All of us here at the BILD blog and J-BILD journal wish you a safe and happy summer of 2021! We will resume regular blog posting in September. The June issue of the journal—it’s open-access online—is receiving the finishing touches even now and will be up for you to enjoy very soon.

As the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control bit by bit across Canada, here in Montreal we have been taking full advantage of local public health directives allowing gatherings outside in public parks (see above)—directives recently extended to indoor gatherings here as well. There are still certain restrictions in place which it’s important to respect. By the time the fall term rolls around, we hope that most of those restrictions will have been lifted. It’s looking very likely. But we all have to do our part. Making sure we get fully vaccinated as soon as we can has made a big difference for many of us. We hope it will for our readers as well. Gathering in person, and talking all the while, is an important part of what makes us human.

The end of the summer will see many BILD members helping to run LPP2021 (August 26-27-28, 2021), the Multidisciplinary Approaches in Language Policy and Planning Online Conference—a fully virtual event for the first, and, we hope, the only time. LPP2022 (August 25-26-27, 2022) is already in the planning stages; we are aiming for a hybrid event next year. This is quite possibly going to be the preferred model for academic conferences going forward—a move that we applaud, since it will allow many people to attend and present virtually if that is more practical for them. But the casual interaction afforded by the possibility of being live and in person with each other is something we hope to get back to at least on a modest scale, when it can once again be permitted safely. Watch this space–we’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, please follow us on Facebook.com/bildlida, where, throughout the summer, we will as usual share thought-provoking posts from our archives and from various articles we discover. Feel free to comment on our content or our likeability there any time.

And of course we hope that many of our readers will consider attending LPP2021. Early Bird registration is open until August 1st. Click here to register.

Until then, be as careful as you need to be. Here’s to opening up.