6 Myths about McGill and Concordia
So here you are. You’ve left New Jersey or Bangalore behind, came to Montreal, McGill and Concordia and you are now ready to explore your new home and indulge in your new life of freedom and very loose drinking laws.
During your stay in Québec you will be expected to ingest quite enormous quantities of cheese, fries, gravy, beer and bullshit about your new home, all of which could quite understandably make you sick to your stomach if you are not careful.
Lucky for you, you’ve found the AngryFrenchGuide, the voice of reason and truth about Québec who will help you see through the fog of dinsinformation and closet francophobia that you might come accross in the streets of Montreal.
To start you off, here are a few myths about McGill and Concordia universities that you should be weary of:
1. McGill is Montreal’s only world-class university.
Although it has often claimed to have more international students than any other university in Canada and even though half of those “international” students live only a few hours down highway 15/87 in the United States, McGill only managed to attract 400 more students on a visa than l’Université de Montréal (the big yellow building that kind of looks like a mosque on top of Mount-Royal).
In 2006 McGill had 5549 international students while UdM, with it’s affiliated engineering and business schools, Polytechnique and HEC, had 5130. Every single one of those had to take an airplane to get here. Who’s world-class now?
2. Québec needs McGill and Concordia to attract young upwardly mobile students from abroad.
What is this? 1998? You guys need to get with the program.
According to the British Council, the demand for a Western English language education by international students is falling fast, especially in Asia. In 2005 4 out of 5 UK universities recorded a drop in foreign students, as sharp as 50% in the case of students from China.
Most countries in the World have adapted to the reality that English is the global language. People are learning English at home, now. They don’t need to come to Canada and the West anymore. The British Council’s conclusion: “The recent decline in international students studying in the main English-speaking countries is unlikely to reverse.”
The latest numbers from McGill tell us that although international admissions were stable this year, admissions from China, Japan, Mexico and Latin America all were down.
3. English is still the global language. There will always be a demand for an English education.
India’s outsourcing business is in crisis because it doesn’t have enough multilingual staff. They need German, Chinese and Spanish-speaking staff to get new lucrative markets. It started outsourcing the English-language business to more inexpensive places like Viet Nam, Guatemala and the State of Georgia (not the country, the US state). English is no longer a high value skill. Anyone can speak English.
The word on the street is multilinguism. You can’t graduate from Montreal’s French-language universities without a high proficiency in English. You can very easily spend four years at Concordia without learning a word of French, which makes you unemployable in Québec, and just another unilingual English-speaker in that big multilingual world out there. Maybe you can get work at that Indian call-center in Atlanta?
4. I’ve heard about you AFG, you’re one of those bitter separatists trying to wipe English out of Montreal.
There are exactly 744 430 English-speaking people in Québec, not even 10% of the population. Nevertheless Québec has three English-language universities that receive 27% of the government higher education funding, including 33% of the research budgets.
The rest of Canada has exactly ONE French university and it doesn’t have enough money to have a medical school.
You’re welcome.
5. Yeah, but Montreal’s English universities help offset the “brain drain” in Québec.
Actually, if it wasn’t for Montreal’s Anglo universities, Québec would be in a “brain gain” situation. 70% of English-speaking students leave after earning a Ph.D. Every year, wilst Québec is in the middle of a doctor shortage crisis, more than 50% of doctors trained by McGill leave the province.
Québec’s French universities can train more fluently English-speaking doctors and engineers than McGill and Concordia at a fraction of the cost. McGill and Concordia are just not good investments.
6. Fuck you AFG! English Montreal built McGill and Concordia and you separatists don’t have any business telling us who and what we should teach!
Actually, McGill and Concordia have received between a quarter and a third of all the higher education budgets of Québec for the last 40 years. They were built by the Québec people and belong to the Québec people. If the people of Québec decide they need Concordia to train people to work in Tagalog, that’s what Concordia’s should do.
So there you have it. French-speaking North Americans (3% of the continents population) are subsidizing the education of English-speaking North Americans (90% of the population). Pay attention in your your PoliSci class when the teacher will describe neo-colonial systems. You just might hear things that sound like this post.
But it’s cool, don’t worry about it. You’ve got time. Take those four years, learn some French, explore the east, make some friends and join the good fight.
And remember, don’t go back home without having that poutine. It helps keep everything down.
Antonio–how do you know that students from English schools tend to champion individual rights above all else? Even if that were the case, is that something that they should unlearn? Why?
littlerob
September 12, 2008 at 2:58 am
littlerob,
I don’t have a problem with individual rights per se. But I also believe that collective rights of a society is important also. There has to be a balance between individual and collective rights.
When anglos say they don’t want to learn French or participate in the society they live in just because they feel like it, that is wrong. That is not healthy for society. They have to give something back to society. If they are not willing to do this of their own free will, then, yes, I believe measures must be taken to coerce them to do so. Eliminating English institutions and having unique French ones is a good solution.
John Kennedy had a great quote that sums it up nicely: “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”. I wish every Quebec politician would say something like that to Quebecers.
antonio
September 12, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Antonio–I think that many local anglos would argue that they do indeed participate in Québec society by paying local taxes and running businesses that employ other people–many of whom are francos–who pay local taxes. (Even the English schools and hospitals fall into this category of business.) And if we believe StatCan, over two thirds of Québec anglos can at least hold a conversation in French. I suspect that there are relatively few anglos today who don’t recognize the necessity of becoming functional in French in order to survive in Québec.
Local anglos will continue to speak English (and to lobby for English language institutions) and to have loyalties outside Québec because they have relatives outside Québec with whom they speak English. Parler anglais, c’est une mauvaise habitude qu’on apprend en famille, je suppose. I don’t know what to do about this from the standpoint of trying to ensure the survival of North American French, but I don’t think that closing the English institutions is a practicable solution.
littlerob
September 13, 2008 at 5:18 am
I agree with littlerob that it isn’t at all feasible to close down Quebec’s anglo institutions. With time, perhaps many will morph into historically English institutions where French takes increasingly more and more space (sometimes most of the space). This has already happened to some traditionally anglo institutions outside Montreal, and even to some within Montreal itself (think Sun Youth / Jeunesse au soleil).
But such change has to come slowly from the bottom up or through osmosis, and cannot be imposed by government decree.
I think the point Antonio seems to be making about individual rights is that many anglos in Quebec (and anglicized allophones as well) support them in a self-serving way because a linguistic “free market” in Montreal would likely favour a greater presence of English in the city. Of course, francophones in Quebec for their part tend to self-servingly support “collective language rights” at the Quebec provincial level because this favours a reinforcement of French.
Acajack
September 15, 2008 at 10:19 am
You should be happy – with declining enrollment from Asia, there is now more space for Franco-Canadians to have the freedom of choice to attend world renowned universities. All Franco-Canadian families in Quebec don’t have the choice to educate their children in English elementary and high schools. Often they feel that a great way to make up for the loss of a multicultural education is to send their children to an English university while staying close to home.
But don’t worry. These Franco-Canadians are also among the 70% who leave after getting their PhD. If they are ambitious enough to get a degree, they are also ambitious enough to leave Quebec. You know, once you taste sugar…
Even today, head offices of Canada’s top companies are still leaving Quebec, I assume for a brighter future – and no OPLF, Bill 101, etc. Such a sad situation for Quebec’s future! And even more worrisome for the future of it’s culture.
40 ans de la separatisme, et on constat toujours les degats !
