois.

Rappelons que cela aurait pour effet d’interdire aux avocats unilingues francophones d’accéder à la magistrature dans la plus grande partie du Québec.

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Corey Hoare: To be Free to Protest in your Own Language

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To focus on the language of protest placards when they are written in English is merely a side issue and a distraction when the premier of the province continues to minimize systemic discrimination as a fact of Quebec life, writes Corey Hoare, a Montreal university admissions administrator.

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UnpublishedTV: Is the French Language in decline in Quebec?  

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(VIDEO) The Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) is uncomfortable with the direction the federal government has chosen regarding proposed changes to the Official Languages Act, QCGN Board member Eva Ludvig says during a videocast panel discussion on Unpublished TV.

“What is being introduced is really changing the dynamics between English-and French-speaking people in this country and changing a pillar of Canadian society,” Ludvig says. The nation’s sustained effort over more than half a century to create a balance with the two official languages, English and French, has used “an equal basis” as one of its policy cornerstones, she adds. Now, the changes proposed by Ottawa have in effect “really relegated the English language and the English-speaking minority in Quebec… to a lesser status,” Ludvig adds: “That is not what official languages is about, not what the country has bought into, nor what it has celebrated.”

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No parades? No problem: Here are a few St. Patrick’s Day events going on in Quebec

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For the second year in a row, the usual St. Patrick’s Day merrymaking is being curtailed by the pandemic

Normally at this time of year, St. Patrick’s Day celebrations would be in full swing. But for the second year in a row, COVID-19 has curtailed many plans for in-person merrymaking.

We’ll have to wait at least another year for the parades to return. In the meantime, event organizers across the province have come up with a few ways for revellers to celebrate this year.

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Families launch grassroots movement to save Montreal’s Fulford Residence

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Families with loved ones living at the Fulford Residence for women were shocked to learn that the home is closing in September due to financial difficulties. Now in a race against the clock, Christopher Holcroft, whose 76-year-old mother lives at the residence on Guy Street, has started a movement to fight the reallocation.

“During a pandemic, after everything that the families have been through, it’s cruel,” Holcroft said.

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