Tag Archive for: Secretariat for Relations with English-Speaking Quebecers

Free French courses for anglos coming soon, Skeete says

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Quebec’s point man on English-speaking communities was reacting to a long-awaited report on consultations held in 2019.

Christopher Skeete, the provincial government’s point man on English-speaking communities, says he is confident the CAQ government will start offering free or low-cost French courses to non-immigrant English speakers across the province next fall.

Skeete made the comments to the Montreal Gazette on Saturday as he reacted to a long-awaited report on consultations held in the fall of 2019 by the Secretariat for Relations with English-speaking Quebecers.

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To Anglos, CAQ Government’s Deeds Speak Louder than its Words

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By Geoffrey Chambers and Gerald Cutting, QCGN

Last fall, the government of Premier François Legault conducted a round of consultations with English-speaking Quebecers. A range of voices from across the English-speaking community laid out specific and very reasonable actions we need from his government. The process proved positive to the extent that it opened a dialogue. However, it was rushed and failed to build on, or to consider, previous strategic priority-setting work done by the community. Furthermore, the government is sending mixed messages when hosting a consultation while ignoring our fundamental disagreements with them on key policy initiatives that affect our vitality and our constitutional rights.

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Vision Vitality and Viability: Report on the Consultation by the Secretariat for Relations with English-speaking Quebecers

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In March 2020, the Quebec Community Groups Network reported on the fall 2019 “Building Bridges” consultation of the Secretariat for Relations with English-speaking Quebecers organized by the Coalition Avenir Québec government.

See full report

Structural Issues Continue to Marginalize English-speaking Quebecers

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Last fall, representatives of the QCGN attended the community consultation sessions organized by the Secretariat for Relations with English-speaking Quebecers. The QCGN maintains that while the consultation opened a dialogue, the process addressed surface symptoms. It largely failed to identify specific pragmatic solutions – in language instruction, health care, education, and elsewhere – required to arrest the steady erosion of our community’s vitality. These structural issues continue to marginalize our community, severely undermining our longer-term viability. In the attached report, the QCGN lays out its evidence-based strategic vision. This approach is framed by the “par et pour” model, that is “by us and for us.” The QCGN calls for the Secretariat and the Premier’s Parliamentary Assistant to serve as strong advocates for our community within government policy development – to ensure that our community’s voices and needs are both heard and heeded.

Go to the Secretariat Consultation Report

The Anglophone Community and the CAQ

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During a panel discussion on MAtv’s City Life on Coalition Avenir Québec’s first year in power, QCGN General Director Sylvia Martin-Laforge discusses the government’s public consultation tour with English-speaking Quebecers. The Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier for Relations with English-Speaking Quebecers, Christopher Skeete, is also interviewed.

Watch video

Geoff Chambers: CAQ actually not doing that badly

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QCGN President Geoffrey Chambers replies to Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier for Relations with English-Speaking Quebecers, Christopher Skeete’s rebuttal of Chambers’ criticism vis-à-vis the Coalition Avenir Québec government and the Secretariat. Listing the positive work the QCGN and the Secretariat for English-speaking Quebcers have done for the English-speaking community, Chambers highlights that there is much work that lies ahead. Listen to Christopher Skeete’s interview here.

Listen to Geoffrey Chamber’s interview here

Anglo secretariat a ‘disappointing failure’: QCGN

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QCGN President Geoffrey Chambers expresses his concerns with the Secretariat for English-speaking Quebecers in an interview with CTV Montreal.

Watch interview here

Press Release from Secretariat for Relations with English-speaking Quebecers on $7 million funding for English-speaking community groups (available in French only)

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Mise à jour – Près de 7 M$ pour soutenir l’action des organismes offrant des services aux communautés d’expression anglaise

Mise à jour, ajout d’une annexe.

MONTRÉAL, le 14 août 2018 /CNW Telbec/ – Le Gouvernement du Québec attribue une aide financière de 6,9 millions de dollars pour soutenir les organismes offrant des services aux communautés d’expression anglaise dans l’accomplissement de leur mission, dans l’expansion des territoires qu’ils couvrent et dans la diversification de leurs activités.

Cette annonce a été faite, aujourd’hui, par la ministre responsable de l’Accès à l’information et de la Réforme des institutions démocratiques et ministre responsable des Relations avec les Québécois d’expression anglaise, Mme Kathleen Weil, lors du lancement du nouveau programme d’appui aux organismes offrant des services aux communautés d’expression anglaise. La ministre du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques et députée de Verdun, Mme Isabelle Melançon, était également présente.

Le nouveau programme, dont les crédits ont été annoncés lors du dernier budget, est maintenant en vigueur. Il vise à soutenir les organismes dans leur capacité à participer pleinement à la prospérité de la société québécoise, et ce, dans plusieurs sphères d’activité. Les organisations admissibles sont les OBNL, les entreprises d’économie sociale, incluant les coopératives ainsi que les institutions publiques qui offrent des services aux communautés d’expression anglaise.

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Dans Jacques-Cartier, on parle anglais: D-Tour électoral dans Jacques-Cartier

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In the first of a series of pre-election articles, Le Devoir focuses on the predominantly English-speaking riding of Jacques-Cartier. QCGN President Geoffrey Chamber said all parties should support the Secretariat for Relations with English-Speaking Quebecers.

En prévision des élections, Le Devoir effectue une tournée qui le mène dans des circonscriptions aux prises avec des enjeux qui préoccupent tous les Québécois. Cinquième D-Tour électoral, cette fois dans Jacques-Cartier, dans l’Ouest-de-l’Île de Montréal, où se trouve la plus grande proportion d’anglophones au Québec.

Read more (in French)