Amending Quebec's Bill 101 - What does this mean for the CF?

[mld]

The Parti Quebecois want to amend Quebec's French Language Laws so that all children who live in Quebec will be forced to attend school in French. I am an Anglophone, and we are currently posted to CFB Bagotville. We have access to an elementary and a high school in English; however, they have sent a notice home that if this ammendment proceeds they will be closing the school.

What will this mean for future Anglophone families posted to a Quebec base? Tutoring allowance, or just hope they learn French fast?


http://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/travaux-parlementaires/projets-loi/projet-loi-14-40-1.html

 

[Jed]

Well this is an interesting development. I will 'watch and shoot' to see how DND and the Fed govt respond.

 

[dapaterson]

Looking at the proposed amendment and at the existing regulation, dependent children of CF members should still be eligible for English language schooling.  The proposed amendment (on page 30 of 36 in the bill) does not change para 3 of the "Regulation respecting the exemption from the application of the first paragraph of section 72 of the Charter of the French language that may be granted to children staying in Québec temporarily".

That para reads:

3.  A child who stays in Québec temporarily because he is a dependent child of a member of the Canadian Armed Forces who is assigned to Québec temporarily shall be exempted from the application of the first paragraph of section 72 of the Charter if an affidavit by the employer certifying that the parent is a member of the Canadian Armed Forces and that he is assigned to Québec temporarily and a document demonstrating that the child is a dependent child of that Armed Forces member are filed.


Such an exemption shall not last more than 3 years.

 

[dapaterson]

Further:

CF policy on education of children inside Canada is at:

http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dgcb-dgras/pub/cbi-dra/12-eng.asp#sec-12-1-08

 

[mld]

I think the concern in my area is that the only local English school will close. Only about 10% of the students are there because of military. They can't afford to keep the school open with 30 kids, as a good chunk of funding comes from the parents. It is different here, because we pay $0.35 forevery $100 our property is assessed if our child attends an English school. This situation is really a watch and wait situation.

 

[Occam]

In case anyone was wondering, that sound you just heard was Wolfe rolling over in his grave.

 

[exgunnertdo]

Scary, on several levels.

Such an exemption shall not last more than 3 years.

So if a posting lasts longer than 3 years, all of a sudden, your child has to flip into the French school?

Also, from the Charter of Rights and Freedoms -

23. (1) Citizens of Canada
(a) whose first language learned and still understood is that of the English or French linguistic minority population of the province in which they reside, or
(b) who have received their primary school instruction in Canada in English or French and reside in a province where the language in which they received that instruction is the language of the English or French linguistic minority population of the province,
have the right to have their children receive primary and secondary school instruction in that language in that province.

"Nation" or whatever they are within Canada, I don't think they can override the Charter. 

 

[mld]

In case anyone was wondering, that sound you just heard was Wolfe rolling over in his grave.

:rofl:  Nice.

 

[Remius]

Scary, on several levels.

So if a posting lasts longer than 3 years, all of a sudden, your child has to flip into the French school?

Also, from the Charter of Rights and Freedoms -

"Nation" or whatever they are within Canada, I don't think they can override the Charter.

I think that that Non-withstanding clause pretty much let's them do what they want and overide whatever they want.

 

[Cadwr]

The notwithstanding clause only applies to section 2 and sections 7-15.  Not section 23.

33. (1) Parliament or the legislature of a province may expressly declare in an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, as the case may be, that the Act or a provision thereof shall operate notwithstanding a provision included in section 2 or sections 7 to 15 of this Charter.

 

[Remius]

The notwithstanding clause only applies to section 2 and sections 7-15.  Not section 23.

33. (1) Parliament or the legislature of a province may expressly declare in an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, as the case may be, that the Act or a provision thereof shall operate notwithstanding a provision included in section 2 or sections 7 to 15 of this Charter.

True. I stand corrected.  However I see this as part of the PQ's plan to get a reaction from the federal conservatives.  They likely know it will not fly but they are trying to create issues that aren't there to further their seperatist agenda.

 

[Loachman]

In case anyone was wondering, that sound you just heard was Wolfe rolling over in his grave.

And what would General Wolfe be doing were he alive today?

 

[Infanteer]

He would probably be toiling away as D Mil C 2-3-6 and really wondering if he should have taken his Pay in Lieu of Severance or not.

 

[Remius]

He would probably be toiling away as D Mil C 2-3-6 and really wondering if he should have taken his Pay in Lieu of Severance or not.

Lol. 

 

[Sigs Pig]

And what would General Wolfe be doing were he alive today?

I think he would be fighting redneck regulations, trying to keep his curly locks....

ME

 

[McG]

And what would General Wolfe be doing were he alive today?

Probably taking a nap (like any other 283 year old retired British general) in his London flat.

 

[Murb]

Even if they pass the law and someone contests it through the court process by the time it is struck down, the damage will have already have been done and the english schools would be closed, and then trying to get them back up again will be... quite an ordeal.

 

[Loachman]

And what would General Wolfe be doing were he alive today?

All good answers, but the correct one is
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Clawing madly at the inside of his coffin.

 

[a_majoor]

I wonder if pers posted to Quebec have given serious consideration to home schooling their children. I suggest this route since I imagine that attempting to start a private or charter school might run into many obstacles thrown up by the Provincial government.

(While the situation in Ontario is different, my research and prep work for a private school here indicates that it will be a task worthy of a hero from ancient mythology. Quebec, which is even more Stateist could hardly be better. Plan B might be to declare the school a massadra, at which point they will probably back off really fast....)

 

[dapaterson]

I wonder if pers posted to Quebec have given serious consideration to home schooling their children. I suggest this route since I imagine that attempting to start a private or charter school might run into many obstacles thrown up by the Provincial government.

Quebec actually provides provincial subsidies to private schools provided they follow the core provincial curriculum.  Much more supportive of the non-public sector than, say, Ontario.