The competition for CSL’s students

The Montreal Gazette – By Janet Bagnall, Gazette education reporter May 20, 2013 6:06 PM

MONTREAL — The EMSB plans to open a public high school in a city that has been without one since Wagar school closed in 2005

It was standing-room-only at this month’s inaugural meeting for students, and their parents, interested in attending Wallenberg Academy — a hauntingly named Côte-St-Luc public high school that for now exists only on PowerPoint.

The future school has been named after Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved as many as 100,000 Hungarian Jews during the Second World War and who was last seen at Moscow’s notorious Lubyanka prison.

Mona Weinstock, mother of four children — 16-year-old twin boys, their 12-year-old brother and a 7-year-old daughter — was at the May 8 meeting to learn more about what kind of new high school the English Montreal School Board intends to offer families in or near Côte-St-Luc, a predominantly Jewish borough.

So far, the Weinstock children have attended school at JPPS (Jewish Peoples and Peretz School) and, in the public system, Royal West Academy, Westmount High School and Edinburgh and Elizabeth Ballantyne elementary schools.

Looking around at the crowd of about 200 people, Weinstock said, “I see a lot of parents here whose kids are in the Jewish private system.”

Weinstock would like an option that is close to home; she’d like there to be Jewish heritage content; and she wants a public school. With four children, the fees involved in a private education impose too high a financial burden, she said. She also thinks her children would be better prepared for life in Quebec with more emphasis on French and less on Yiddish or Hebrew.

“If Bill 14 passes, there’ll be more and more French proficiency exams,” she said. “You have to keep up.” Bill 14, a proposed law brought in by the Parti Québécois government to increase the presence of French in school and in the workplace, would bring in mandatory French proficiency tests for high school and CEGEP students.

In this one, small, mid-week meeting, you could see the forces buffeting Quebec’s schools, public and private, with or without religious or cultural content. Public boards like the EMSB have been struggling to retain or even add to their student population. In 2011, of the board’s 1,727 Grade 6 graduates, 235 left for the private system; in 2012, the figures were 1,684 and 261. (This is on par with an overall shift from public to private at the secondary level in the province: More than 125,000 students go to private school across Quebec, with 6.7 per cent of elementary school students attending private school, and 19.6 per cent doing so at the secondary level.

With the proposed creation of Wallenberg Academy, the EMSB is taking steps to get some of those students back. But the question is whether there are enough families like the Weinstocks to bring the Wallenberg Academy to life in 2014. EMSB officials told the May 8 meeting that a minimum of 60 students must sign up for Grade 7 to get the school underway, and they’d prefer 100.

Demographic change enters into the equation. According to Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies, Montreal’s Jewish population decreased by about 5,500 between 2001 and 2011, from 88,765 to 83,200. There was a drop of about 1,000 in the 14-and-under age group, down to 16,055. Within that age group, 3,585 youngsters claimed Yiddish as their mother tongue, suggesting, said Jedwab, that this is a group likely to be interested only in Orthodox Jewish schooling, not schools in the public school system.

Côte-St-Luc, home to a sizable English-speaking Jewish population, is also becoming more francophone, said Mordechai Antal, president of the Federation of Teachers of Jewish Schools.

“The Jewish system is no different from the English system overall,” he said. “The population of kids who are eligible for English education has declined and within the Jewish school system, because of immigration, the population has also shifted from English to French with French Jewish day schools seeing increases in enrolment.”

There has not been a public high school in Côte-St-Luc since 2005 when Wagar High School closed, a victim of declining enrolment. But at the May 8 meeting, board officials, including former Wagar principal and current EMSB school commissioner Syd Wise, told parents they believe the support is there for a new public school. The new school would condense the regular province-wide curriculum to allow most of the afternoon free to pursue sports, heritage or music concentrations. Which sports and what heritage would be determined by the students who sign up for Grade 7.

