Quebec’s Education Inequity: Speaking Up for the Language Majority (by Dairn Alexandre)

Alberta.”

Dairn Alexandre (a pseudonym) is a regular BILD guest blogger; for more information about Dairn, and to read his earlier posts, click here. Dairn has taught in Quebec and now works as a teacher in Alberta, where he lives with his wife, two kids, and dog. For specialized editorial input on this week’s Quebec-themed piece, he would like to thank Andréanne Langevin. Dairn’s post also serves by way of introduction and complement to Andréanne’s forthcoming January 26, 2022 “Hors Série” BILD post, in which BILD will make available links to a series of one-hour video digests Andréanne has created of the September/October 2021 hearings at Quebec’s provincial legislative body, l’Assemblée nationale, around Quebec’s proposed Bill 96.

To understand the slow erosion of anglophone, allophone, and francophone rights over time in Quebec, one would only need to focus on the school systems and the laws that regulate and protect language in the province (Tamilia, 2007). The latest statistics show that 80.6% of Quebec’s population predominantly speaks French at home. But this may not have been the case if the Quebec government had not decided to intervene and implement legislation to promote and protect the French language in the province.

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