More English schools to close
At the same time that French-language militants ratchet up the hysterics, proclaiming that the sky is falling in on the French language, the English Montreal School Board started hearings on Monday at its head office to determine which schools it will close or merge in the coming years. Because of the effects of Bill101 and Bill 103 enrolment is down 20% in the last ten years.
At the same time that French-language militants ratchet up the hysterics, proclaiming that the sky is falling in on the French language, the English Montreal School Board started hearings on Monday at its head office to determine which schools it will close or merge in the coming years. Because of the effects of Bill101 and Bill 103 enrolment is down 20% in the last ten years.
"Starting Monday night, the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) will hear from school communities as it decides whether to close, relocate, or merge them.Here's the sad list of prospective closure and relocations.
Seven schools are facing closure or merger and a handful more could be relocated.
The EMSB has said it must close several schools because of declining enrolment, which has dropped by 20 per cent in the last decade. "
Read the rest of the story
Monday, Dec. 5
Nesbitt School (closure)
Perspectives II High School (relocation)
St. Brendan School (closure)
St. Pius X Adult Education Centre (relocation)
Vincent Massey Collegiate (relocation)
Nesbitt School (closure)
Perspectives II High School (relocation)
St. Brendan School (closure)
St. Pius X Adult Education Centre (relocation)
Vincent Massey Collegiate (relocation)
Tuesday, Dec. 6
Carlyle School (closure)
Marymount Adult Education Centre (relocation)
Royal Vale School (relocation)
St. Raphaël School (relocation)
Carlyle School (closure)
Marymount Adult Education Centre (relocation)
Royal Vale School (relocation)
St. Raphaël School (relocation)
Wednesday, Dec. 7
James Lyng High School (closure)
Programme Mile-End High School (relocation)
St. Gabriel/St. John Bosco School (closure)
Vezina High School (relocation)
James Lyng High School (closure)
Programme Mile-End High School (relocation)
St. Gabriel/St. John Bosco School (closure)
Vezina High School (relocation)
Thursday, Dec. 8
Advisory Committee on Special Education Services
Central Parents' Committee
Fraser Academy (closure)
Westmount Park district boundary
All this week, the scene at the EMSB headquarters was incredibly sad, with parent and teachers making presentations as to why their school shouldn't close, competing with other parents from other schools trying to do the same..
Advisory Committee on Special Education Services
Central Parents' Committee
Fraser Academy (closure)
Westmount Park district boundary
All this week, the scene at the EMSB headquarters was incredibly sad, with parent and teachers making presentations as to why their school shouldn't close, competing with other parents from other schools trying to do the same..
New assault on Christmas
The province of Quebec continues its assault on religion across the board and despite the Conservative government in Ottawa ordering SERVICE CANADA to rescind an order to ban Christmas decorations, the writing seems to be on the wall. A senior member of Montreal's ruling party, proclaimed that decorations would be limited to 'generic' types of displays and so while the Christmas tree is out, the identical 'Holiday' tree is permissible Ugh!
The Montreal suburb of Town of Mont-Royal decided to pull it's Christmas and Hanukkah decorations in front of city hall after it received a complaint by a Muslim. The town should have called his bluff and offered to display a likeness of Mohamed (which actually is strictly verboten under Islamic law.) In fact, the Islamic faith has a ban on all physical representations of faith and so actually nothing can be displayed! Ha!
"The tree in front of City Hall will remain decorated. "We make a distinction between religious symbols and Christmas decorations, says Philippe Roy(the mayor). Christmas is religious for some, but for others it's cultural. There are non-Christians who have a Christmas tree. " Really, is he kidding? Link{FR}
Decor ban reversed for Service Canada in Quebec
TMR latest to refrain from religious decorations
Too much English at Urgences SantéThe union is complaining that too much English is being used in the transmission of information between paramedics and dispatchers. A new protocol insists that if a patient calls the ambulance service and complains of 'chest pains,' that the paramedic be informed by the dispatcher that the condition is 'Chest pains' and not "douleur thoracique," a French translation. The rationale is to avoid translation errors.
Anybody see a problem here?
The l'Office québécois de la langue française, is looking to put and end to this practice.
Interestingly the article denotes that over one third of calls received by the ambulance service in Montreal and Laval are made IN ENGLISH. Link{Fr}
The head of the union of ambulance attendants told a CTV reporter that almost HALF the calls made in this region are in ENGLISH!
The head of the union of ambulance attendants told a CTV reporter that almost HALF the calls made in this region are in ENGLISH!
Strangely, this may be the most definitive proof that the percentage of English speakers in Montreal and Laval is really much, much higher than we are led to believe!
It backs up what I've always maintained, that if you count the territory west of Saint Lawrence Boulevard in Montreal, English is the majority language and this includes the downtown core!
Short stuff
As most government agencies are withdrawing English services and removing their bilingual websites, one agency stubbornly refuses.... the Tax department.
Readers, can anyone venture a reason why?
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While the word "Phoenix" does appear in the French dictionary, according to the militants, it doesn't refer to the mythical bird and so they accused the team of choosing an English name.