The May 8 meeting was just the latest in a series of temperature-takings since 2005 in which the EMSB has held out the prospect of restarting Wagar High School. EMSB’s gamble may rely, to some extent, on the troubles of Bialik High School, the board’s closest competitor for Côte St-Luc students. Bialik, a nearby private school, has been experiencing a decline in enrolment, was in merger talks two years ago with United Talmud Torahs/Herzliah High School. The talks led nowhere.

Glenn Nashen, a municipal councillor with Côte-St-Luc whose three children attend private Jewish schools, defended Bialik’s viability.

“JPPS-Bialik is a community Jewish school,” he said. As for a decline in enrolment, Nashen said, “It’s cyclical. In (Bialik’s) heyday, there were four streams (classes per grade level), now there are two and in a couple of years when my son reaches Grade 1, there may be just one, but that was the same as when I started.”

Nashen added, “They’re doing their best to make it economically accessible and they’re offering an advanced French program.”

jbagnall@montrealgazette.com

Twitter: @JanetBagnall

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/competition+C%c3%b4te+students/8410269/story.html#ixzz2TsRcVdnk

Watch more on Global News: Côte Saint-Luc School | Global News Video.

Parking-gate: PQ minister takes aim at Jewish ‘parking tolerance’

How lucky we are that the PQ isn’t in charge of parking.

That didn’t stop PQ Democratic Institutions Minister Bernard Drainville from coming up with the latest moronic notion of what parking rules would look like in an independent Quebec where the PQ would control everything from pasta on menus to the language kids may use while playing in the schoolyard.

PQ parking rules would never accommodate any Jew whose religion prohibits him or her from driving on a holiday. But G-d forbid that Quebec would ever remove the display of Christmas trees, or close roads for a Santa Claus parade or remove the crucifix from the National Assembly. Not to mention other tolerances such as road closures for the St. Patrick parade or Italian festival or any number of multi-cultural or religious festivities enjoyed by hundreds of thousands across Montreal. Secularism in the PQ’s Quebec is one way, against “les autres”.

The PQ doesn’t miss a chance to insult or denigrate one minority or another in its pursuit of linguistic purity and uni-culturalism. Whether it’s parking, playgrounds or pasta this mean-spirited and ill-advised government has shone a light on itself for the world to see.

Does parking tolerance here or there threaten the French language any more than a christmas tree threatens Judaism?

The vast majority of Quebecers know that accommodation is reasonable, that tolerance is welcoming. The PQ should figure it out too. Live and let live. Park and let park.

Read more:

PQ minister takes aim at Jewish ‘parking tolerance’ in apparent attempt to inflame Quebecers | Full Comment | National Post.

Related articles

• PQ minister nixes parking accommodation for observant Jews (cbc.ca)
• PQ minister riled up over street-cleaning delays on Jewish holiday (montreal.ctvnews.ca)
• Rotrand calls eased parking restrictions on Jewish holiday ‘a Montreal value’ (cbc.ca)

Bilingual McDonald’s coming to CSL Shopping Centre

McDonald’s concept coming to the CSL Shopping Centre

Cote Saint-Luc is about to get its first drive-through restaurant.  McDonald’s will be building a restaurant on Cote Saint-Luc Road at the Shopping Centre. Council gave final approval at its public meeting last night.

I was pleased to have pointed out that its signage plans were only in French and that the city ought to recommend that the fast food giant consider adding English wording. Mayor Housefather immediately directed that city staff encourage the company to reconsider their signage plan. The mayor and I, former president and executive director, respectively, of Quebec’s English language rights lobby, are very sensitive about promoting bilingualism, particularly with commercial signs.

One of many bilingual signs coming to McDonald’s Cote Saint-Luc

To their credit, and to our great pleasure, McDonald’s agreed to avail themselves to the provision in Bill 101, the Charter of the French Language, which allows for languages other than French on commercial signs provided that French predominates.

“Cote Saint-Luc is likely the only municipality in Quebec to make such recommendations.  Given the government’s efforts through Bill 14 to wipe out English I am proud that Cote Saint-Luc has taken such action to encourage businesses to comply with the law in displaying English,” Housefather said.

