Tag Archive for: Quebec

Minorities risk being excluded by Quebec’s proposed language law, Anglo-rights group says

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Wording by the Quebec government in its proposed amendment of the Canadian Constitution could exclude many from being defined as a Quebecer, according to an analysis of Bill 96 by the Quebec Community Groups Network.

The QCGN is an umbrella group made up of English-speaking community organizations. It says the proposed new language law would effectively make the province a “charter-free zone” because of its sweeping use of the notwithstanding clause.

Bill 96 was tabled by the Coalition Avenir Québec government May 13. Premier François Legault said he expects his majority government to pass it during the next session at the National Assembly.

QCGN president Marlene Jennings expressed concerns about the bill’s use of the notwithstanding clause when it was tabled.

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You can sign up for a free webinar series to learn about your language rights in Quebec

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If you’re a new or long-time Quebec resident and have ever wondered what exactly is the deal with your language rights in this province, a free webinar series hosted by the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) might just be the thing for you.

Starting on Thursday, March 11, the first webinar in the series, “Language Rights and the English-speaking Community of Quebec,” will feature guest speaker Marion Sandilands, a lawyer who, according to the event description, participated in a “landmark” case involving minority language education rights.

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My Quebec: Black, anglophone and feeling doubly unwelcome

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Quebec is my home, a sentiment expressed with profound pride but sadly, my language and my skin colour have made me feel like an interloper.

Quebec is my home, a sentiment expressed with profound pride but sadly, both my language and my skin colour have made me feel like an interloper, fiercely battling feelings of contradiction. We are repeatedly told that diversity is welcomed, but for me, the reality has not reflected the rhetoric.

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Language office certifies city of Montreal conformity to French language charter

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The city of Montreal and two boroughs are the latest municipal bodies to be certified as conforming to Quebec’s French language charter.

The city of Montreal and two boroughs are the latest municipal bodies on the island to be certified as conforming to Quebec’s French language charter, the Office québécois de la langue française announced on Friday.

The boroughs of Ahuntsic-Cartierville and Sud-Ouest join 11 other of Montreal’s 19 boroughs in receiving the certification.The Office said in a press release it’s working “in close collaboration” with the six remaining boroughs to get their diplomas of conformity.

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Indépendantisme et nationalisme: le pari de la lucidité. Grand entretien avec Nic Payne

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Par Mathieu Bock-Côté

Depuis des années, sur différentes tribunes, trop souvent discrètes, Nic Payne mène une réflexion de fond sur la situation du Québec et de la cause indépendantiste. Je l’ai interviewé pour qu’il présente sa pensée aux lecteurs de ce blogue. On trouvera chez lui une critique aussi profonde que lucide de certaines de nos plus tenaces illusions collectives et qui, quoi qu’on en pense, secoue plusieurs idées reçues. Entretien avec un intellectuel à connaître.

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Débats : L’avenir du français au Québec

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Par Serge Joyal, sénateur à la retraite

L’auteur s’adresse au premier ministre du Canada, Justin Trudeau.

Je prends l’initiative de vous écrire parce que je crois personnellement que la situation à laquelle vous êtes confronté remet en cause la conception même du Canada, et les principes sur lesquels il est fondé.

Depuis les derniers mois, il y a une offensive orchestrée au Québec par les partis et mouvements indépendantistes, et des groupes nationalistes pour amener le gouvernement canadien à soumettre à la loi 101 les agences et entreprises à charte fédérale. Celles-ci représentent à peine 4 % de la main-d’œuvre, une proportion somme toute minime. Le but est de contrer ce qu’on estime être un « déclin du français » à Montréal, qui sévirait dans les commerces du centre-ville.

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The paradoxal relationship between Quebec and the Canadian Francophonie

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In the wake an agreement signed between the Quebec Community Groups Network, l’Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario et la Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick, political scientists Stéphanie Chouinard and Serge Miville discuss the fundamental contradictions between Quebec’s English-language minority communities and their sister French-language communities in Ontario and New Brunswick.

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Anglos, francophones join forces on minority language rights after ‘a bad year

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Quebec’s English-speaking population aligned itself with Francophones in New Brunswick and Ontario to protect and promote the rights of official minority language communities across the country. “It has been a bad year in Ontario, a bad year in New Brunswick and very worrying in Quebec — on subjects related to rights in all three cases,” said QCGN President Geoffrey Chambers.

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The revision of history books upsets historians (FR)

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Remplacement de « plusieurs images considérées comme stéréotypées », retrait d’un passage du Journal de Jacques Cartier, ajout « des conséquences négatives de l’invasion du territoire par les Français »… : les dizaines de modifications apportées au matériel didactique requis pour l’enseignement du cours d’Histoire du Québec et du Canada font sourciller les historiens Gilles Laporte et Denys Delâge — qui qualifient l’une d’elles d’« absurde » et d’« aberrante ».

Les deux membres du comité de révision scientifique de la première édition de Chroniques du Québec et du Canada : des origines à 1840(Pearson ERPI) — l’un des manuels dont le contenu a été modifié dans les derniers mois à la demande expresse du ministère de l’Éducation et de l’Enseignement supérieur (MEES) — déplorent le polissage du récit historique.

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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