After 40 years of separatism, we are still witnessing the damage being done to Quebec!
Toutum
September 16, 2008 at 8:34 pm
“Often they feel that a great way to make up for the loss of a multicultural education is to send their children to an English university while staying close to home.”
What’s this nonsense about a multicultural education being only available in English schools? In my daughter’s class of 18 last year in a francophone public schools there were kids from about 10 different nationalities. And we live in Gatineau, not Montreal.
If anything, because of Bill 101 that sends almost all immigrant kids to French schools now, francophone schools are probably more diverse than the English ones.
Acajack
September 16, 2008 at 9:01 pm
“But don’t worry. These Franco-Canadians are also among the 70% who leave after getting their PhD. If they are ambitious enough to get a degree, they are also ambitious enough to leave Quebec. You know, once you taste sugar…”
Where do these numbers come from? Just this week, there was an article in most of the Quebec papers that reported that Quebec holds onto around 95% of its university graduates, the highest % of any Canadian province. Even booming Alberta only holds onto 90% of its graduates.
Maybe your 70% figure is just for McGill PhDs? How many francophones get McGill PhDs every year do you think? And what percentage of francophone PhDs got them from McGill? In both cases, the % of people we are talking about is quite small.
Sorry to break this to you, but your post smacks more of wishful thinking than of actual facts.
Overall, no matter the level of education, year in and year out Quebec is the province that holds onto to its population more than any other, no matter the level of education. (I will admit that the language barrier is a significant advantage in this respect.)
Acajack
September 16, 2008 at 9:10 pm
If Quebec chooses to speak French it will grow as slowly as France.
If it chooses to speak English it will grow as fast as British Columbia.
Just as simple as that.
Unfrench Frenchman
September 26, 2008 at 11:46 am
“If Quebec chooses to speak French it will grow as slowly as France.
If it chooses to speak English it will grow as fast as British Columbia.
Just as simple as that.”
Wow ! what a scientific statment!
BC is prosperous because it speaks english….
So how come Prince Edward Island doesn’t grow as fast…..?????
Think with your brain for once.
Kriss
October 9, 2008 at 12:18 pm
This article is exactly why Quebec suffers and is what it is, and NO I am NOT saying I support your (AngryFrenchGuy) view considering your “myths” here, because although they might be true, the big picture that is also true, is the more quebec has narrowminded, and discriminatory french people like you (AngryFrenchGuy), the less our province will be able to grow stronger, and larger.
Must I add, AngryFrenchGuy, i’d like to see if the richest man in the world will ever be a french dude one day (Bill Gates, Warren Buffet…). So far, history has prooved you wrong, and that’s a long history, longer than you will ever live…sad to be you…and its people like you who make montreal a set back to its much larger and economically developped canadian city brother “Toronto”. I love speaking french, I love french people, I love working with french people, but when I graduate i’m getting the fuck out of quebec!
By the way, if these are real true myths, why don’t you provide some references, instead of stating your “potentially full of shit opinions”.
By the way you want to hear my opinion as fact? The provincial government of quebec immigrates relatively equal amount of french and english population, and that is why McGill beats UDM by only 400 on the visa. McGill is world class, and that is why the majority of McGill students leave quebec after earning a degree well worth more money in salary return than any job in quebec has to offer. I hope quebec will smarten up one day, and you too AFG.
AngryFrenchGuy
October 23, 2008 at 10:29 am
This article is exactly why Quebec suffers and is what it is, and NO I am NOT saying I support your (AngryFrenchGuy) view considering your “myths” here, because although they might be true, the big picture that is also true, is the more quebec has narrowminded, and discriminatory french people like you (AngryFrenchGuy), the less our province will be able to grow stronger, and larger.
Must I add, AngryFrenchGuy, i’d like to see if the richest man in the world will ever be a french dude one day (Bill Gates, Warren Buffet…). So far, history has prooved you wrong, and that’s a long history, longer than you will ever live…sad to be you…and its people like you who make montreal a set back to its much larger and economically developped canadian city brother “Toronto”. I love speaking french, I love french people, I love working with french people, but when I graduate i’m getting the fuck out of quebec!
By the way, if these are real true myths, why don’t you provide some references, instead of stating your “potentially full of shit opinions”.
By the way you want to hear my opinion as fact? The provincial government of quebec immigrates relatively equal amount of french and english population, and that is why McGill beats UDM by only 400 on the visa. McGill is world class, and that is why the majority of McGill students leave quebec after earning a degree well worth more money in salary return than any job in quebec has to offer. I hope quebec will smarten up one day, and you too AFG.
AngryGuy
October 23, 2008 at 10:43 am
“AngryFrenchGuy, i’d like to see if the richest man in the world will ever be a french dude one day (Bill Gates, Warren Buffet…).”
The richest man in the world, Carlos Slim, if Mexican and speaks spanish.
Your point is?
angryfrenchguy
October 23, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Sorry but at least in the US, McGill is the only Montreal university (and often the only Canadian university) that anyone will have heard of. It has an international reputation. Its research is world-class; its medical school is highly respected as it its law school. The London Times rates McGill in the top 25 worldwide! McGill brings in millions of research grant dollars to Quebec from Ottawa and the world which helps it survive despite underfunding from the province.
Yet what you advocate is that the government should further underfund it so that more money can be spent on the other universities that have not yet proven themselves. Kill the best so the mediocre can advance. It is like saying that there should be a new Nobel Prize awarded to some guy who does slightly better than average.
You confirm what people say, that “McGill is the best university in Canada and the 4th best in Quebec!”. Embrace success, don’t squelch it.
Edward
November 29, 2008 at 6:07 pm
It’s worthwhile to point out that most other english universities in the top 25 rankings worldwide also exist in regions with a high “brain drain” rate. I don’t imagine many people who get an Msc or Phd at Oxford stick around there, and the same applies for MIT, Harvard, or the LSE. At least Concordia (and McGill, from what I understand), allow students to publish and author exams, essays, and most other work in french AND english. I’m not sure if UdeM, UMoncton or UQAM do this (although, I know UMoncton publishes bilingual academic work).
It’s one thing to point out that there are some issues with funding; it’s entirely another to explain how the demographics, economics and geography (yes, geography) of the university landscape here works, and I don’t think you’ve really covered that very well.
Caspian
December 29, 2008 at 4:10 am
My understanding is that professors at UdM accept papers in English. I know at least on guy who got a certificate even though he turned in every single one of his papers in Spanish.
angryfrenchguy
December 30, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Angryphone,
Where did you get that ridiculous number 744, 430 English speaking Quebeckers?
Let’s go back to the 60′s when there were over 3,000,000 first or second language English speaking Quebeckers in the Province. I may be off by a percentage or two – but at least 45% of the population was non-francophone.
After the Bill 101 debacle, within 5 years over 500,000 of them felt forced to flee the province. That leaves 2,500,000 non francophones in Quebec.
Now, 500,000 people is a HUGE number no? it represents at minimum $10,000,000,000 (billion) a year in lost tax revenue.
So lets say that another 500,000 left … which is not the case, but let’s say so anyway. That leaves 2,000,000 (million) non francophones. Now let’s say for your sake that another 500,000 were ASSIMILATED into the francophone society. That would still leave 1,500,000 non francophones.
As for your statement of not being able to graduate from a French university in Montreal without a high ‘proficiency in English’? What do you base that ‘high’ proficiency on pray tell? I’ve met too many graduates ie: doctors, lawyers corp heads etc… that can barely put an English sentence together – so I believe it depends on what you mean by “proficiency”.