In related news, by chance last week I met Target Canada’s new director of  government affairs.  I mentioned that I noticed that recruitment signs were only in French and said I hoped that new Target stores would carry English on their signage in neighbourhoods with English-speaking communities, such as the West Island, Lasalle and elsewhere.  The Target executive assured me that English would appear on their signs in the appropriate neighbourhoods.

 

National Post Full Comment: Throwing around Quebec’s c-word

Dan Delmar: Throwing around Quebec’s c-word

National Post | 13/05/07 |

One of the most offensive words in the Québécois lexicon is “colonisé.”

Also abbreviated as “colon” (not the organ, it’s a soft N), it is an adjective hurled at those who have been metaphorically “colonized” by their embrace of the English language.

It’s a word that is used among Francophones casually, in private. In public, it typically is used only by fringe ultra-nationalists, a few rabid radio talk-show hosts, and, last week, an elected member of Quebec’s National Assembly.

In a debate about Bill 14, a language law that might be described as the ugly stepchild of Bill 101, Parti Québécois MNA Daniel Breton objected to Liberals speaking English in the legislature — even though the practice is perfectly permissible, and is done on occasion when legislators are dealing with matters pertaining to Anglo Quebecers.

“I would like to highlight that elected members of the official opposition in the National Assembly expressed themselves in English on the subject of Bill 14, a law on the French language,” Breton said in the legislature (speaking in French, of course). “You might have the right, but it shows to what point you are ‘colonisés.’”

The statement is offensive for a number of reasons. And it shows that Breton knows less about Canadian history than the average high school student.

Francophones were, of course, the colonizers. The true “colonisés” were Aboriginals. Despite the popular myths of ultra-nationalists such as Breton, and their claims to victimhood, Francophones in Canada are not an indigenous people.

Breton’s comments also are consistent with retrograde PQ policies (including Bill 14 itself) that cast multilingualism as a threat to Quebec’s identity, and unilingualism as a mark of true Québécois patriotism.

This is hardly the first time that Breton has attracted controversy. He had a brief stint as Quebec’s environment minister, which ended when it was revealed that he called up the head of Quebec’s public consultation bureau to make it clear that the agency would hear from him if he wasn’t satisfied with their decisions.

To describe a fellow Quebecer as “colonisé” is more than just a cheap insult. It’s a Québécois species of McCarthyism

Breton also was found guilty of three counts of fraud for making false EI declarations in 1988. The co-founder of Quebec’s Green Party, he once was caught speeding in a Porsche at 275km/h. This is the man whom the PQ has chosen to defend one of the most controversial bills in the party’s history.

If the PQ were a normal political party, his behaviour in the National Assembly alone would be enough to have him removed from caucus. He is not fit to represent Quebecers, sovereignists or otherwise.

If the PQ wants to repair its credibility, Premier Pauline Marois must rid her party of those who contribute to hateful, regressive rhetoric. To describe a fellow Quebecer as “colonisé” is more than just a cheap insult. It’s a Québécois species of McCarthyism, and a sad example of how fringe separatist elements are impeding tolerance between Quebec’s two main language communities.

 

Dan Delmar is the co-founder of Provocateur Communications and the co-host of Delmar & Dwivedi on CJAD 800 Montreal.

A visit to the Montreal Emergency Preparedness Centre

L-R: CSL Public Security Chief Jerome Pontbriand, Montreal Fire Department Section Chief Gordon Routley, CSL Cllrs. Glenn J. Nashen and Ruth Kovac, FD Assistant Director Rick Liebman, CSL PS Director Jordy Reichson

As Emergency Preparedness Week is marked across Canada I took part in a site tour of the Montreal Agglomeration Emergency Preparedness Centre located at the Fire Department’s headquarters on Mount Royal.  Housed in a stately, mansion-like structure on sprawling grounds rolling down to Park Ave, the centre is ready, 24/7 in case of a large scale crisis anywhere on the Island of Montreal.

The mission of the Emergency Preparedness Centre (Centre de sécurité Civile) is to ensure the prevention of major accidents and to prepare boroughs, suburban cities  and central city services related to major risks and provide strategic support to the coordination of stakeholders in civil safety during disasters and disaster recovery.

