Tag Archive for: English school boards

Quebec’s English community has ‘a fragile vitality,’ Concordia professor says

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“We need to be careful and respect our minorities — respect, protect and support our minorities,” says Lorraine O’Donnell, a specialist in the history of English-language Quebec.

Many in the English community feel that these are tough times for anglophones in Quebec, with English school boards in turmoil, Bill 101 set to be strengthened and reports that the federal government is contemplating revamping the Official Languages Act to strengthen protection of French in the province.

But Lorraine O’Donnell, a specialist in the history of English-language Quebec, prefers to give the situation more of a glass-half-full spin.

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QCGN supports APPELE-Québec GoFundMe Campaign to Support Legal Challenge Against Bill 40

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Our community has the Constitutional right to manage and control our schools. The Coalition Avenir Québec government has taken this right away from our English-speaking community – and together we must fight to take back this fundamental right. All nine of our English school boards along with the Quebec English School Boards Association have launched a legal challenge to quash Bill 40. This controversial legislation abolishes our democratically elected school boards and transforms them into government-controlled service centres. Our legal action declares that this upheaval of our education system contravenes our linguistic minority community’s right to manage and control our school system. This foundational right, under Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, guarantees education in one of Canada’s two official languages. It is an essential element of linguistic duality, a cornerstone of our national identity. It took French parents in British Columbia five years to win another case that solidified minority-language education rights. Just like our West Coast counterparts, we are in this for the long haul. This is bound to be a long and costly fight. Please consider making a contribution to the Go Fund Me campaign to support this legal action to defend the Constitutional rights of Quebec’s English-speaking community and advance the minority-language rights of all Canadians. Any donation, big or small, is appreciated – but most importantly a large number of donors will unequivocally demonstrate to our governments that we believe in our rights and we will fight to protect them. Please contribute what you can and help us get the news out by sharing this appeal extensively throughout your networks.

https://ca.gofundme.com/f/quebec-bill-40-court-challenge

English School Boards will Challenge the Reform in Court

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The Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) has announced Thursday that it will challenge Bill 40 in court even if the school elections are not abolished for the English school board, as is the case for Francophones.

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The English-speaking Community will challenge the Elimination of School Boards

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The Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA), along with several English-speaking groups, will challenge the elimination of school boards in court.

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Bill 40: English School Boards to go to Court

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English school boards have confirmed that they will challenge the constitutionality of Bill 40, a law that would transform school boards into Service centers.

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Changes desired to Bill 40

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The leaders of Alliance for the Promotion of Public English-Language Education in Quebec (APPELE-Quebec criticize the Coalition Avenir Québec’s plans of abolishing school boards and express their concerns with the impact this could have on Quebec’s English-speaking community.

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Opinion: Bill to abolish school boards requires significant amendments

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With the government of Quebec tabling Bill 40, the framework for the proposed abolition of school boards, the three leaders of the Alliance for the Promotion of Public English-language Education in Quebec (APPELE-Quebec) maintain that many serious problems remain to be addressed. Geoffrey Kelley, Joan Fraser and Kevin Shaar emphasize that the bill, as it is currently constituted, will discourage community and volunteer involvement, muzzle our elected officials and increase the grip on our school system held by the education minister and ministry officials.  “We will continue our analysis, and we encourage the government to allow for a full public policy debate.”

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English Quebecers have trust issues with the CAQ: Leger poll

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New Léger poll finds that majority of English-speaking Quebecers, 78 per cent, said they have greater faith in their community organizations to provide services in their mother tongue. When it comes to education, 81 per cent of people said they trust English-language school boards, according to the five community groups that commissioned the survey. The results do not come as a surprise to QCGN President Geoffrey Chambers who says the results “demonstrate very clearly that English-speaking Quebecers feel Premier François Legault and his party do not understand English-speaking Quebecers and are not committed to defending our rights and institutions.”

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Poll shows Anglo-Quebecers mistrust Provincial Government

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Poll showing that majority of Quebecers do not trust the Coalition Avenir Québec does not come as a surprise to QCGN President Geoffrey Chambers, who says that “I think this government has given a number of soft signals that it’s not really listening to the community,” said Chambers. “(They’re) continuing to talk about school boards, what they did with Bill 21 and even some harder signals taking away our schools.”

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Anglophones Have Little Trust in CAQ Government, Poll Suggests

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The majority of English-speaking Quebecers feel the Coalition Avenir Québec does not understand their concerns, shows a Léger poll commissioned by the QCGN, the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA), the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation (CEDEC) and the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS). QCGN President Geoffrey Chambers says the results do not come as a surprise and further shows that “there have been a series of government initiatives that are very worrying to the community.”

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