Democratic Equality Has Its Language Limits in Quebec

"Let's be clear. No one is being denied access to information. No one is being denied the right to vote, either."

"We have adopted rules, and French is the official and common language of Quebec. We are applying the rules we have."

"The rights of the English-speaking community are being respected. We can be proud, I think, to defend our language."

"The ballot remains bilingual. And it will stay that way." 

Quebec Premier Christine Frechette 

For the first time ever, Quebecers will be mailed French-only voter information documents — a decision Premier Christine Fréchette won’t reverse. But lawyers argue the move violates the fundamental right to vote.  CBC News

 

"I think they could have an English version tomorrow, and they could mail it out the day after tomorrow." "So the the idea that it's become impossible … is another example of the high-handedness and the pettiness of the language attitudes."

"It's time now to go back to the principles of the Charter … that all people are of equal worth."

"[The introduction of Bill 96 is part of a] regrettable trend [of] linguistic dogmatism and identity politics [in the province]."

Civil rights lawyer Julius Gray   

Lawyers in Quebec are preparing to mount a legal challenge against the province of Quebec's Premier's decision to discontinue mailing out English-language voting information; all such voting information will be published and circulated in French only. The CAQ leader stated that all discussions surrounding the issue had concluded, and she was adamant that there would be no reason to second-think the issue any further.

 

As far as Elections Quebec is concerned English-language mailers will not be sent out ahead of the October 5 election. A compromise that includes a QR code was available, linked to an English web page. Elderly English-speaking Quebecers who don't use cellphones and have no idea what to do with a QR code are obviously out of luck. Legislation brought in under La Coalition avenir Québec had forced the change, said the agency, washing its hands of the inconvenient matter.

 

It had, explained Elections Quebec, requested a carve-out in the legislation to permit mailouts in both languages, to continue engaging with English-language residents of Quebec as usual, but lost the argument to the government's refusal. Voting rights and English-language advocates claim the decision presents barriers to voting, a claim that Premier Frechette dismissed, informing questioning news media she saw no risk of anglophones being befuddled over voting.

 

 

Everywhere else in Canada, in the other provinces and territories, federal legislation declaring French-language rights alongside those of the English-speaking majority are sacrosanct. Wherever French-speaking Canadians live in the country there are mandated obligations to ensure they are served in their own language. Quebec remains the exception in this as in most other areas of  'self-determination' as an exception, entitled to rights no other provinces can even imagine. 

 

And although the federal government commissioner of official languages had confirmed her office had been given notice regarding the French-only election mailouts, there is little trust that in the commission of her official duties she will reprimand the province and invite a lashback that would certainly risk discombobulating the Liberal government of Canada, so traditionally reliant on Quebec for the reliability of their ruling majorities. 

 

Language-equality be damned, in a grasping, language-paranoid, nationalist-fuming Quebec! 

 

Élections Québec says it will no longer mail voting information documents in English in order to comply with changes to the province’s language laws. English-speaking advocates worry the move could make it harder for some voters to access information, including where and when to vote. CBC News

 

"I couldn't believe it. [The measure is an] unacceptable impediment [because it means English-speaking Quebecers are] not getting equal access [to important voting information; a violation of a constitutional right]."

"It will certainly raise a question of the legitimacy of an election where certain people are not given equal access to voting."

"Everybody's supposed to get the same information around the same time, and on a timely basis in order to be able to make an informed decision as to who to vote for, and to be able to vote." 

"To say that a whole swath of the population suddenly can only get their information on a differential and more complicated basis means that we don't all have an equal right to vote."

"[It's] saying, 'Well, you English-speaking people, if you want, you can get a QR code so you can get the information.' That's a pretty deliberate step … saying, 'You know, we don't really care if you vote.'"

Eric Maldoff, lawyer, former president, Alliance Quebec, anglophone-advocacy organization 

"Religious Infiltration/Islamist Infiltration" in Quebec Public Schools

"Clearly there is a discomfort in intervening or discussing these religious questions very frankly and for me, this is not unrelated to the very Canadian anti-secularism discourse."

"[Quebec is facing a case of] ideological infiltration, anti-secularism and anti-Bill 21 activism."

"The federal government is truly the champion of defamation of Quebec's secularism, which is no stranger to the woke movement that presents secularism as a form of racism when it is actually a form of living together in peace."

"[Quebec must do more in terms of secularism in our schools to protect children] from all religious proselytism [and] ensure the duty of neutrality of teachers, which must be applied to all manifestations of religious beliefs, regardless of religion."

Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon

 

"Obviously, if it comes out that there was a concerted effort to conspire, to impose your own religious values on others or on a public institution, of course that's unacceptable. But the report doesn't conclude that."

"Being visibly Muslim is seen somehow as threatening. That's a real social problem. And politicians should not be pandering or exacerbating fears around diversity."