While the website of the Emergency Preparedness Centre is full of information and resources, it is quite absurd that none of this information is available in English.  I was sure to point this out to fire officials on the tour, as I have done in the past.

Another excellent feature launched some months ago by the centre is an emergency notification service, also known as Reverse 911. This service will make outbound calls to thousands of agglomeration residents’ landline phones to signal a large scale emergency, such as warnings to stay indoors in case of chemical explosion, or to evacuate, or to boil water.  You can also manually register your cell phone for SMS and voice notifications.

Inexcusably, the registration page is not available in English however emergency centre officials assured me that the outbound calls are in French as well as in English.

I find it amazing that millions of dollars are well invested in emergency preparedness to save lives and property unless of course you cannot speak or read French, in which case does the city of Montreal really care about you at all?

I attended this otherwise excellent tour and information meeting with Cote Saint-Luc Councillor Ruth Kovac, Public Safety Director Jordy Reichson and Chief Jerome Pontbriand. Hats off to the personnel of the centre in doing fine work to try to keep us all safe.

Wallenberg Academy info session May 8

OQLF visits Côte St. Luc

The Suburban, By Joel Goldenberg, May 1st, 2013

An Office Québécois de la Langue Française inspector took her camera to Côte St. Luc last Thursday, probing Pharmaprix, IGA and the Cordonnerie Cavendish shoe repair store in Quartier Cavendish (Cavendish Mall) for potential language law offences.

According to interviews and discussions with each of the stores probed, a female inspector came in, took pictures and said each establishment would receive a letter in a month and a half with the results of the OQLF’s investigation if the law was seen to be violated.

The visit outraged many at the mall, including Gino Scandale, owner of Ralphs Mens Wear and president of the mall’s merchants association.

“This was very unexpected, especially to come into a [majority] anglophone community and start like that,” Scandale told The Suburban. “It’s sort of like coming into the West End, agitating people…. They saw English lettering; the law says French has to be three times bigger than the English. That’s the type of crap going on right now.

“It’s just ludicrous,” he added. “We’ve got to, at some point, start speaking out. From what I see now, we’re between the devil and the deep blue sea. Anyone who really speaks out, they get the tax department and [other repercussions]. That’s why, I feel, a lot of people are not speaking out.”

Pharmaprix manager Ian MacDonald said the inspector was checking if the signage in the store complied with the language law. No warnings were given on Thursday, MacDonald said.

“We’re in Côte St. Luc, I think they’re in the wrong neighbourhood,” MacDonald said. “They want to push an issue, and that’s it. It’s ridiculous, but what are you going to do? They want to pass Bill 14.”

IGA management had no comment.

Hovig Ourichian of Cordonnerie Cavendish confirmed that the OQLF visited the store.

“The inspector came to check and took some pictures from the outside, and told me they were checking the signage of whatever a customer sees from the outside in,” Ourichian told The Suburban. “She took some pictures, said she would send it to an inspector and if I was at fault, they would send me a letter.

“They seem to not have anything better to do,” he added. “Hospitals need money, they’re cutting everywhere and meanwhile these guys are going around taking pictures and wasting our money.”

Many stores in the mall avoid any language problems by having very few signs -one store primarily has just the store name and sales numbers, such as an item being 20 percent off, but very little wording. Some are also careful to greet customers with a “bonjour.”

Opinion: Our opposition to Bill 14 – a question of principle

Quebec Liberal leader Philippe Couillard and Liberal critic on language issues Marc Tanguay offer a refreshing and confident position on the language question. Their opposition to the “unnecessarily coercive and judicialized approach, and inflammatory measures,” of Bill 14 stand in stark contrast to that of the PQ government, let alone the CAQ that coward away from killing the bill outright.

Couillard and Tanguay speak of the benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism and of the great advantage that the million strong English-speaking  Quebecers – “they are not foreigners” – have in speaking at least two languages fluently.

They finally state what is plain to many but not enough in Quebec, that Francophones are placing themselves at a disadvantage by hindering themselves and their children off from greater opportunity.