And as for Concordia & McGill – you fail to mention a French student may do ALL their assignments in French if they so choose. So yes you are correct when you say a student can spend 4 years not learning French in an ENGLISH university — but fail to mention that in a French university an English student cannot write their papers in English as French students can in the English ones. How about telling the whole truth mon ami – it would be refreshing non?
One final note: I think Quebec should separate if it wants to. You know of course that the Greater Montreal Area – will REMAIN IN CANADA. After all if YOU have the right to separate – we certainly have the right to STAY IN CANADA mon ami.
Didi
March 22, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Concordia only permits students to submit assignments in French after verifying that their prof understands the language and is agreeable to the idea. How’s that for unreconstructed colonialism? And its student body and administration can’t even see their way clear to funding the publishing of even one all-French student newspaper, offering the laughable excuse that having *one* (!) all-French journal would “exclude” those who don’t understand the language. As for its hotshit “activists” – who were nicely skewered for their sanctimonious Québécophobe antics in another post at this blog – these direct action bloke wankers couldn’t even amass a student quorum in support of the all-Québec student strike (and neither could McGill), leaving all the heavy lifting to the francophone colleges and universities. But then why would something as mundane and “provincial” as that interest them anyway, since most of them, after an enjoyable few years spent talking at rather than with the Québécois and appointing themselves Québec’s conscience, will be f*ing off back to Nanaimo and Richmond Hill to help run Daddy’s hardware store or Mommy’s software biz. Bienvenue à Carpetbagger-cordia.
Parizeau made some great comments about how it’s high time to stop starving the francophone public educational institutions : http://lcn.canoe.ca//infos/national/archives/2008/09/20080911-090417.html
And I thought his revisiting and questioning of these grandfathered colonial privileges in the name of “tolerance” in his book was pretty compelling. I say let’s save the francophone public education system and if the first tranche of aid comes out of Carpetbagger-cordia’s hide, tant mieux.
James
March 29, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Mon ami Didi… please consult Statistic Canada or read “Community Besieged” written by Garth Stevenson… in both sources would will find that the population numbers of non-francophones Quebecers that you gave are ridiculous, being stipulated as an amateur… read mon ami, read, if you want to make an argument that is at least debatable…
Anonymous
April 2, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Colonisé
Anonymous
April 2, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Say what you will mon ami. I’m talking about what I KNOW and what I have lived. Stats Canada didn’t even begin taking accurate count of the demographics I speak of until the early 70′s.
But the fact that there were over 3,000,000 non francophones living in Quebec in the 60′s cannot be disputed. So tell me where did they go?
As for the disputed numbers: Take a look at the Liberal Party Facebook page; where their moderator Barbara Ann Pearce vilifies both me and my numbers and where she also gave me a supposed Stats Canada link where it states that according to her source ???
The number of anglophones in the Province are: 334, 430.
When the very next day, the Gazette published Stats Canada’s anglophone count being 994,200 (or so).
Now that’s an over 400,000 mistake? This kind of fudging of the numbers has been going on for decades!
Mostly to ‘justify’ the ethnic cleansing language laws and removal of rights in Quebec.
Let me add one final note: The removal of even ONE Canadian’s rights is too many! Get it?
Didi
April 3, 2009 at 9:48 am
antonio,
Where did you read that “anglos don’t want to learn French or participate in the society the live in?
The anglos were NOT ALLOWED into French Schools until the early 70′s. So they either sent their children to private schools and those that couldn’t afford it like my parents (who tried to enroll us in French school to no avail) or we learned it from our French friends!!
And to even suggest we were unwilling to do so of our own free will is an insult, my friend. I lived my entire youth surrounded by my francophone friends and loved every minute of it. And believe me – that was TYPICAL of the vast majority of non francophone families. We lived not only in harmony – we all ‘naturally and enthusiastically’ embraced each others cultures.
That harmony was eliminated when the Parti Quebecois ENCOURAGED the anglo devil myth and it was SADLY the Francophone community who started to SHUN the anglophone community.
I repeat… anglos were NOT ALLOWED into the French educational stream. So this perpetuated MYTH and outright LIE that anglos didn’t want to be part of the culture is not only ridiculous – it’s an ugly slur!
And don’t go bleating about some guy in Westmount or whatever – who insulted some francophone. Give me a break.. and get real. The ONLY Anglo enclave was in the Montreal area… and the REST OF THE ENTIRE Province was UNILINGUAL French and NO ONE complained about it!
And finally: John Kennedy would never for one moment have even CONSIDERED – the removal of rights, language and culture – of ANY AMERICAN. So don’t insult him.
Didi
April 3, 2009 at 10:00 am
At least at McGill, every student has the right to submit their essays and exam answers in English or French.
As for the student strike, maybe the McGill and Concordia students didn’t get involved for good reasons, like the fact that the strike was unreasonable, or more importantly the fact that they considered their education a valuable step toward their future careers. While their francophone peers were pursuing the fool’s agenda of denying themselves the one chance in their lives to get an education in order to save a few hundred dollars, the McGill and Concordia were studying and learning.
I suppose it comes down to what you aspire to for your nation: Future engineers, doctors and scientists or future union reps and public assistance recipients.
Edward
April 5, 2009 at 10:34 am
How can you come up with so many inaccuracy. C’mon now. There,s nothing wrong with debating but let’s keep it with the facts.
My father and his brothers and sisters, all of whom we’re from english descent (probably scottish) we’re all able to go to french school despita my grand-fathers lack of french language. He simply wanted his children to speak both language very well.
My mother, and her 12 brothers and sisters, all went to french school despite them being from Irish descent. All of their children went to french school afterwards except some of my cousins who ended up in english school but speak perfect french.
I dont know where you take this notion that english people weren’t allowed in french school but that is obviously very wrong.
The fact is that prior to the 60′s the education system was ruled by the church (religions) therefor if you weren’t catholic you may have had a hard time entering catholic school but it had nothing to do with french english but rather catholic and non-catholic. Irish people had no problem entering french school.
Then, your numbers or 3 000 000 english speaking people in the 60′s is ridiculous. There we’re about 6 millions people in Quebec back then with approximately 80% of them being francophones. Of course if you we’re born and raised in the West island you may not have realized it especially if your parents restrained you from going east of Boulevard St-Laurent. But at the same time you say that ”The rest of the entire Province was UNILINGUAL french”. Now, if the greater Montreal area had beetwen 1,5 and 2 millions people back then, the rest of the province none (taking your words for it) then how can the english community had 3 millions ?
Now, many people, including the Gazette, have reported that 500 000 people left the province in the 70′s which is also another exageration. According to many non-bias ”demographic” specialists it is more like 150 000 to 180 000 people who fled. But remember that more than 10 000 000 people left the east coast cities in the US in order to go to the West coast places like SF, LA, San Diego, Denver, Seattle, Portland etc… So Montreal isnt very different from all of them.
Plus, the funny thing is that many of these people’s children are coming back to Montreal and settling where their parents of grand parents have once lived. That is why places like Milen End, Little Burgundy (rue Notre-Dame) and NDG are making a big come back. Now, if the english community was so badly treated i dont think this movement would be happening.
Last thing. Where and how the english community’s right in Quebec we’re ”removed” ?
Steve_36
April 5, 2009 at 11:11 am
Wow…..that’s an intelligent and deep comment !!!
