Achi news desk-
Quebec’s education ministry says it is working to clarify guidelines for when officials can communicate with the public in a language other than French.
It comes after CTV News reported that parents of special needs children were left confused and upset because two office officials refused to deliver a presentation in English due to the county’s language law.
Responding to parents’ concerns Tuesday, Quebec’s interim Liberal Party leader Marc Tanguay said it was another negative result of Bill 96, the new law that overhauled Quebec’s French language charter.
During a Zoom presentation last Thursday that was organized exclusively for English parents, one of the officials told the approximately 65 parents who attended the session that “I would like to do it in English, but the law won’t allow me. We were able to translate the slides but I don’t remember being told that we could pronounce the It’s in English, it doesn’t give me pleasure to do it, but we’re not allowed to give the presentation in English.
Sara Hosseini, whose 14-year-old son with autism attends an English school in Montreal, said in an interview that the way she was treated was “discriminatory” and that she felt “ignored” by the government. She said many of the terms they used were complex or difficult to understand and that everyone expected the oral part to be in English.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Education (MEQ) told CTV News that under the provisions of the Language Convention, government officials are required to use French in an exemplary manner in written and oral communication.
While the PowerPoint slides of the Zoom presentation to parents were in English, the approximately 20-minute explanation of the various programs available to students with special needs was entirely in French, leading to confusion for the parents who signed up. The two special education coordinators later answered questions in English.
The office stated in an email that in some cases exceptions can be made, and in this case the exception was the slides in English.
“In order to clarify practices, the future MEQ directive in preparation will clarify the conditions and circumstances that allow staff members to use languages ​​that are not the official language in this type of situation,” wrote Brian St. Louis, spokesman for the Ministry of Education.
CTV News asked the ministry to clarify whether it will be possible to deliver the oral part of the presentation in English in the future, pending the new directive, but has not yet received an answer.
Information ‘should be understood’: liberals
Education Minister Bernard Drainville did not comment on the issue Tuesday, but the interim leader of the Liberals did. Tanguay criticized the government’s language law, saying important information about their children’s well-being “should be understood”.
Provisional Liberal Party of Quebec leader Marc Tanguay responds to media questions Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (CTV News)
“So if that means you have to answer the questions or do your presentation in English, I think it should be done. Because at the end of the day, it’s to provide very important information to our children,” he said during a press scrum in Quebec City.
“Now it’s up to the government to say whether the interpretation [of the language law] was the right one. “Oh, we can’t do that because of Act 96.” really? If that’s the case, add it to the pile of bad, bad, negative effects of Bill 96 – one of the many, many reasons why we voted against this bad bill.”
Catherine Kourakakis, president of the English Parents’ Council of Quebec, was equally disappointed with the handling of the presentation. She said she helped organize it for several months and said she was assured the presentation would be entirely in English, as there was a meeting beforehand for parents of francophone students.
According to her, the ministry should have clarified from the beginning that the coordinators are not allowed to deliver the presentation in English.
“The devil is in the details as they say. If the PowerPoint was everything and no additional information was needed, then why even organize events like this? The sad part of it all was that the parents didn’t do it. I don’t have the opportunity to get the information, and that makes me very sad “, she told CTV News.
“It’s just very disappointing and the point is that a lot of parents felt discriminated against and felt disappointed and it’s just hard to manage. At the end of the day, they still need access to information.”