I am far from a Liberal flag bearer.  Bill 22, Bill 178, these pieces of language restrictive legislation, along with hiring of more language cops came in under liberal governments.  However, the principles espoused in this opinion piece deserve praise and should be echoed by more and more Francophone leaders across Quebec.

Couillard and Tanguay close with, “Let’s choose to focus on our strengths and, above all, on our desire to live and prosper together.   Sounds good to me.

Opinion: Our opposition to Bill 14 – a question of principle (Montreal Gazette)

The strictest language laws in the world: CNN’s view on Quebec

Last night CNN carried a piece on Quebec.  Topping out its “11 things to know before visiting Quebec,” CNN points out that Quebec is “French soil” along with “some of the strictest language laws in the world.”

The Quebec government should be very proud that despite its millions of dollars in tourism advertising that its relentless pursuit of linguistic cleansing is played in major media outlets read, watched and heard around the globe.

To CNN”s credit they do indeed mention our renowned poutine, plentitude of maple syrup, frozen lakes and crumbling roads and overpasses.

The exposé is actually an offshoot of the main article, “O Canada! Our home and delicious land,” where Anthony Bourdain bundles up – then bundles up again – to head to the Great White North where he finds nostalgia for the cuisine ancienne in the French-speaking province of Quebec.

CRITIQ calls for bilingual status for Montreal and other cities

An open email from CRITIQ:

[La version française suit.]For A Bilingual Montreal
A Movement for Bilingual Status

One of CRITIQ’s founding principles is the recognition of English and French as official languages in Quebec. We see no better place to start than on the island of Montreal.  As such, CRITIQ has drafted a resolution (below) for you to forward to Montreal municipal councilors.

We request that you visit our website and…

1. Email the Montreal City councillors
2. Call their offices and urge for change
3. Attend council meetings and gain support

We have simplified the process for you on our website (http://critiq.ca/en/montreal).

Please note that this initiative will not be limited to Montreal.  This is merely the beginning, we call on all municipalities in Quebec that desire to officially recognize the equality of French and English as official languages to follow suit.

Resolution for Bilingual Status of Montreal

Whereas Montreal is a truly unique City in North America where its bilingual nature and multi-cultural character constitute part of its richness and part of its essence;

Whereas French and English speaking Montrealers in all walks of life historically get along and often communicate in each other’s language;

Whereas Montreal is by fact and has always been by fact a bilingual city and a multicultural city;

Whereas Article 1 of the Charter of the City of Montreal which affirms that “Montreal is a French-speaking city” (“Montréal est une ville de langue française”) negates this aforementioned positive reality;

Be it proposed that the City Council of Montreal adopt a resolution calling on the Quebec government to amend Article 1 of the Charter of the City of Montreal and designate the City as an officially bilingual municipality, recognizing the historical alliance of French and English speaking communities and the rich diversity of cultural communities and languages.

Be it proposed that all Quebec municipalities that desire to officially recognize the equality of French and English as official languages in their jurisdiction follow suit.

---

Pour un Montréal bilingue
Un mouvement pour le statut bilingue

Un des principes de base de notre groupe est la reconnaissance du français et de l’anglais en tant que langues officielles du Québec. Nous ne voyons pas de meilleur endroit que Montréal pour débuter notre démarche. CRITIQ a rédigé l’ébauche d’une résolution à faire parvenir à tous les conseillers municipaux de Montréal.

Nous vous demandons…

1. d’envoyer un courriel aux conseillers municipaux
2. de téléphoner à leurs bureaux
3. d’assister aux réunions du conseil de ville de façon à pouvoir intervenir et discuter

Nous avons simplifié le processus pour vous sur notre site web (http://critiq.ca/fr/montreal).

Veuillez noter que cette initiative ne se limitera pas uniquement à Montréal. Ceci n’est que le début, nous demandons à toutes les municipalités du Québec qui désirent reconnaître officiellement l’égalité du français et de l’anglais comme langues officielles d’aller de  l’avant.

