Montreal, July 6, 2021 – The Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) deplores the fact that it has been excluded by the government of Québec for the parliamentary committee hearings on Bill 96: An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec, despite having requested in writing to participate.
The hearings are set to begin in early Fall and only a select group of associations and individuals have been invited to present. QESBA represents the nine English language school boards in Québec, which will be directly impacted by certain elements of the sweeping amendments to the Charter of the French Language proposed by the CAQ government. The exclusion of the QESBA is particularly surprising since school boards are one of the very few public institutions exclusively managed and controlled by the English-speaking community.
“This is yet another effort by this government to exclude the minority language education community from actively participating in a democratic exercise that will directly impact our institutions,” said QESBA President Dan Lamoureux.
“We have written a second time to Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette and the three other parliamentary leaders in an effort to be properly heard on this legislation,” concluded the President.
QESBA is the voice of English public education in Québec and represents 100,000 students in 340 elementary, high schools, and adult and vocational centres across Québec.