CAQ eyes legislation to limit English vocational training

Quebec Minister for the French Language Jean-Francois Roberge addresses the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, in Montreal, Monday, May 8, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Quebec City — The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government could legislate to close a "loophole" in Bill 101: thousands of young immigrants take their vocational training in English, even if both their parents are allophones.

The Minister for the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, reacted on Tuesday to an article in the Le Devoir newspaper, revealing that over the past 20 years, more than 140,000 new Quebecers have taken vocational training in English, in contradiction with the spirit of the Charter of the French Language.

Roberge refused to speak of a breach but instead referred to a loophole. On Tuesday, the Parti Québécois (PQ) tabled a motion to make vocational training and adult education centres subject to the Charter of the French Language provisions. The CAQ had refused to debate it.

"There's a gap that was identified by Le Devoir that hasn't been filled, so we tried to do something, and the CAQ told us no," lamented PQ MNA Pascal Bérubé, in a press scrum.

"So, it's getting better and better, and I think there are indicators that show it," he said.

"He went so far as to say that we were refusing to debate, but it's the opposite," Roberge fired back on Wednesday morning to justify his refusal.

He maintained that he wanted to broaden the scope of the motion by adding general adult education, an amendment that would have been refused by the PQ.

Roberge has asked his ministry to analyze the situation and has many questions to which he has no answers.

"How many students study in vocational training? In general, adult education? In English-language vocational training? Where are they from? Are they newcomers? What is their primary language? Are they francophones, allophones or anglophones?" he said.

Without having these answers, the minister said that he "finds what's happening at the moment very, very, very worrying," he said, adding that he's not ruling out a bill to strengthen the Charter of the French Language.

"More and more people are using this oversight or loophole in the law. If there's a need to legislate, we'll do it."

Ministry of Education data collated by Le Devoir revealed that by 2021, 10,000 new Quebecers aged 16 and over were enrolled in English-language vocational training. Slightly more than a third of all Quebec allophone students in secondary vocational training graduated in English in 2021.

The real number could be even higher since these figures exclude unsubsidized schools. The PQ was scathing about the CAQ government's record in defending the French language.

"We're still waiting for their plan for French," said Bérubé. "I don't know if you have a date between now and Christmas. We don't, but French doesn't wait, and then it keeps going backwards."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 22, 2023.