Résolution visant à obtenir le statut bilingue pour la Ville de Montréal

Considérant que Montréal est une ville unique en Amérique du nord ou’ sa nature bilingue et son caractère multiculturel constituent en partie et sa richesse et son essence;

Considérant que les montréalais francophones et anglophones de toutes les conditions  sociales s’entendent bien et communiquent souvent entre eux dans les deux langues;

Considérant que Montréal est de fait et a toujours été de fait une ville bilingue et multiculturelle;

Considérant que l’Article 1 de la Charte de la Ville de Montréal affirme que « Montréal est une ville de langue française» niant ainsi la réalité quotidienne mentionné plus haut;

Vu ce qui précède il est proposé que le Conseil de la Ville de Montréal adopte une résolution demandant au gouvernement du Québec l’amendement de l’Article 1 de la Charte de la Ville de Montréal afin que la désignation officielle de la ville soit celle de municipalité bilingue, reconnaissant l’alliance historique entre les communautés francophone et anglophone ainsi que la richesse de la diversité de ses communautés culturelles et langues.

Vu ce qui précède il est proposé que toutes les municipalités du Québec qui désirent reconnaître officiellement l’égalité du français et de l’anglais dans leur juridiction puissent y donner suite.

Related articles

• CRITIQ fighting the good fight (gjnashen.wordpress.com)
• Hundreds join anglo rights group, denounce Bill 14 (montreal.ctvnews.ca)

MP Cotler’s support of linguistic minorities must guide parliament

I’m very pleased that our Member of Parliament, Irwin Cotler, has broken a long parliamentary silence and has come out to denounce Bill 14. Cotler is internationally recognized for his support of human rights of oppressed peoples around the globe. This is his opportunity, as he likely approaches the end of an illustrious political career, to take a bold stand in support of the majority of his constituents, indeed for all Quebecers who stand for human rights and equality of all Canadian citizens.

There’s a new bitterness around Bill 14, one that hasn’t been manifested since the Alliance Quebec days. The community is very, very displeased by the divisive, mean-spirited direction the PQ has taken us in.  We are also concerned by the continued silence of parliamentarians of all stripes in all legislatures in this country.

If this discrimination was happening to any other group in Canada there would be a loud (and even international) outcry. Idle no more – Anglo style?.

Why has it been acceptable to ignore and trample the rights of Quebec Anglos?

Thank you Professor Cotler. Now the challenge is yours to convince not only the Liberal Party of Canada but the Government of Canada to speak up in defence of Anglo Canadians in Quebec who have had their rights diminished for far too long.

Acceptable no more!

Cotler breaks federal MP silence on repressive language legislation

The following article appeared in The Metropolitain.

Our Linguistic Duality Must be a Legal Reality

By Hon. Irwin Cotler on April 22, 2013

In the words of René Lévesque, “A nation is judged by how it treats its minorities.” Regrettably, linguistic minorities in Canada have often had to fight for just treatment, and that struggle continues against the backdrop of several troubling recent developments that threaten the rights of minority language communities throughout the country. Simply put, it is critical to ensure that minority language communities feel welcome and are able to thrive, and this is as true for Anglophones in Quebec as it is true for French-speakers elsewhere in Canada.

Regrettably, Quebec Anglophones have recently come under increased pressure in the form of Bill 14, which would amend the French Language Charter with the goal of enhancing protection for French. All Quebecers – indeed, all Canadians – have an interest in ensuring the continued vibrancy of the French language and culture in our province, but this can and must be accomplished while respecting the rights of the English-speaking minority.

To that end, Bill 14 is problematic in several respects. It would:

• Allow the provincial government to strip municipalities or boroughs of bilingual status against their will if the population of mother-tongue Anglophones drops below 50%.

• Empower OQLF inspectors to seize property without a warrant, and to refer infractions for prosecution without giving alleged offenders an opportunity to comply.

• Prohibit English CÉGEPs from considering Francophone applicants – regardless of merit – until all Anglophone applicants have been accepted.

• Remove an exemption allowing members of the armed forces to send their children to English schools.

