Fighting for minority language rights in schools

In Canada, you can put language alongside the other potentially hot-button dinner topics that might be challenging to discuss with strangers (or perhaps more poignantly, with people you know).

Language rights are no small issue in Canada – but perhaps for many of us, it’s not necessarily obvious how decisions about English-language schooling in Québec today are relevant to francophone minority communities across the country.

Today in The Conversation Canada, Richard Bourhis, professor emeritus at Université du Québec à Montréal, explains why francophone communities in Ontario and New Brunswick are finding common cause in supporting Québec anglophones. Nine English-language school boards, along with 60 French-language school boards, were recently abolished by Premier François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) majority government. The changes came after the government invoked closure in an almost 70-hour debate about Bill 40 on Feb. 8.

The consequences of this sweeping bill, with 160 amendments, will be far-reaching, writes Bourhis.

Also today:

Regards,

Susannah Schmidt

Education + Arts Editor

Today's Featured Articles

Québec Premier François Legault responds to the Opposition during question period, Feb. 7, 2020, at the legislature in Québec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Québec’s Bill 40 further undermines the province’s English-language school system

Richard Bourhis, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

Ontario and New Brunswick francophones have spoken out against Québec abolishing English school boards, fearing this could set a negative precedent for French language education rights across Canada.

Considered one of the healthiest ways to eat, the Mediterranean diet has evolved over hundreds of years, but ignoring other diets is a form of cultural superiority. Shutterstock

How the Mediterranean diet became number 1 — and why that’s a problem

Tina Moffat, McMaster University; Shanti Morell-Hart, McMaster University

Olive oil, grapes and fish. There's a lot to love about the Mediterranean diet but focusing on it might be a way to exclude other healthy and global diets.

A Palestinian reacts to tear gas fired by Israeli forces during protests against U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mideast initiative in the West Bank city of Ramallah. AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed

Trump’s so-called Mideast ‘peace plan’ dispossesses Palestinians

Rachad Antonius, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

The Israel-Palestine "peace" plan concocted by Donald Trump's administration openly violates the principles of international law and, if implemented, would set a dangerous precedent.

Ontario needs to reconsider its current electricity demand problems and focus on conservation efforts. (Gandosh Ganbaatar/Unsplash)

Energy conservation needs to take centre stage in Ontario

Mark Winfield, York University, Canada

Energy-efficiency initiatives are consistently identified as the lowest impact and most cost-effective means of meeting energy needs. Why isn't Ontario focusing on them?

La Conversation Canada

Nous avons demandé à la moitié des participants de manger plus de légumes, de légumineuses, de fruits, de noix, d’huile d’olive et de poisson - et moins de viande rouge et de produits laitiers. Shutterstock

La diète méditerranéenne améliore la santé intestinale et permet de mieux vieillir

Paul O'Toole, University College Cork

Nos recherches ont montré que le fait de suivre un régime méditerranéen était lié à moins de fragilité et d'inflammation et au maintien d'une meilleure fonction cognitive.

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