(Quebec) The question has been debated since the tabling of Bill 96 reforming the Charter of the French language. Should Law 101 be applied to CEGEPs? While the debate divides in a parliamentary committee, Quebec decides once and for all: it’s no.
Posted at 10:40 a.m.
The Legault government is being hounded by several French defense groups to apply Bill 101 to the college network, which would have the effect of prohibiting Francophones and allophones from attending an Anglophone public CEGEP. The question is once again back in the public square on Wednesday, when the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society and the Mouvement Québec Français publish an open letter to say that there is a “national emergency”.
“Considering the value placed on English in the job market in a context of globalization, more and more young people are letting themselves be convinced by the advantages of studying in English at college. If nothing is done to thwart these student ambitions, the entire network of French-speaking CEGEPs in the province risks suffering irrevocably,” write Marie-Anne Alepin, General President of the Société Saint- Jean-Baptiste, and Maxime Laporte, president of the French Quebec Movement.
The minister responsible for the French language, Simon Jolin-Barrette, categorically closes the door. “Our position was very clear from the start. We come to put a ceiling, we give priority to [Québécois anglophones] in English-language colleges and above all, we [impose] the uniform French test for allophone and francophone students who decide to go to an English-speaking CEGEP. Like this they [auront] an adequate command of the French language,” he replies.
” Everybody [au caucus de la Coalition avenir Québec] agrees with the position that the Quebec government has tabled with this bill. I think it’s a good position,” added the minister.
Earlier this winter, the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, nevertheless affirmed that the question of imposing Bill 101 on CEGEPs, an idea described as “extremist” by Prime Minister François Legault, was being debated in caucus.
“The position we currently have seems to be the right one. She’s not finished yet. There are discussions that take place in caucus. There are different opinions on that,” he said.
In his bill, the detailed study of which is continuing in parliamentary committee, Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette caps the proportion of students enrolled in the English-language college network at 17.5% and limits the creation of new places.