• Modify the Charter of the French Language by replacing “ethnic minorities” – a defined term in international law – with “cultural communities,” a concept lacking legal clarity.

• Make French the “normal and everyday language” in which government agencies are addressed, and require citizens applying for government assistance to apply in French or pay for translation. As the Quebec Bar Association recently noted, this could limit access to justice in English, particularly for low-income Anglophones and Allophones seeking legal aid.

Moreover, as the Quebec Bar Association also noted in its analysis of the legislation, Bill 14 could allow public servants to refuse to acknowledge anything said to them in English and require that files be translated in French at the expense of the applicant. Further, it places new and unnecessary burdens on employers with multilingual staffs, while translation inconsistencies in the bill may give rise to unnecessary litigation while burdening the delivery of social services.

Above all, however, Bill 14 would amend the preamble of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms to say that “rights and freedoms must be exercised in keeping with … the values of Quebec society, including … the importance of its common language and the right to live and work in French.” In so doing, Bill 14 renders Quebec’s Charter a document designed to entrench the supremacy of the majority, whereas a primary purpose of constitutions is to establish individual and minority rights that cannot be suppressed by simple majority rule.

As the Supreme Court stated in the reference on Quebec’s secession, “there are occasions when the majority will be tempted to ignore fundamental rights in order to accomplish collective goals more easily or effectively. Constitutional entrenchment ensures that those rights will be given due regard and protection.” Accordingly, while the Francophone majority may certainly seek to ensure the sustained vitality of its language and culture, the rights of the Anglophone minority must be protected even if their protection complicates the majority’s goal.

In constitutional democracies such as ours, it is the constitution that protects minority rights from what Alexis de Tocqueville called “the tyranny of the majority.” Indeed, without constitutional safeguards, a majority-elected legislature would be legally empowered to oppress minority groups. Therefore, for Quebec’s Charter to subordinate all other rights to the importance of the majority’s language would be to undermine the very raison-d’être of a human rights charter.

Inasmuch as the language minister has expressed her hope that the amendments to the preamble will affect Supreme Court decisions about Quebec’s language laws, Bill 14 seeks manifestly to reduce constitutional protections for linguistic minorities. Yet such protections must be robust, both for Anglophones in Quebec and Francophones elsewhere in Canada.

Last October, at a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union held in Quebec City, Canada signed an international agreement to “uphold cultural, linguistic, ethnic, racial, political and religious diversity as a global value which should be celebrated, respected, encouraged and protected within and among all societies and civilizations.” It is time for government decisions – at both federal and provincial levels – to adhere to this noble ideal.

Irwin Cotler is the Member of Parliament for Mount Royal and the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. He is an Emeritus Professor of Law at McGill University. 

 

Opinion: Changes proposed by Bill 14 risk serious rights violations

By Pearl Eliadis, Special to The Gazette April 18, 2013

MONTREAL – Last Friday, the Quebec Bar Association testified at legislative hearings in Quebec City on Bill 14, which proposes to amend several laws, including the French Language Charter, and impose new restrictions on (mainly) anglophone rights.

When I first wrote about Bill 14 last fall (Opinion, Dec. 11, “Bill 14 chips away at English minority rights”), I highlighted the bill’s proposed change in definition of “ethnic minorities” to the nebulous “cultural communities.” Other writers have discussed this as well. The proposed new term, in my view, is worrisome because it serves as prologue to a litany of substantive rights violations in the bill.

The Bar found more than a dozen of these, in a number of areas. Among them:

Jobs: Let’s say your employer hired you because she needs well-educated employees who speak two or more languages. After all, you work in the Montreal area, so you probably serve clients of different linguistic backgrounds. Under Bill 14, your employer would be obliged to “subsequently review such needs periodically” to justify not only your job, but also the job of every other employee whose skills in a language other than French were seen as an asset when they were hired. It does not matter how big or small the company is. If requiring a language other than French cannot be justified to the satisfaction of the language bureaucrats, your job or your promotion would be jeopardized. This applies even if you are fluent in French.

