(Quebec) Despite the advocacy of English-speaking CEGEPs, Quebec does not plan new reductions in its law on French for indigenous students. The Legault government counters that it offered the First Nations “Bill 101” to protect their languages, which they refused.
The Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, said she was ready to “further support” Indigenous students studying in English, but did not intend to add new regulatory relief to the law (96) on French.
“For the moment, the regulatory relief that we have is the regulatory relief that we are talking about,” summarized Ms. Déry on Wednesday. The minister and her colleague responsible for First Nations and Inuit, Ian Lafrenière, recalled that they had already made regulatory changes to take into account the specificities of Indigenous students.
Since last year, First Nations students who receive their education in English at college have been exempt from the uniform French test. A second regulation –– which is still under study – also allows them to take three French courses rather than three courses in French. This latest regulation should come into force soon.
“We had to find a way to allow them to be exempt from the uniform French test because they are not considered either as French speakers or as English speakers, that is to say that their language is neither English nor French. We are very sensitive to the accessibility of higher education for these students,” assured Minister Déry in the press scrum.
However, these reductions are insufficient according to five English-speaking CEGEPs which deplore that the terms of the Charter of the French Language “impose multiple systemic and discriminatory obstacles and compromise the transmission of their ancestral languages”. The management of these establishments wrote directly to François Legault –– at the request of indigenous students – to inform him of the “urgency to act”.
The five establishments (Dawson College, John Abbott College, Vanier College, Cégep Heritage and Cégep régional Champlain) explain that Indigenous students do not take advantage of these exemptions because they are accompanied by administrative measures, such as forms to complete.
“Many believe that the requirement to submit such a request represents in itself a process that goes against their ancestral rights and they refuse to submit to it on principle,” they indicate.
The Minister for the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, believes for his part that the establishments which signed the letter have a poor understanding of the reductions offered.
“I think they are in the wrong, because they have misunderstood the actions we have taken in relation to the First Nations and Inuit community. We adopted regulations which give them roughly the same exemptions as the historic English-speaking community,” argued the minister.
According to Mr. Roberge, colleges must “reconcile with reality” when they assert that the Charter of the French Language harms the success of Indigenous students.
For her part, the Innu Minister, Kateri Champagne Jourdain, said she was “sensitive” to First Nations’ access to higher education. “I am convinced that we will find solutions to ensure […] that they have access to higher education because we need them,” she said.
Minister Ian Lafrenière recalled that the Prime Minister had committed during the election campaign to present “Bill 101” to protect Indigenous languages. However, the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador (APNQL) was fiercely opposed to it.
“I remind you that basically, what we did not want was to go there in a regulatory way, we wanted to go there with a bill,” argued Mr. Lafrenière. “We understood very well the specificity of the First Nations and Inuit, we did not want to consider them as rights holders. We understood the position of the AFNQL, we found another path,” he said.
At the time, the AFNQL asked that First Nations be completely exempted from Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette’s reform. The First Nations Assembly and Education Council are now challenging the law in court.