Tag Archive for: Quebec Community Groups Network

Opinion: A reprieve for English school boards, but battle continues

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The Quebec Community Groups Network is heartened by an encouraging decision last week from the Court of Appeal in our community’s fight against the imposition of Bill 40.

In August, the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) had obtained an injunction from Superior Court suspending application of Bill 40 for English boards until the merits of the case could be argued. The Court of Appeal has now maintained that stay. Read more.

Quebec Community Groups Network: It’s time to update the Official Languages Act

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The upcoming Throne Speech provides Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a golden opportunity to make good on a longstanding pledge – and take the final steps needed to modernize the Official Languages Act.

Time and circumstances have converged. As Parliament resumes later this month, consensus on how to update the Act has already been achieved.

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Opinion: Time for CAQ government to stop seeing anglos as a problem

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Rather than picking fights with our community, we urge the Legault government to alter course, work with us, and cease defining us as a problem, writes QCGN President Geoffrey Chambers in this opinion piece for The Gazette. Chambers argues that today’s English-speaking community is invested in Quebec. We have encouraged and enabled our children to develop French-language skills. We accept and celebrate the predominance of French as the linguistic and cultural norm here. We don’t see ourselves, our language, or our culture as something bad that must be suppressed. Our community’s bilingualism is an asset to be celebrated — as multilingualism is applauded in any European country. Read more

Job Posting: Manager, Finance and Operations

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The Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) is seeking a bilingual, dynamic, outcomes focused individual for the position of Manager, Finance and Operations, to manage and implement activities that support QCGN operations and optimize support for both new and ongoing business.

The QCGN is an incorporated not-for-profit organization, with 60-member organizations, that works cooperatively and in partnership with community stakeholders, leaders, governments and institutions to identify, explore, and address strategic issues affecting the development and vitality of Quebec’s English-speaking communities (ESCQ).

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QCGN Advocates a More Community-Driven Process for Provincial Funding

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Montreal – August 14, 2018 – The government of Quebec has committed $6.9 million over three years in funding to community groups across the province, but the Quebec Community Groups Network would like other vulnerable communities and populations to eventually benefit from similar support. An additional $4.9 million is also being made available to support other organizations providing services to English-speaking Quebecers.

“The money is considerably less than what the community requires, but who can be against our community getting much needed funding to support English-speaking Quebecers?” said QCGN President Geoffrey Chambers. “These are all deserving groups that are all doing excellent work in the community, but the allocation process was not transparent and the QCGN is concerned about how the remaining funds will be distributed.”

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English less and less visible at St. Mary’s Hospital, patients say

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The patient-rights committee of St. Mary’s Hospital is accusing the administration established under Health Minister Gaétan Barrette of making changes to signs, letterhead and other communications that appear to favour French to the detriment of English.

The issue is a highly contentious one among members of the users’ committee, who note that St. Mary’s was founded by Montreal’s Irish Catholic community and is considered an officially bilingual hospital that continues to serve thousands of English-speaking patients each year.

Despite its bilingual status, St. Mary’s no longer uses bilingual letterhead on its official communications, the Montreal Gazette has learned. What’s more, some patients who have written to the hospital administration in English about various matters have complained that they receive responses in French only, a longtime users’ committee member said.

Geoffrey Chambers, president of the English-rights Quebec Community Groups Network, declined to comment on the concerns of St. Mary’s users’ committee, saying he needed more information.

However, Chambers noted that under Barrette’s reform, known as Bill 10, “an interested group of people involved” with an “amalgamated institution such as any of St. Mary’s, the Douglas (and) the Lakeshore may ask the minister to constitute an advisory committee.”

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L’attachement des Québécois au Canada reste stable

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Il reste des choses stables et régulières en ce pays : l’impôt se paye en mars, les Canadiens de Montréal sont sortis des séries du hockey en avril ou en mai et les sondages à l’approche du 1er juillet montrent que l’attachement des Québécois au Canada ne bouge pas, ou si peu.

Le dernier coup de sonde réalisé le mois dernier montre que les francophones se disent très (27,6 %) ou plutôt (43,4 %) attachés au Canada. Les anglophones gonflent le niveau du très fort attachement de quarante points, à 67,2 %, et du second degré à 25,5 %.

Le sondage a été réalisé par la firme Léger Marketing pour l’Association d’études canadiennes et le Quebec Community Groups Network auprès d’un échantillon de 1226 Québécois, dont 871 francophones, 275 anglophones et 106 allophones. Les sondeurs les ont questionnés par Internet du 14 au 17 mai. Un sondage probabiliste semblable aurait une marge d’erreur de 3,5 points 19 fois sur 20.

Lire la suite (available in French)

English, French hold differing views on integration of newcomers: poll

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As the nation celebrates Canadian Multiculturalism Day on Wednesday, a new survey finds that anglophone and francophone Quebecers hold very different views on how newcomers should integrate, and particularly on whether female police officers should be allowed to wear hijabs.

While a majority of both groups said they held positive views of immigrants, francophones were more likely to respond in the affirmative when asked whether immigrants should give up their customs and traditions, or if the influx of non-Christian immigrants posed a threat to society.

The findings came as part of a series of surveys conducted for the Association for Canadian Studies and the Quebec Community Groups Network, looking at the difference and similarity in views between Quebec francophones and anglophones. Previous surveys looked at opinions that the two linguistic groups (determined by the question, “What is the language you first learned at home in your childhood and that you still understand?”) held of each other, and about each groups’ attachment to Quebec.

 

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Anglophones and Francophones have distorted views of each other: survey

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Anglophones and francophones in Quebec are of like mind when it comes to having a positive opinion of the other group and agree that anglophones have had a strong impact on the economy and contributed to the province’s history.

But ask whether the French language in Quebec is well protected, or if anglophones contributed to Quebec culture or the founding of the province, or whether anglophones are aware they’re a minority, and suddenly interpretations diverge significantly.

The findings were part of a survey conducted for the Association for Canadian Studies and the Quebec Community Groups Network released Saturday titled “Bonjour Hi: What French and English Quebecers think about each other and about key issues.”

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Is English well protected in Quebec? Few anglophones think so, survey finds

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Is the English language well protected in Quebec? According to a new survey, it depends who you ask.

Very few anglophones would say yes — only 16.7 per cent of English-speaking Quebecers, in fact — while a majority of francophones (72 per cent) say that English is properly protected.

The difference of opinion came out in a recent Leger Marketing survey conducted on behalf of the Association for Canadian Studies and the Quebec Community Groups Network, which represents more than 50 English-language community groups in the province.

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