Public services: Bill 14 proposes to require communication with the provincial government in French, in order to obtain a licence, authorization, assistance, indemnity or any other benefit. Applications, then, would have to be made in French. All supporting documents would have to be in French, too. Otherwise, the government would insist on translating it, at your expense. This provision would create a disadvantage mainly for English speakers. If Bill 14 is passed, forget about English versions of driver’s licence forms, income-tax forms and other tax-related information, not to mention English versions of government websites, which are already inadequate. Then there is Bill 14’s proposed new passive right for government officials to be addressed solely in French. The corollary is that public servants would be entitled to refuse to even acknowledge anything said to them in English.

Health and social services: Under Bill 14, workers in health and social services would be able to demand full translation of files into French. Translation costs would be borne by the English-language health-care system. But what if there were a real emergency, and your file had to be transferred from the English-speaking system to a specialist in the French-speaking system? The English version of Bill 14 says that the person authorized to receive your documents may require “a quick rundown of their content” in French — and this, in addition to the full translation of the file. The French version of the bill can be interpreted as saying only a “quick rundown” would be required. The translation contradictions are not helpful. To be sure, there are perfectly valid reasons for wanting unilingual workers to understand what they are reading. However, Bill 14’s proposals would impose financial burdens on an already-beleaguered health system. (I am betting there was no consultation with the English system on this point).

Your child’s schooling: Let’s say you move. Or you want to transfer your child to another English school, for whatever reason. Education officials under Bill 14 would, in these cases, be entitled to disregard your child’s years of schooling to date if this schooling in English were obtained through “trickery,” deception or a “temporary artificial situation.” These terms are all undefined, and interpretation would be left to the discretion of bureaucrats.

These are but a few examples of what awaits us if Bill 14 is passed. The bill promises years of litigation and legal instability.

Who will pay? For starters, the taxpayer.

The Quebec Bar Association’s brief, which highlights the legally problematic aspects of Bill 14, should be reassuring to anyone who believes that the rule of law should prevail regardless of one’s mother tongue or home language.

Protecting French is a legitimate political objective. But Bill 14 goes too far, and risks becoming a launch pad for multiple legal challenges that will further damage Quebec’s reputation.

Pearl Eliadis is a Montreal human-rights lawyer. She was part of the legal advisory team for the African Canadian Legal Clinic of Toronto, an intervenor in the Whatcott case. She teaches civil liberties at McGill University.

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

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Housefather and Steinberg on Bill 14: Money and Business Show

On April 10 Samuel Ezerzer of the Money and Business Show on Radio Shalom 1650AM in Montreal hosted Dr. William Steinberg, Mayor of the Town of Hampstead and Anthony Housefather, Mayor of the City of Cote Saint-Luc.  They discussed the proposed Bill 14 and how it will affect the English-speaking communities.

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Merchant resists OQLF inspector: Strudelgate?

From CJAD800:

The Pointe Claire merchant who famously started selling “Pasta Salad Marois” in the days following “Pastagate” is again rebelling.

An OQLF inspector visited Swiss Vienna Pastry and Delicatessen and owner Harry Schick asked the man to leave.

The inspector pointed to several violations to Quebec’s language law, Bill 101, and asked to take pictures. Schick refused. The inspector left and, according to Schick, said that he will be back.

“French and English are the same size,” on signs in his store, a defiant Schick told CJAD 800′s Rick Moffat. “To me, Anglophones and Francophones have equal rights in my store.

“Pasta Marois” has become one of the shop’s top sellers, “and we’ve just added this week ‘le Mac and Cheese!’”

Schick seems to be daring the government to take extreme action.

“I will not pay the fine. What will they do? Put me in jail? Put 35 employees out of business by closing me down? I doubt it. Somebody is going to have to stop them.”

Several merchants in the same mall on St. Jean blvd. tell CJAD 800 that they have been visited by the OQLF in recent days.

Schick is positioning himself as an Anglo martyr.

“[The government] is slowly but surely driving out Anglos. My daughter has already left. She will never come back to this province.”

Listen to Rick Moffat’s full interview with Harry Schick.