Stephen Brown, CEO, National Council of Canadian Muslims 

"Our first concern must be the children. As a government, our first responsibility is to clean up this school and protect the children."

"There’s something very disturbing in this case, this attempt by a group of teachers to introduce Islamist religious concepts into a public school."

"In Quebec, we decided a long time ago to take religion out of public schools. We’ll never go back on that decision."

"We need all Quebecers to denounce these situations without fear of intimidation. The whole of Quebec must defend the choice of secularism in our public institutions. Let’s not be afraid."

Quebec Premier Francois Legault 

Eleven teachers at Bedford elementary school were suspended this past weekend for allegedly creating a toxic environment since 2016. (Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada

 

It appears that an untoward situation pertains; a group of teachers at a Montreal public elementary school has been ignoring the curriculum, turning instead to their conception of how subjects of their choosing should be taught to students in an education-hostile environment that they have transformed into an opportunity to teach students non-typical subjects with an Islamist bent, which has only recently been reported in the news, evidently because other teachers, along with students, have been intimidated to the point where they fear a violent backlash, restraining them from divulging the volatile and fraught situation.

The Quebec Ministry of Education published a report following a lengthy investigation, concluding that the dominant group of teachers was "mainly composed of people of Maghrebi origin", adding "although the majority clan is mainly composed of people of Maghrebi (North African) origin, people of other origins are also associated with it. Likewise, the minority clan is also partly composed of individuals of Maghrebi origin, including some of the strongest opposition to the majority clan." The group of problematic teachers are reported to frequent attendance at local mosque.

"The clans present different visions and understandings of education, pedagogy and relations with students", according to the report. One group of like ethnic/cultural/religious origins has protested against the majority group's educational ethos as inappropriate to their current setting in Montreal. The ruling clique aggressively pursues its own teaching methods and agenda separate and apart from the approved curricula. The result is a toxic, challenged environment, felt by the students and leading them to under-perform academically.

The situation runs counter to the State Secularism Act, known as Bill 21, adopted in 2019 by the National Assembly, to prohibit the wearing of religious symbols by those in positions of authority inclusive of teachers and principals of public elementary and secondary schools in the province. Montreal's Bedford School was the model identified as having a "toxic environment" which led to the Education Ministry's investigation and subsequent report on the situation.

Debates between teachers revolve around the use of foreign languages in common areas of public schools, acts of violence and humiliation against children while disciplining them, and opposing methodologies of teaching, which led to the suspension of eleven teachers during the time of the investigation. The report from the Quebec Ministry of Education points to a "dominant clan" comprised of North African teachers attempting to indoctrinate children while maintaining a "clan" dynamic among teaching staff, ongoing since 2017. 

The teaching of science, ethics and sex education was rejected by some teachers who instead used traditional rigid methods, some shouting at students as a form of discipline. A teacher was mentioned in the report in "an act of violence ... reported to the administration when a teacher allegedly closed the door to his classroom with a brutal gesture while one of his students had her fingers in the door frame". Rescued by another individual, from having her fingers crushed between the closing door and the door frame.

According to investigators, the local Muslim community exerted a "strong influence" within the Bedford school, where some teachers prayed in their free time in classrooms, performed ablutions in community bathrooms. Occasionally these performances were carried out in the presence of students. The spokesman for the National Council of Canadian Muslims states that should the politicians be unable to conclusively prove people are plotting to impose their ideology on a public institution prior to the completion of an independent investigation "it reeks of political opportunism".

It appears that other examples have emerged -- at Jewish schools and Catholic schools -- related to religious indoctrination. The difference, of course, being that these are schools independent of the public school system, with their own particular curricula. Students in attendance at parochial Jewish schools are there because their parents were interested in having them achieve an education comparable with that of the public schools, but overlaid with Judaic concepts and values. The same is true of the Catholic school system.

Parents of children attending public schools, particularly in a province that emphasizes secularism, anticipate that their children will receive an education compatible with a non-religious observance. It has been, in fact, some Muslim parents themselves, among others, who have been alarmed that their children are being exposed to a rigid form of Islamic overlay in the public system where teachers refuse to teach some of the subjects that will be elemental to a fully rounded education in Canadian society.

Controversially and ironically, it is in other provinces, particularly Ontario, where school boards and principals and teaching staff of some schools have contrived to have students exposed to Islam. More troubling has been the penchant for some among them to espouse distinctly un-Canadian views of championing Palestinian terrorist groups while demonizing the state of Israel, and in the process discriminating against Jewish students in a toxic mix of woke, DEI, Critical Race Theory and antisemitism.

Rally outside of the Toronto & District School Board headquarters on Yonge Street, Tuesday Sept. 24, 2024. Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post

"The issue here is how to manage our schools to make room for all families who have very different perspectives on this subject."

"And the only solution is to not let religion enter our school system."

"So I can't help but talk about religion in the school system."

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon