Anglophones need a clearer voice in the Quebec bureaucracy
LETTER OF THE DAY
Although the English language is flourishing in North America, Englishspeaking communities are in decline as a percentage of Quebec’s total population. While Quebec’s population has increased by 30 per cent since 1971, the Englishspeaking component has grown by a mere 6.7 per cent. In view of this decline, what should the government of Quebec do to address the needs and challenges of its English-speaking minority?
There is clear evidence within the health and education sectors that formal advisory bodies, representing Englishspeaking people, to the government have played an important role in helping shape policy that has improved access to English-language services. No one would argue that government policy and programs in support of aboriginal and multicultural communities are not critical to their development. Similar mechanisms could serve as models for policies and programs for English-speaking communities — whether in Montreal, the Outaouais, Eastern Townships, Gaspé or other regions — in such vital areas as employment, economic development, arts and culture, as well as youth and seniors.
In a letter to party leaders, the Quebec Community Groups Network advocated in favour of political and administrative structures to ensure ongoing consultation, research and communication as well as coordination across ministries to guarantee that the needs of Quebec’s English-speaking communities are taken into account in policy making.
The QCGN recently launched a research report titled Decline and Prospects of the English-Speaking Communities of Quebec, which documents the experience of English-speaking minorities in different regions of the province trying to maintain their own distinctive identities while integrating into Quebec. Network leaders and stakeholders observed that the challenges over the past 30 years have remained largely unchanged. In fact, many of our community’s longstanding concerns have resurfaced in this 2014 provincial election, in which issues of language and identity have been front and centre.
In a chapter of Decline and Prospects pertaining to the legal status of Quebec’s English-speaking communities, Pierre Foucher of the law faculty of the University of Ottawa says that while the English language is not in jeopardy in Quebec, English-speaking communities are.
As a result, he writes, “the discourse should move from individual freedom to use one’s own language, to a discourse of protecting the anglophone community as a rightful national minority in Quebec.” Foucher recommends a number of actions, including the nomination of an independent officer, or council, on the model of the federal commissioner of official languages. The creation of such a structure was recommended by Graham Fraser, the commissioner of official languages, following the 2012 election. While the Liberals argue that their own MNAs from regions where Englishspeaking people live are the appropriate eyes and ears of English-speaking communities, the Parti Québécois in late 2012 instituted a new formal position at the cabinet level — minister in charge of liaison with the English-speaking community.
However, we maintain there is a need to create a permanent body within the Quebec public administration itself, to serve as a non-partisan bridge between the government and the English-speaking minority that exists no matter which party is in power. We recommend, therefore, that the next government of Quebec undertake consultations with the community leaders to help lay the groundwork for such a body.
The way the next provincial government deals with the English-speaking communities of Quebec will have major impact not only on their vitality but also the way they are perceived by the majority French-speaking community. After all, a society is judged by the way it treats its minorities.
“… What should the government of Quebec do to address the needs
and challenges of its English-speaking
minority?”
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