First of all France is the country in Europe who has had the biggest growth of the last decades or so. Much better than England or great-Britain). The number two behind France is Ireland.
Now, as for British-Columbia. It is only normal that such a province is having a boom simply because it is fairly young, new and not very populated therefor the natural tendancy of many people is to always look for new places and in our case it has been the ”west” for the last 400 years or so. The Europeans settled on the east coast…some of us started going inland in places like Toronto, Chicago, the Mid west then it was Winnipeg and now it is Alberta and BC and in the US it is the west coast who has been thriving for a good 30 to 40 years now. This is only normal and there isnt much Montral can do about it not Toronto by the way.
Where do you think many people in Détroit, Cleveland or Baltimore, Philly or St-Louis have headed lately ? The west coast.
Language has nothing to do with it. I mean the greater Paris has 11 millions people and so does Moscow. Madrid has 5 millions and Mexico has 15 millions. I dont think english is the main language there isnt it ?
Steve_36
April 5, 2009 at 11:25 am
It’s hard to see what lessons the Québécois have to take from English Canadians in the matter of educational and professional advancement, except of course the negative lesson that it was Canada and its anglophone Québec élite who stifled and opposed that advancement for centuries. In the 1960′s the Laurendeau-Dunton Commission established that French Canadians in Québec occupied essentially the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid in the province where they were the majority, and their educational level was inferior to that of African-Americans. That that situation has changed significantly (tho not enough) is entirely a product of the Québécois’ efforts to empower themselves in a social revolution which English Canada and Anglo-Québec opposed every step of the way. The best way to guard these precarious gains is to keep education affordable, which francophone activists have been much more successful in doing, while Carpetbaggercordia’s colonials pimp off the low-tuition benefits brought by an activist culture of a nation they largely boycott and demean. If anything they should be even more prepared to hit the streets for accessible education, since the anglo university system receives over 3 times the funding relative to its demographic base as does the francophone one. Ending that colonial injustice should be a high priority, but it’s not even on the radar of Carpetbaggercordia’s revolutionaries.
When anglos flatter themselves over McGill’s inclusiveness and tolerance, it’s as perverse as white southerners taking credit for the Civil Rights Act in the United States. We’re supposed to forget that what they flatter themselves for having “given” was in fact wrested from them kicking and screaming.
James
April 5, 2009 at 1:13 pm
To Steve-36:
Well I don’t know where your father grew up mon ami, but I KNOW when my parents tried to enroll us in French school in Montreal… And by the way – we had just completed a year in a Catholic CONVENT in Halifax, where we learned English… AND WE WERE DENIED access to the French educational stream… as was every other immigrant at the time. This was in the mid 50′s.. So maybe your English heritage didn’t count because your parents spoke French? I don’t know. I just know what it was for the rest of us.
And if being in a convent isn’t catholic enough for you I don’t know what is!
Go and re-read what i wrote about unilingual French and the rest of the province etc.. And re-read what I said about growing up surrounded by my Francophone friends etc… Also re-read what I said about the English having no problem with the rest of the province outside the Greater Mtl., area being unilingual French.
The population in the 60′s was 7 million plus! Quebec’s population has been stagnant ever since the language laws.
As for you dismissing the Gazette and anyone and everyone else who states the TRUE numbers of 600,000 PLUS that have FLED the province… what because YOU don’t like that number??? Well tough s….t… It’s true, end of story. you can deny it all you like. You trying to skew or minimize and/or lie about the facts isn’t going to change the truth.
As for people coming back… well did you ever consider they have always considered Quebec their HOME because this is where they were born and their histories are?? As for your definition of ‘many’ I’d correct that to … some… And the fact that that made the NEWS .. tells the story doesn’t it. Where else would it make the headlines.. in Canada.. that some people are moving back!
last thing… where were English rights removed?
Well here’s a little taste of an example for you mon ami… and this is right out of the Official Quebec documentation. It lists… English documentation, court access – medical access in English that has been removed… that they are NOW talking about re-instating! And it’s just a SMALL example of what rights have been removed: It is an adobe document that I converted to text format because I could not for the moment copy the boxes etc.. from adobe. But rest assured I will find a way. Again this will give you a SMALL example of what rights have been removed from the English speaking Quebecer!!
QUEBEC’S STRATEGIC PLAN
English-Language Services
B1. 2005-2010 STRATEGIC PLAN TO MAINTAIN, IMPROVE AND RESTORE THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING QUEBECERS
B2. STRATEGIC PLAN OF THE MINISTÈRE DE LA JUSTICE TO MAINTAIN, IMPROVE AND IMPLEMENT SERVICES OFFERED TO ENGLISH-SPEAKING QUEBECERS FOR 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and 2008-2009
1. 2005-2010 STRATEGIC PLAN TO MAINTAIN, IMPROVE AND RESTORE THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING QUEBECERS
Introduction
The priorities of the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux1 are set out in its 2005-2010 strategic plan. They fall within the scope of the government’s results-based management framework. In this perspective, the government’s desire to maintain, improve and restore the health and well-being of English-speaking Quebecers must be based on these priorities. Furthermore, any future financing from the federal Development of Official-Language Communities Program covering all or part of the period will have to support these priorities.
It is up to the Quebec Government to decide on the relevance, appropriateness, and terms of any consultation relating to the provision of health and social services in the English language on its territory. The Provincial Committee on the dispensing of health and social services in the English language contributed to the development of the 2005-2010
Strategic Plan to Maintain, Improve and Restore the Health and Well-being of English-speaking Quebecers.
Current Situation
The right of English-speaking persons to receive health and social services in the English language is recognized in the Act respecting health services and social services.2
In order to ensure that service delivery meets the needs and expectations of the population, health and social services centres (CSSSs3) have the responsibility to develop clinical and organizational projects in cooperation with other local network partners. The planning and implementation of new service delivery methods better suited to local realities and taking into account the sociocultural and linguistic characteristics of the territory’s population are the main challenges facing the network in consolidating a range of primary
health care services. At the regional level, health and social services agencies are responsible for supporting the health and social services centres in this process and in the development of demographic profiles for their respective territories. Among other things, they must consider the geographical distribution of the English-speaking population. The
development of clinical projects is a dynamic and ongoing process. The revision of these access programs and development of clinical projects will shed more light on these profiles.
The clinical and organizational project, undertaken in such a way as to take into account the right of English-speaking persons to receive health services and social services in the English language, will maximize efforts made in the development of access programs for English-language services.
Under Section 348 of the Act respecting health services and social services, health and social services agencies are also responsible for developing access programs for English language health services and social services. These programs, revised at least every three years, present a portrait of access to services offered in the English language in a given region at a particular point in time. A frame of reference produced by the Ministère specifies the nature, objectives and components of the access program and determines the
1 Department of health and social services.
2 R.S.Q. chapter S-4.2, section 15.
3 Centres de santé et des services sociaux.
preferred options. It describes the steps to be followed in the development, approval, follow-up and revision of access programs and sets out the roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders. Updating of the access programs should be announced soon and the revision by health and social services agencies, in cooperation with the health and social services centres, other institutions of the region, and representatives of the English-speaking community, should begin shortly.
In the field of health and social services, access to English-language information for English-speaking persons is essential to their participation both at the community level, in terms of the planning and implementation of programs and clinical projects, and as individuals, in terms of their participation in treatment plans essential to successful clinical outcomes.
