Tag Archive for: Robert Donnelly

English Quebec’s priorities included in report on immigration

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Thierry Haroun, The Gaspé Spec

”Gaspesians, Francophones and Anglophones alike are very welcoming to immigrants, ” says German born Thomas Martens.

PERCÉ – Attracting immigrants to the Québec regions, especially the Gaspé Coast is quite a challenge. Tools and financial incentives are needed to support this type of initiative. The Québec Community Groups Network (QCGN) made representations at the Federal level and its priorities have been heard.

”QCGN is pleased that Quebec’s English-speaking community was consulted and its concerns included in a House of Comons Standing Committee on Official Languages study of Immigration as a Development Tool in Official Language Minority Communities. The QCGN is especially satisfied with the recommendation that sugests Citizenship and Immigration Canada increase intergovernmental efforts to assess the needs of our community. This would provide it with financial support so that it can develop its immigration network, particularly in the regions, ” a recent press release published by the QCGN stated.

It’s also mentioned tht ”the Committee’s report notes that Citizenship and Immigration Canada should recognize that our community is a model of linguistic integration and that it recognize the specific role that our community plays in the integration of immigrants in the societies of Quebec and Canada, ” said QCGN Past-president Robert Donnelly […]

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English Quebec’s priorities included in report on immigration

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Thierry Haroun, The Gaspé Spec

”Gaspesians, Francophones and Anglophones alike are very welcoming to immigrants, ” says German born Thomas Martens.

PERCÉ – Attracting immigrants to the Québec regions, especially the Gaspé Coast is quite a challenge. Tools and financial incentives are needed to support this type of initiative. The Québec Community Groups Network (QCGN) made representations at the Federal level and its priorities have been heard.

”QCGN is pleased that Quebec’s English-speaking community was consulted and its concerns included in a House of Comons Standing Committee on Official Languages study of Immigration as a Development Tool in Official Language Minority Communities. The QCGN is especially satisfied with the recommendation that sugests Citizenship and Immigration Canada increase intergovernmental efforts to assess the needs of our community. This would provide it with financial support so that it can develop its immigration network, particularly in the regions, ” a recent press release published by the QCGN stated.

It’s also mentioned tht ”the Committee’s report notes that Citizenship and Immigration Canada should recognize that our community is a model of linguistic integration and that it recognize the specific role that our community plays in the integration of immigrants in the societies of Quebec and Canada, ” said QCGN Past-president Robert Donnelly […]

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Que.’s anglophones battling ‘brain drain’: Group

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Canwest News Service, Mike De Souza

OTTAWA – English communities, institutions and services in Quebec have weakened over the past four decades, and are in need federal support to stop a brain drain, an umbrella group for the province’s anglophones said in Parliament on Monday.

”English-speaking Quebec faces the particular challenge of being a minority within a minority which, let’s face it, is not always recognized as such by key decision-makers and opinion-leaders,” said Robert Donnelly, president of the Quebec Community Groups Network at a Senate hearing on Canada’s official languages. ”The answer is not to divide the existing pie differently because the francophone minority is also in need of fair funding. We just need a bigger pie.” Read more…

Linguistic minority program still in limbo

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Canwest News Service, Mike De Souza

OTTAWA – A $1.5 million program supporting English and French-speaking minority groups in Canada is still in limbo, nearly a year after it was introduced.

The Harper government announced the initiativelast June as part of a settelement over its decision to scrap a court challenges program for minority rights. But it has not yet announced details of the program or set up an expert panel that is required to manage it.

Representatives of anglophone and francophone groups said they are pleased the government has consulted them extensively in recent months to develop the structure of a new program, but they are growing impationt about the pace of progress.

”Obviously, anything that gets a priority could be moving faster than this,” said Robert Donnelly, president of the Quebec Community Groups Network, an umbrella organization that represents the province’s anglophone community. Read more…

Here to stay: the hip Anglo

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The Gazette, David Johnston

Ask a couple of twentysomething anglophones like Ryan Bedic and Brian Abraham hot many of their friends have left Quebec and you are likely to draw a long pause. it isn’t that they need time to count up all of those who have left. It’s that they have trouble coming up with the name of anyone in their largely English-speaking entourage in Montreal who has left.

[…] ”This psycology, this sense of persistent losses, has been broken,” says [Jack] Jedwab. Anglo community leaders aren’t so sure. They’re not comfortable with the notion of a renaissance. Their worry, as Jedwab sees it, is that governments will respond to the census findings of growth by reducing financial support to all the different little anglophone community groups in Quebec.

”That’s the concern some people have,” Jedwab says. ”And so the good news, in a perverse sort of way, is really bad news. People are afraid that governments will say, ”Well, the anglophones are doing very well, thank you very much. What kind of support do they really need anymore”?

Robert Donnelly, president of the Quebec Community Groups Network, the main umbrella group for all the anglophone community organizations in Quebec, says the census results need to be interpreted with caution. Read more…

Anglophone issues largely ignored in this campaign

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The Montreal Gazette, Robert Donnelly

”Only the Liberals and Bloc bothered to respond to request for policies”

There are many issues in this federal election campaign, and when so many questions are on the table, it can be difficult to get a clear answer on any single one.

For English-speaking people across Quebec, there are several electoral issues that will have an impact, directly or indirectly, on the vitality of our communities.
In the so-called battle for Quebec, no party seems overly eager to reach out for anglophone votes, at least openly.

As president of the Quebec Community Groups Network, I and many in our member organizations have been following the campaign closely. (The QCGN is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization bringing together several English language organizations and key stakeholders, for the purposes of enhancing the vitality of English-speaking minority communities and promoting linguistic duality and bilingualism.) Read more…

Les jeunes anglos réclament de meilleurs cours de français

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La Presse, Martin Croteau

Les jeunes anglophones du Québec veulent de meilleurs cours de français. C’est l’une des conclusions d’une conférence organisée, durant le week-end, pour contrer la saignée qui menace des dizaines de petites communautés en région.

[…] ”Il y a environ 200 000 anglophones dispersés dans les autres régions du Québec, et ces communautés font face à un défi énorme à cause de l’exode des jeunes ”, explique Robert Donnelly, président de Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), organisme qui regroupe une trentaine de groupes communautaires de langue anglaise. Read more…