LEARN (Leading English Education and Resource Network) has organized and launched the Quebec Online Alliance (QOA), marking the first time seven English school boards have come together to offer a unified online service to students who have been granted a medical exemption for the 2021-22 school year.
Provincial Budget Prioritizes Health, Education, and Economic Recovery
Montreal, March 25, 2021 – The Quebec Community Groups Network is pleased that Quebec’s budget will strengthen the capacity of community organizations to serve Quebec’s English-speaking minority community by, notably, maintaining and enhancing the network of wellness centres and implementing an employability strategy. The 2021-2022 expenditure budget for the program to strengthen the vitality for English-speaking communities is set at $10.5 million – an increase of $4.0 million from the projected expenditure for 2020-2021.
A strong English-language education system, from kindergarten to university, is essential to the vitality of the English-speaking community.
A strong English-language education system, from kindergarten to university, is essential to the vitality of Quebec’s English-speaking community. It allows anglophones to be schooled in their mother tongue, reinforcing their ability not only to speak, but also write the language properly, and increases the chances of students’ success. Not all students have the capacity to flourish academically in a second language. English educational institutions, many of which have deep roots in Quebec, also preserve a sense of community identity; serve as incubators for future community leaders (not only students, but also parents who participate in school governance); provide opportunities for anglophones to work in English. As well, schools serve as important community gathering places, especially outside of Montreal.
A Quebec Superior Court judge has ruled in favour of the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) request for a stay on Bill 40, the law that abolishes school boards and replaces them with service centres.
“We are very pleased with the decision today which has the effect of suspending the application of Bill 40 to English school boards pending a decision on the merits of the case,” said QESBA President Dan Lamoureux. Read more
Quebec’s English School boards will remain as they are after the province’s superior court judged in favour on a stay of Bill 40 on Monday.
The Quebec English School Board Association (QESBA) is applauding the court’s judgment on the education reform bill, a legislation that abolishes boards across the province and replaces them with service centres. Read more
The Quebec Community Groups Network applauded a Quebec Superior Court decision to suspend the application of Quebec government reforms to the governance of English school boards while the courts review the constitutionality of Bill 40: An Act to amend mainly the Education Act with regard to school organization and governance.
Francophones in Ontario and Anglophones in Quebec should come together on pressing issues such as the modernization of the Official Languages Act and minority language education, but officializing the relationship goes too far, writes Sébastien Pierroz of ONfr.
Read more (In French)
“Frustrés et inquiets pour leur avenir, la moitié des jeunes anglophones du Québec estiment que leurs relations avec les francophones sont conflictuelles, au point où certains décident de quitter la province.”
Sixty per cent of young English-speaking Quebecers say they have considered leaving Quebec according to a new poll conducted by Léger for Journal de Montreal. Nearly half said they feel like relationships with francophones are tense and one out of three respondents believe those relationships will deteriorate. English-speaking youth also believe that Bill 101 should be softened, and they would like to see more bilingual signs and be greeted in both languages.
Read the main article in the Journal de Montréal
The Journal de Montréal dedicated much of its weekend editions to news and views about Quebec’s English-speaking minority community:
Bridging the Two Solitudes:
Une solution afin de réunir les deux solitudes
Plus riches, les anglos ? C’est désormais un mythe
Voters’ intention:
Frustrés, ils songent à délaisser le PLQ pour la CAQ
Youth and youth retention:
Ce qui agace les jeunes anglos
Son CV ignoré une centaine de fois
Anglophones de Québec : Quitter pour étudier dans sa langue
Le dernier anglophone à Irlande
Bill 101 and “Bonjour, Hi”:
Plusieurs anglos ont baissé les bras
La controverse du « bonjour, hi »
Le bilinguisme pas assez présent selon les anglos
Health:
Plus de 170 km pour être soigné en anglais
Education:
Le décrochage endémique à Stanstead
Des écoles menacées de fermeture
Fini, les batailles dans les cours d’écoles
Columnists:
Fatima Houda-Pépin : Les Anglo-Québécois : un rapprochement s’impose
Fatima Houda-Pépin Ne touchez pas à la loi 101
Isabelle Maréchal: Anglos et francos : même combat
Le blogue des Spin Doctors : L’assimilation tranquille…
Denise Bombardier: Le Québec anglophobe!?
Richard Martineau : 1-800-SAVE-AN-ANGLO
Lise Ravary : Qui a peur des anglos ?
Claude Villeneuve : Tantôt minoritaires, tantôt majoritaires
“Simon Berube loves Quebec, its culture, French language and people, but he and his parents decided the best thing he could do for his future was to enrol in one of the province’s English-language junior colleges.”
Many French-speaking Quebecers are choosing to attend Quebec’s English CEGEPs, a choice that could be revoked pending Parti Québécois’s win in 2018 elections.
Geoffrey Chambers, VP of the QCGN, says the English-speaking community of Quebec is used to have its institutions threatened by political parties, and this debate merely is identity politics.
Montreal, September 21, 2016 – The Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) recognizes that schools are a cornerstone of the vitality of English-speaking communities and believes that Education Act should enhance the responsibility of our educational institutions to serve their communities.
In a brief submitted to the Committee on Culture and Education this week, the QCGN argues that school boards, schools, as well as adult and vocational centres must support the development and vitality of their respective communities. QCGN, which represents 48 groups across Quebec, insists that this responsibility should be clearly defined within the Education Act rather than being discretionary on the part of educational institutions.
The QCGN is funded by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage.