4 Government of Quebec, Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, 2005-2010 Strategic Plan, p. 19.
5 For the record: 1. general services; 2. public health; 3. decreased autonomy related to ageing; 4. physical disability; 5. intellectual disability and invasive developmental disorders; 6. youth in difficulty; 7. addictions; 8. mental health; and 9. physical health.
1.1 ISSUE: Adapting the organization of services to ensure improved access and greater continuity of service, particularly for more vulnerable clients4
Thrust: Improve access to health services and social services in the English language for English-speaking persons within the nine service programs5
PRIORITIES OBJECTIVES RESULTS INDICATORS
Revision of access programs
Support the revision and development of access programs, taking into account the new organization of local networks; i.e., service delivery as close to home as possible
Revised access programs
Number of access programs revised and translated
Foster the participation of the English-speaking community in the revision of access programs at the local, regional and provincial levels
Increased participation of persons from the English-speaking community at the various decision-making levels of the Quebec network
Number of meetings at the various decision-making levels with representatives of the English-speaking community for the revision of access programs
Number of documents available in the English language
Evaluate the implementation and assess the impact of access programs
Follow-up on the implementation of access programs and impact studies of these programs
Level of satisfaction of English-speaking persons regarding access to and delivery of services in the English language
Support for voluntary action
Foster the participation of persons from the English-speaking community in the development of clinical projects to be defined by local authorities (CSSSs)
Partnership established between community organizations serving English-speaking communities, health and social services centres and other local network institutions
Number of meetings with representatives of the English-speaking communities, health and social services centres and other local network institutions
Number of documents available in the English language
Foster the creation of innovative means to offer English language health services and social services to English-speaking persons
Innovative projects to provide services resulting from cooperation between organizations from English-speaking communities and public institutions
Number of projects completed
Sustainability of projects completed
6 Government of Quebec, Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, 2005-2010 Strategic Plan, p. 19.
1.2 ISSUE: Improving service quality and optimizing the use of resources that support service delivery6
Thrust: Inform the population of its health and well-being status and how to maintain or improve the latter
PRIORITIES OBJECTIVES RESULTS INDICATORS
Access to information on services offered in the English language
Promote the successful completion of information campaigns on access to and delivery of health and social services in the English language for the English-speaking population with regard to:
Access programs
Clinical projects
Departmental orientations and policies within the nine service programs
Information sessions and public meetings with persons from English-speaking communities
Documentation available in the English language on access to and delivery of services to English-speaking persons and on departmental orientations and policies
Number of information sessions and public meetings held with the English-speaking population (number of English-speaking persons met)
Number of documents available in the English language and distributed to English-speaking persons
Promote the sharing of clinical documents available in the English language between institutions, community organizations, etc.
Implementation of a bank of clinical documents translated into English
Implementation of sharing mechanisms for these documents
Documentation bank implemented
Number of documents shared
Foster access to English language clinical software tools for English-speaking users (Web, information systems)
Clinical software tools available in the English language for English-speaking users
Number of software tools available in the English language to English-speaking users
7 R.S.Q., c. A-23.01.
B2. STRATEGIC PLAN OF THE MINISTÈRE DE LA JUSTICE TO MAINTAIN, IMPROVE AND IMPLEMENT THE SERVICES OFFERED TO ENGLISH-SPEAKING QUEBECERS FOR 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and 2008-2009
Introduction
The priorities of the Ministère de la Justice for 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 are identified in this document. They are in keeping with the government’s results-based management framework. From this perspective, the government’s wish to maintain, improve and implement the services offered to English-speaking Quebecers must be based on these priorities. Moreover, any potential funding provided under the federal program entitled “Development of Official-Language Communities” and covering all or part of the reference period will have to support these same priorities.
It is up to Quebec to decide on the relevance, appropriateness, and terms of any consultation pertaining to the delivery of services offered in the justice field in English on its territory. Within the context of the establishment of the priorities of the Ministère de la Justice in this field, the General Directorates of the Department were called upon to make a contribution.
Current situation
Quebec’s Ministre de la Justice is responsible, as a Central Authority, for the application in Quebec of The Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (hereinafter the Convention). This international convention has been implemented in Quebec by the Act respecting civil aspects of international and interprovincial child
abduction7 (hereinafter the Act).
The objective of the Convention and the Act is to locate and repatriate children who have been wrongfully removed or retained abroad or in Quebec by establishing close cooperation between the legal and administrative authorities of the signatory States. Two specific objectives are targeted by this collaboration: (i) to make sure that a child who is
wrongfully removed or retained in a designated State is promptly returned to the place where he or she lived before, so that the situation that prevailed prior to the removal or retention is re-established as quickly as possible; and, (ii) to ensure that the rights of custody and access under the laws of a signatory State are effectively respected in the
signatory State or to help organize rights of access in another signatory State.
The Central Authority of Quebec also plays an information and reference role for parents and their lawyers on the means of prevention to combat abduction threats as well as on possible solutions when an abduction has already occurred.
The nature of these interventions entails numerous contacts with English-speaking citizens in addition to those with the central authorities in the other countries that are Convention signatories and that communicate solely in English.
Access to legal information represents a major concern of the Ministère de la Justice. More specifically, access to the government’s regulations allows members of the public to know exactly what their rights and obligations are. Under the Constitution Act, 1867, regulations must be in both official languages. It is the translation service of the Ministère de la Justice that is responsible for translating regulations from French into English.
Moreover, training for prosecutors and attorneys with the Procureur général du Québec has proven to be pertinent. Although they do not generally serve English-speaking citizens, they find it very useful to be able to interact in both languages if the accused, the plaintiff or a witness is an English-speaker or if the evidence requires a knowledge of English.
Occasionally, there may be important variations across regions in terms of the services offered in the English language. Quebec will pay special attention to the measures put in place to maintain, improve and implement the services offered to English-speaking Quebecers in all regions of Quebec.
2.1 ISSUE: Improving the quality of services as well as optimizing the use of resources that support the delivery of services
Orientation: Inform the public on the operation of The Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and on available resources to assist in an abduction
or prevention situation
PRIORITIES OBJECTIVES RESULTS INDICATORS
Access to information on services offered in English
Promote the distribution of documents, in English, to communities, community organizations, etc.
Creation of a pamphlet available in English
Pamphlet created and available
Number of pamphlets distributed
Promote access, for English-speaking parents, to English-language information tools (WEB)
Creation of a file on the web site of the Ministère de la Justice, available in English
Number of visits to the web site Services offered during oral or written communications in English
Offer a better service in English, both oral and written, in the processing of files/cases
Advanced English and business English course to learn how to draft correspondence for persons responsible for the sector
Number of courses taken by persons responsible for the sector
2.2 ISSUE: Optimize the process for translating the government’s statutory instruments into English
Orientation: Improve computer tools used for the purposes of translating government’s orders in council and regulations
PRIORITIES OBJECTIVES RESULTS INDICATORS
Acquisition of state-of-the-art computer tools (software, databanks, tc.)
