(Quebec) The minister responsible for the French language, Simon Jolin-Barrette, has decided. It will amend Bill 96 to allow all students in English CEGEPs who do not have the linguistic ability to take three courses taught in French to substitute three French courses. These changes to the college basic regulations will be applicable from the start of the fall 2024 school year.
Posted at 6:55 p.m.
With this proposal, the CAQ Minister modifies a controversial amendment to the reform of Law 101 which was initially proposed by the Liberals. The Liberal Party’s initial amendment, which had been adopted by the parliamentary committee, provided that students in English-speaking CEGEPs, including rights holders (i.e. those who had studied in English in elementary and secondary school), had to take three courses of their college education in French in order to obtain their diploma. CEGEPs subsequently claimed that such an arrangement would push many students towards failure.
The new amendment submitted by the government to the opposition parties on Tuesday takes up what the Liberals had proposed a few days ago as a compromise. Thus, CEGEPs will have the possibility of offering their students the opportunity to take three French courses if they cannot take courses taught in French. These will be regular courses lasting 45 hours and will have an effect, like all other courses, on the R score. This score is a measure used in CEGEPs to measure student performance in anticipation of their university admission.
“When the Liberals tabled their amendment, it showed that there was a significant lack of French proficiency for many young Anglophones. It is highly worrying and it is even scandalous, ”said Simon Jolin-Barrette on Tuesday in an interview with The Press.
“It’s not normal that in Quebec, people cannot progress in French, when French is our common language. We will give them the tools to learn French and master it at the college level,” he continued.
Earlier Tuesday, Liberal MP and official opposition critic for the protection of French, Hélène David, said that the amendment that the minister finally tabled in the evening would be “enormous progress for society”.
Bill 96, which modernizes the Charter of the French language, must be adopted according to parliamentary deadlines in the days preceding or following National Patriots’ Day in May.