Bill 96 to strengthen French in Quebec is straining the unity of the main CEGEP teachers’ union. According to what The duty has learned, a movement of teachers has forced the holding of a new vote in the hope of bringing the National Federation of Teachers of Quebec (FNEEQ) to demand the application of Law 101 to CEGEPs.
Heartbreaking debates agitate this union federation, which represents 85% of CEGEP teachers. Influential members even fear the implosion of the FNEEQ, torn between its French-speaking members and those of eight English-speaking public and private colleges.
The FNEEQ walks on a tightrope between the divergent interests of its members. The Federation supports Bill 96, which “will restore the balance between French-speaking and English-speaking CEGEPs”. The project seeks to limit the relative weight of English-speaking establishments (whose workforce will be capped at 17.5% of the network) while preserving jobs in both languages, argues the union.
The FNEEQ also supports Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette’s decision not to extend Bill 101 to CEGEPs, which would have restricted access to college studies in English to “rights holders”, such as at primary and secondary level. Without any guidelines, English-speaking CEGEPs have experienced significant growth over the past two decades, attracting mainly French-speaking and allophone students. Anglophones are now a minority in English CEGEPs, recalls the union.
Nationalist surge
FNEEQ’s middle position in this debate creates dissatisfaction on all sides.
Twenty-one unions of French-speaking teachers advocate a firmer position on the defense of French by extending Bill 101 to CEGEPs. Further votes on this issue are due to take place during the month of April. A nationalist surge is arising among French-speaking CEGEP teachers, explains a source.
On the other hand, English-speaking teachers oppose the limits imposed on English CEGEPs by Bill 96.
FNEEQ has the challenge of uniting these seemingly irreconcilable points of view. “It’s heartbreaking. It’s emotional. We must recognize it. We have to be able to find a position that will bring us together,” says Caroline Quesnel, president of the FNEEQ. She believes that the position adopted by the members of the Federal Council last September is “the best balanced”.
A significant proportion of FNEEQ’s French-speaking members do not agree and have forced the Federation to reopen the debate on this subject. A new vote on the application of law 101 to the college will have to take place at the next federal council of the FNEEQ, confirm our sources. The office of the Federation must set this week the date on which this notice of motion will be treated.
“We listen to our members, and they are the ones who give us mandates. We will no doubt have a good discussion on this subject. We are working to create a space for dialogue, respect and mutual listening,” explains Ms.me quesnel.
The teachers of the Cégep de Saint-Jérôme are among those who asked the FNEEQ to reconsider its opposition to extending Bill 101 to college, confirms Simon Chavarie, president of the local union. “It’s really a grassroots movement,” he said. It was not a proposal from the union executive. It is noticeable, it is not extremely frequent. »
The $100 million expansion project of Dawson College, an English-speaking CEGEP that is full of allophone and French-speaking students, has sounded the alarm clock for teachers in Saint-Jérôme, explains Mr. Chavarie. Quebec has since renounced this important investment.
Three courses in French
Despite internal divisions, CEGEP teachers generally agree on the rejection of another provision added in extremis to Bill 96: that of obliging English CEGEP students to take three disciplinary courses in French. This would be, for example, courses in mathematics, anthropology or any other subject that would be delivered in French rather than in English, as is normally the case in English-speaking CEGEPs.
“It’s not happening at all. There is an extremely dangerous precedent in the fact that parliamentarians decide to improvise changes to the college course without any consultation, in a unilateral way,” said the president of the FNEEQ.
The union has calculated that approximately 150 teachers in the Anglophone college network would be unfit to teach French. It is unthinkable to penalize these competent teachers, hired to teach in English, emphasizes Caroline Quesnel. Would they supplant their colleagues with less seniority? Would they be “furloughed”, that is, paid to do nothing?
These three compulsory courses in French would also penalize English-speaking students, 35% of whom would be doomed to failure in the language of Molière, warned the Federation of CEGEPs. The daily The Gazette reported on Tuesday testimonials from students and parents who deplore this attack on the rights of the English-speaking minority.
Proponents of extending Bill 101 to CEGEPs point out that college enrollment should increase by 23% in the next nine years, according to projections by the Ministry of Higher Education. We must put an end to the “chaotic” development of enrolments, which undoubtedly favors English-speaking establishments: nearly one out of five CEGEP students attends an English CEGEP, even though English speakers represent 8% of the population of Quebec. In Montreal, 40% of CEGEP students study in English (and nearly 50% in pre-university programs).