Arrive at an optimal process for translating regulations and orders in council
Greater efficiency in the translation of regulations and orders in council
Number of computer tools acquired
2.3 ISSUE: Improve the knowledge of English of the Procureur général du Québec’s prosecutors acting in criminal and penal matters and of attorneys for the Procureur général du Québec acting in non-criminal and non-penal matters
Orientation: Allow the Procureur général du Québec’s prosecutors acting in criminal and penal matters and attorneys for the Procureur général du Québec acting in non-criminal and non-penal matters to take intermediate and advanced level English courses
PRIORITIES OBJECTIVES RESULTS INDICATORS
Improve the knowledge of English of the Procureur general du Québec’s prosecutors acting in criminal and penal matters and attorneys for the
Procureur général du Québec acting in non-criminal and non-penalmatters
Facilitate their interactions with English-speaking witnesses and their handling of evidence or written documents in English
English courses taken by a certain number of the Procureur général du Québec’s prosecutors acting in criminal and penal matters and by a certain number of attorneys for the Procureur général du Québec acting in non-criminal and non-penal matters
Number of the Procureur général du Québec’s prosecutors and attorneys having taken English courses
Number of hours of English courses
2.4 ISSUE: Adaptation of services to ensure better access for all citizens
Orientation: Improve access to information and to legal services in English
PRIORITIES OBJECTIVES RESULTS INDICATORS
Availability of forms that are in English or that are bilingual
Allow English-speaking citizens to have access, in their native language, to all tools needed to deal with the Ministère de la Justice
Access to forms that are in English or in both languages
100 % of the forms are available, either in English or in both languages
Interpreter services for English-speaking parties or witnesses
Allow English-speaking citizens to be able to express themselves in their native language before the courts, mainly in criminal and penal
matters
Improvement of the conduct of hearings:
All % of cases postponed due to the non-availability of interpreters
Translation of judgments from French into English
Allow the parties to obtain, upon request, the translation of their judgment into English
Availability of translations
- Number of translation requests
satisfied
- 80% of the translations done within a 15-day period
Further training of judges
Allow judges called upon to preside over English-language hearings to improve, at their request, their knowledge of the language
Improvement of the conduct of hearings
Number of judges having taken further training courses
Training of employees of the Minis-tère de la Justice offering direct
services to English-speaking citizens
Maintain a sufficient number of employees capable of adequately responding to English-speaking citizens
Improvement of the services available in English
Number of employees having taken English courses
Satisfaction of citizens regarding the services received in their native language, measured by survey, carried out with the English-speaking clientele
Happy with my first example Steve_36??
Didi
April 5, 2009 at 1:30 pm
littlerob,
Let me repeat please. The French language and culture has NEVER, EVER been in jeopardy!!!!!!!!!!!!! NEVER EVER! It has flourished and grown across the country, all done with the approval & blessing of the VAST VAST majority of English speaking Quebecers!!!!
Ask our nationalist and separatist ami’s here … to list EXAMPLES of their mythical claims! They never have and never will be able to… because there are NONE..
Other than some bloody war from the 1700′s…!!!!
Didi
April 5, 2009 at 1:43 pm
How about mentioning The Universite de Montreal… and all the OTHER French institutions that offer NOTHING in English to English speaking Quebecers!!!
Let’s compare lists. And let’s compare the French Media’s lack of inclusion to English (fluently bilingual ones) into their workforce… compared to the English media.
Or the Federal & Provincial and public service corporations and offices… records of either ZERO bilingual anglos employed… or a maximum of 1% and stretching it.. maybe all the way up to 1.5- 2% !!!!
Get your list for comparisons out why don’t you.
I pity you in a way. You have NO Idea what inclusion means or stands for.
Didi
April 5, 2009 at 1:51 pm
oh, you want a list of comparisons? Well, I’ve already made some *which you haven’t refuted.* (NB) Let’s see now, what else, what other comparative indices of inclusiveness and privilege are available? Too many really, enough to blow the bandwidth of this site, truth be told. Why don’t we start with your cretinous claim that the French language has never been threatened under the benificent rule of the Maple Leaf? Here are the figures on the rate of inter-generational assimilation (language attritition, viz, loss of use of mother tongue) of francophones in English Canada to English(1), versus those of anglophones in Québec to French (2), rounded off to the nearest percentage point:
(1) 38%
(2) 0%
So francophones are losing their mother language use at an astonishing rate of 38% per generation in English Canada while English Canadians are preserving theirs in Québec and of course in the rest of Canada as well. But *thanks ever so much* for sounding the alarm against creeping gallo-fascist discrimination Didi! Your sense of priorities n’est rien de moins qu’impeccable! Maybe you could team up with Richard Gere to raise awareness about the plight of the Tibetans and Beaconsfield and Pointe-Claire at the same time!
But these global figures disguise the granular nuances, like for instance the intergenerational rate of language loss of the Françaskois, which is over 70%, so French Canadians are scheduled to disappear in Saskatchewan before the polar icecap does. Or the rate of assimilation of francophones to English in West Island Montréal, recorded at more than 10% in the early 2000′s, more than 20 years after the French Language Charter was adopted in order to deghettoize the French Canadians and have immigrants learn their language instead of that of the colonial oppressor (and lesson-giver).
And then there’s Manitoba, which at the moment of its admission into Confederation was more francophone than anglophone, and where French and English were to have equal status, but where French was subsequently driven out of public life by being banned from public schools, courts, and the legislature as it was in the rest of English Canada’s provinces, along with the cutting off of immigration from French-speaking countries following the Conquest, thus producing a remarkably successful cultural genocide which has reduced the remnants of the French Canadian nation in these provinces to nothing much more than a folklore museum of which Radio-Canada offers us Potemkin tours.
Then there’s health care, which English Canadians enjoy privileged access to in their mother tongue not only in English Canada, but in Québec as well, with a network of hospitals and a medical school which receive funding vastly disproportionate to the anglophone population base, while francophones have *one* full-service francophone teaching hospital outside of Québec, which the Ontario government tried to close and was only stopped from doing by franco-Ontarians suing its sorry a** up the Supreme Court. And Québec’s anglo med school exports most of its specialist grads outside of Québec after educating them on the Québec taxpayer’s piastre. J’appelle ça la justice, moi.
And (that reminds me) then there’s the Supreme Court, which is stuffed with prime ministerial appointees subject to no legislative review, and to which no publicly identified Québec sovereignist jurist stands a chance in Hades of ever being appointed, irrespective of his or her intellect or reputation or the soundness of his/her rulings, and even tho sovereignty is a legal political option frequently supported by a majority of Québec francophones.
And then there’s the workforce and public services, your cause célèbre Didi. Where should we start there? How about with allophone immigrants to Montréal, Québec’s metropole, which receives over 80% of Québec’s immigrants, most of whom don’t speak French upon arrival, thanks in part to the fact that the colonial occupier Canada gets to choose half of them. Well Didi, allophone immigrants who assimilate *only to English* in Montréal earn on average about 30% more than allophone immigrants who assimilate *only to French.* (about the same gap as the salary gap between men and women, en passant…). Not hard to imagine what the reaction would be in Winnipeg or Red Deer if we were to learn that immigrants assimilating only to French there earned 30% more than immigrants assimilating only to English. After all, these are the good volk who raised the slogan “Bilingual today, French tomorrow” in reaction to Trudeau’s Official Languages Act.
Federal services? How about those certificates awarding “bilingual” status to anglophone federal functionaries after passing mickey-mouse courses and with no follow-up whatsoever to confirm whether they’ve retained or are implementing their new “language skills”? And as it turns out, these newly minted “bilinguals,” choose almost entirely to address their francophone subordinates in…English.
Or how about the Armed Forces, surely a fitting choice for comparison since we send Québécois soldiers to serve as cannon-fodder in wars their compatriots mostly oppose but which English Canada mostly approves (until they hit some snags). Ex WWI, la mission civilisatrice en Afghanistan, etc. Well we all know what “bilingualism” means in the Cdn Armed Forces Didi. It means if you’re a francophone and want to get ahead, your learn English! And if you’re an Anglophone, well I believe the correct expression is “As you were, soldier!” And that’s why one Commissioner on Official Languages after another has given our Forces a failing grade in this area. But there’s still opportunities. You can be a Roméo Dallaire and learn to speak White adopt the colonizer’s devoir d’ingérance and help anglophone fascists pillage and genocide the Congolese and invade Haiti and get invited onto bloke talkshows and Bono videos. So there’s hope, Didi, there’s hope. Bon courage!!
James
April 5, 2009 at 3:51 pm
While English Canadians are preserving theirs in Quebec!! That’s what you start with as a comparison?
I guess you failed to read the document I posted above.. So here it is again. And let me repeat… I am talking about the ethnic cleansing in Quebec. Not BC, not any other province. But will repeat sigh… take a look at the number of FRENCH Schools in Ontario alone… for 532,000 Francophones in the Province. Then compare it to Quebec .. for the 2 million + English speaking Quebecers.
To say I haven’t addressed your questions is beyond ridiculous. You my friend are a bigot. You seem to rely on your anglo hate to justify your discrimination and propoganda. I am only happy that the Quebec I grew up in and the francophone community I loved… was nothing remotely like the racist anglo hate filled government backed idiocy it is now. I know had it been we would never ever have stayed. My parents had had enough of that shit in Germany.
As for you being upset that one of your separatist elites not being accepted somewhere… and you are outraged.. Well guess what mon ami… I find it impossible to combine discrimination and intellect in the same category. The terms are total contradictions mon ami.
And your supposed examples to justify the erasure of the English… is a perfect example of what I mean.
You need help mon ami.. Read the text below… I thought maybe you’d get it.. But I am positive it’s going to make you malade. Gee imagine the nerve.. The gouvernment du quebec is suggesting an anglo can have their court case heard in English and GASP… they are even suggesting… horror upon horror.. that the JUDGE be able to understand them!!! Wow!
QUEBEC’S STRATEGIC PLAN
English-Language Services
B1. 2005-2010 STRATEGIC PLAN TO MAINTAIN, IMPROVE AND RESTORE THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING QUEBECERS
B2. STRATEGIC PLAN OF THE MINISTÈRE DE LA JUSTICE TO MAINTAIN, IMPROVE AND IMPLEMENT SERVICES OFFERED TO ENGLISH-SPEAKING QUEBECERS FOR 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and 2008-2009
1. 2005-2010 STRATEGIC PLAN TO MAINTAIN, IMPROVE AND RESTORE THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING QUEBECERS
Introduction
The priorities of the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux1 are set out in its 2005-2010 strategic plan. They fall within the scope of the government’s results-based management framework. In this perspective, the government’s desire to maintain, improve and restore the health and well-being of English-speaking Quebecers must be based on these priorities. Furthermore, any future financing from the federal Development of Official-Language Communities Program covering all or part of the period will have to support these priorities.
It is up to the Quebec Government to decide on the relevance, appropriateness, and terms of any consultation relating to the provision of health and social services in the English language on its territory. The Provincial Committee on the dispensing of health and social services in the English language contributed to the development of the 2005-2010
Strategic Plan to Maintain, Improve and Restore the Health and Well-being of English-speaking Quebecers.
Current Situation
The right of English-speaking persons to receive health and social services in the English language is recognized in the Act respecting health services and social services.2
In order to ensure that service delivery meets the needs and expectations of the population, health and social services centres (CSSSs3) have the responsibility to develop clinical and organizational projects in cooperation with other local network partners. The planning and implementation of new service delivery methods better suited to local realities and taking into account the sociocultural and linguistic characteristics of the territory’s population are the main challenges facing the network in consolidating a range of primary
health care services. At the regional level, health and social services agencies are responsible for supporting the health and social services centres in this process and in the development of demographic profiles for their respective territories. Among other things, they must consider the geographical distribution of the English-speaking population. The
development of clinical projects is a dynamic and ongoing process. The revision of these access programs and development of clinical projects will shed more light on these profiles.
The clinical and organizational project, undertaken in such a way as to take into account the right of English-speaking persons to receive health services and social services in the English language, will maximize efforts made in the development of access programs for English-language services.
Under Section 348 of the Act respecting health services and social services, health and social services agencies are also responsible for developing access programs for English language health services and social services. These programs, revised at least every three years, present a portrait of access to services offered in the English language in a given region at a particular point in time. A frame of reference produced by the Ministère specifies the nature, objectives and components of the access program and determines the
1 Department of health and social services.
2 R.S.Q. chapter S-4.2, section 15.
3 Centres de santé et des services sociaux.
preferred options. It describes the steps to be followed in the development, approval, follow-up and revision of access programs and sets out the roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders. Updating of the access programs should be announced soon and the revision by health and social services agencies, in cooperation with the health and social services centres, other institutions of the region, and representatives of the English-speaking community, should begin shortly.
In the field of health and social services, access to English-language information for English-speaking persons is essential to their participation both at the community level, in terms of the planning and implementation of programs and clinical projects, and as individuals, in terms of their participation in treatment plans essential to successful clinical outcomes.
4 Government of Quebec, Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, 2005-2010 Strategic Plan, p. 19.
5 For the record: 1. general services; 2. public health; 3. decreased autonomy related to ageing; 4. physical disability; 5. intellectual disability and invasive developmental disorders; 6. youth in difficulty; 7. addictions; 8. mental health; and 9. physical health.
1.1 ISSUE: Adapting the organization of services to ensure improved access and greater continuity of service, particularly for more vulnerable clients4
Thrust: Improve access to health services and social services in the English language for English-speaking persons within the nine service programs5
PRIORITIES OBJECTIVES RESULTS INDICATORS
Revision of access programs
Support the revision and development of access programs, taking into account the new organization of local networks; i.e., service delivery as close to home as possible
Revised access programs
Number of access programs revised and translated
Foster the participation of the English-speaking community in the revision of access programs at the local, regional and provincial levels
Increased participation of persons from the English-speaking community at the various decision-making levels of the Quebec network
Number of meetings at the various decision-making levels with representatives of the English-speaking community for the revision of access programs
Number of documents available in the English language
Evaluate the implementation and assess the impact of access programs
Follow-up on the implementation of access programs and impact studies of these programs
Level of satisfaction of English-speaking persons regarding access to and delivery of services in the English language
Support for voluntary action
Foster the participation of persons from the English-speaking community in the development of clinical projects to be defined by local authorities (CSSSs)
Partnership established between community organizations serving English-speaking communities, health and social services centres and other local network institutions
Number of meetings with representatives of the English-speaking communities, health and social services centres and other local network institutions
Number of documents available in the English language
Foster the creation of innovative means to offer English language health services and social services to English-speaking persons
Innovative projects to provide services resulting from cooperation between organizations from English-speaking communities and public institutions
Number of projects completed
Sustainability of projects completed
6 Government of Quebec, Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, 2005-2010 Strategic Plan, p. 19.
1.2 ISSUE: Improving service quality and optimizing the use of resources that support service delivery6
Thrust: Inform the population of its health and well-being status and how to maintain or improve the latter
PRIORITIES OBJECTIVES RESULTS INDICATORS
Access to information on services offered in the English language
Promote the successful completion of information campaigns on access to and delivery of health and social services in the English language for the English-speaking population with regard to:
Access programs
Clinical projects
Departmental orientations and policies within the nine service programs
Information sessions and public meetings with persons from English-speaking communities
Documentation available in the English language on access to and delivery of services to English-speaking persons and on departmental orientations and policies
Number of information sessions and public meetings held with the English-speaking population (number of English-speaking persons met)
Number of documents available in the English language and distributed to English-speaking persons
Promote the sharing of clinical documents available in the English language between institutions, community organizations, etc.
Implementation of a bank of clinical documents translated into English
Implementation of sharing mechanisms for these documents
Documentation bank implemented
Number of documents shared
Foster access to English language clinical software tools for English-speaking users (Web, information systems)
Clinical software tools available in the English language for English-speaking users
Number of software tools available in the English language to English-speaking users
7 R.S.Q., c. A-23.01.
B2. STRATEGIC PLAN OF THE MINISTÈRE DE LA JUSTICE TO MAINTAIN, IMPROVE AND IMPLEMENT THE SERVICES OFFERED TO ENGLISH-SPEAKING QUEBECERS FOR 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and 2008-2009
Introduction
The priorities of the Ministère de la Justice for 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 are identified in this document. They are in keeping with the government’s results-based management framework. From this perspective, the government’s wish to maintain, improve and implement the services offered to English-speaking Quebecers must be based on these priorities. Moreover, any potential funding provided under the federal program entitled “Development of Official-Language Communities” and covering all or part of the reference period will have to support these same priorities.
It is up to Quebec to decide on the relevance, appropriateness, and terms of any consultation pertaining to the delivery of services offered in the justice field in English on its territory. Within the context of the establishment of the priorities of the Ministère de la Justice in this field, the General Directorates of the Department were called upon to make a contribution.
Current situation
Quebec’s Ministre de la Justice is responsible, as a Central Authority, for the application in Quebec of The Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (hereinafter the Convention). This international convention has been implemented in Quebec by the Act respecting civil aspects of international and interprovincial child
abduction7 (hereinafter the Act).
The objective of the Convention and the Act is to locate and repatriate children who have been wrongfully removed or retained abroad or in Quebec by establishing close cooperation between the legal and administrative authorities of the signatory States. Two specific objectives are targeted by this collaboration: (i) to make sure that a child who is
wrongfully removed or retained in a designated State is promptly returned to the place where he or she lived before, so that the situation that prevailed prior to the removal or retention is re-established as quickly as possible; and, (ii) to ensure that the rights of custody and access under the laws of a signatory State are effectively respected in the
signatory State or to help organize rights of access in another signatory State.
The Central Authority of Quebec also plays an information and reference role for parents and their lawyers on the means of prevention to combat abduction threats as well as on possible solutions when an abduction has already occurred.
The nature of these interventions entails numerous contacts with English-speaking citizens in addition to those with the central authorities in the other countries that are Convention signatories and that communicate solely in English.
Access to legal information represents a major concern of the Ministère de la Justice. More specifically, access to the government’s regulations allows members of the public to know exactly what their rights and obligations are. Under the Constitution Act, 1867, regulations must be in both official languages. It is the translation service of the Ministère de la Justice that is responsible for translating regulations from French into English.
Moreover, training for prosecutors and attorneys with the Procureur général du Québec has proven to be pertinent. Although they do not generally serve English-speaking citizens, they find it very useful to be able to interact in both languages if the accused, the plaintiff or a witness is an English-speaker or if the evidence requires a knowledge of English.
Occasionally, there may be important variations across regions in terms of the services offered in the English language. Quebec will pay special attention to the measures put in place to maintain, improve and implement the services offered to English-speaking Quebecers in all regions of Quebec.
2.1 ISSUE: Improving the quality of services as well as optimizing the use of resources that support the delivery of services
Orientation: Inform the public on the operation of The Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and on available resources to assist in an abduction
or prevention situation
PRIORITIES OBJECTIVES RESULTS INDICATORS
Access to information on services offered in English
Promote the distribution of documents, in English, to communities, community organizations, etc.
Creation of a pamphlet available in English
Pamphlet created and available
Number of pamphlets distributed
Promote access, for English-speaking parents, to English-language information tools (WEB)
Creation of a file on the web site of the Ministère de la Justice, available in English
Number of visits to the web site Services offered during oral or written communications in English
Offer a better service in English, both oral and written, in the processing of files/cases
Advanced English and business English course to learn how to draft correspondence for persons responsible for the sector
Number of courses taken by persons responsible for the sector
2.2 ISSUE: Optimize the process for translating the government’s statutory instruments into English
Orientation: Improve computer tools used for the purposes of translating government’s orders in council and regulations
PRIORITIES OBJECTIVES RESULTS INDICATORS
Acquisition of state-of-the-art computer tools (software, databanks, tc.)
Arrive at an optimal process for translating regulations and orders in council
Greater efficiency in the translation of regulations and orders in council
Number of computer tools acquired
2.3 ISSUE: Improve the knowledge of English of the Procureur général du Québec’s prosecutors acting in criminal and penal matters and of attorneys for the Procureur général du Québec acting in non-criminal and non-penal matters
Orientation: Allow the Procureur général du Québec’s prosecutors acting in criminal and penal matters and attorneys for the Procureur général du Québec acting in non-criminal and non-penal matters to take intermediate and advanced level English courses
PRIORITIES OBJECTIVES RESULTS INDICATORS
Improve the knowledge of English of the Procureur general du Québec’s prosecutors acting in criminal and penal matters and attorneys for the
Procureur général du Québec acting in non-criminal and non-penalmatters
Facilitate their interactions with English-speaking witnesses and their handling of evidence or written documents in English
English courses taken by a certain number of the Procureur général du Québec’s prosecutors acting in criminal and penal matters and by a certain number of attorneys for the Procureur général du Québec acting in non-criminal and non-penal matters
Number of the Procureur général du Québec’s prosecutors and attorneys having taken English courses
Number of hours of English courses
2.4 ISSUE: Adaptation of services to ensure better access for all citizens
Orientation: Improve access to information and to legal services in English
PRIORITIES OBJECTIVES RESULTS INDICATORS
Availability of forms that are in English or that are bilingual
Allow English-speaking citizens to have access, in their native language, to all tools needed to deal with the Ministère de la Justice
Access to forms that are in English or in both languages
100 % of the forms are available, either in English or in both languages
Interpreter services for English-speaking parties or witnesses
Allow English-speaking citizens to be able to express themselves in their native language before the courts, mainly in criminal and penal
matters
Improvement of the conduct of hearings:
All % of cases postponed due to the non-availability of interpreters
Translation of judgments from French into English
Allow the parties to obtain, upon request, the translation of their judgment into English
Availability of translations
- Number of translation requests
satisfied
- 80% of the translations done within a 15-day period
Further training of judges
Allow judges called upon to preside over English-language hearings to improve, at their request, their knowledge of the language
Improvement of the conduct of hearings
Number of judges having taken further training courses
Training of employees of the Minis-tère de la Justice offering direct
services to English-speaking citizens
Maintain a sufficient number of employees capable of adequately responding to English-speaking citizens
Improvement of the services available in English
Number of employees having taken English courses
Satisfaction of citizens regarding the services received in their native language, measured by survey, carried out with the English-speaking clientele
Didi
April 5, 2009 at 5:48 pm