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Franz Schuller, artistic director of the record company and a member of Indica Grimskunk, rock legend independent Quebec, is launching a division, whose mandate is to promote young French rock bands with a young audience. In conducting an informal survey of the musical tastes of high school students he became aware of the gap between them and the French-speaking artists. When asked to list their favourite 10 francophone artists, they often mentioned only one name, the popular singer Marie-Mai. Sometimes the name 'Les Trois Accords' made the list, but most of the time, eight or nine of the ten boxes remained empty. Ouch!
Readers....do I hear government subsidy?
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At a forum discussing the financing of this year's annual Fête nationale celebrations in Quebec city, the president of the organization that is in charge of putting on the show, Chantale Trottier of the Mouvement national des Québécois, reminded everyone that Anglophone artists would be welcome.....as long as they sang in French and addressed the audience in French. Link{Fr}
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Here's some insightful reporting from the Montreal Gazette's Pat Hickey;
Headline December 2- Montreal Canadiens' Markov's comeback imminent
Headline December 3- Markov's return delayed
Headline December 2- Montreal Canadiens' Markov's comeback imminent
Headline December 3- Markov's return delayed
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I don't know if Jean-Marc Fournier, the Quebec justice minister, is reacting to his not so successful visit to Ottawa to plead for changes in the Conservatives new crime bill, but his chief of staff, Helene Menard, confirmed yesterday that he will cease to give bilingual press conferences and answer questions only in French from here on in. Link
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"Two prominent Montreal politicians are defending their French language skills after a popular radio host said their level of French is insulting.On his radio show and on Twitter, Benoît Dutrizac took aim at Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce mayor Michael Applebaum and city councillor Marvin Rotrund. Link
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New Brunswick drunk aquitted because cop didn't speak French
vigile.net supports Syrian repression"The New Brunswick Court of Appeal has ruled that police officers must follow the province's Official Languages Act when they arrest people. The three-judge panel unanimously upheld a decision by a Court of Queen's Bench judge confirming the acquittal of Serge Alain Losier on two drunk driving charges because the arresting officer did not speak French.
Losier was arrested Sept. 4, 2008, by a Fredericton police officer after being stopped at a checkpoint. The arresting officer did not speak French, and Losier's English skills were poor." Read the rest of the story
It's
always useful to hear opinions differing from what mainstream
society generally accepts, it's an essential elementary that makes democracy
work.
Good to see that vigile.net is upholding this principle and is promoting the murdering Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad
Here are a bunch of stories appearing om vigile.net in the past month, all are written in French.
Readers, I haven't cherry-picked just stories supporting the Assad regime, you can see a Google search of all stories concerning Syria on vigile.net Here..
...or view vigile.net's own collection of mostly pro-Syrian regime stories Here including these pearls;
Menacer l’Iran et préparer l’invasion de la Syrie (Threaten Iran and prepare to invade Syria)
La Syrie, Terre d’asile et de culture (Syria, land of asylum and culture)
La Syrie, Terre d’asile et de culture (Syria, land of asylum and culture)
Well Done!!
How about some support for Kim Jong-il? Quote of the Week
"....But when I saw and heard the commercial for Les Habits St-Eustache on the V televison network, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. (because of English background music-ed.) This shop is located opposite the church, where our patriots were brutally killed by the English, now part of global conspiracy by Canadians and others whose mission is to make us disappear. I will never buy clothes in this store. -Daniel Roy C.A.
Read a fantastic piece that is causing a stir; Doléances pour un Québec dépassé
Read a fantastic rant inspired by the first; J’aimerais être fier de ma nation
Here's an interview of Mario Beaulieu getting pulverized on a French language television show, Face a Face, by hosts Caroline Proulx and Stéphane Gendron. It's a jewel!
I found the link to the interview on the separtist website Mouvement Québec français, but can't for the life of me understand why they would link to such a humiliation.
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| Click to watch video |
Check it out, it's worth the visit.
"This first part is seen through the eyes of 6 friends who left Montreal
in the 70's, after the separatist Parti Quebecois first came to power in
the province, and the threat of separation for them became very real.
They talk about the October crisis, feeling alienated and as they saw
it, the limited opportunities for English speakers in Montreal." Phil Carpenter
"This second part is seen through the eyes of 3 professionals including well-know radio personality Terry DiMonte, who left Montreal in the 90's, and later after the second provincial referendum on Quebec's place in Canada. They talk about feeling alienated and as they saw it, the limited opportunities for English speakers in Montreal." Phil Carpenter
"This final part tells how people who left, feel about Montreal and Quebec since the last provincial referendum on Quebec's place in Canada. They talk about how the politics has changed, and how the desire for separation among young people in 2008 might not be as strong as it was in previous years."- Phil Carpenter
Some Goood News!
Listen to the perfect voice of the very talented Marc Martel a bilingual Anglo, who hit the jackpot, scoring a gig as the "Freddy Mercury" lead in the Queen tribute band tour next year!"Montreal-born vocalist Marc Martel, Quebec City bass player François Olivier Doyon and Toronto guitarist Tristan Avakian are among the winners announced Thursday in the Queen Extravaganza contest.
They auditioned via video before flying to Los Angeles earlier this week for a live audition in front of Queen drummer/songwriter Roger Taylor. The winners will tour next year in a Queen tribute band, recreating the Queen arena experience with songs such as Bohemian Rhapsody and We are the Champions."
Quebec Anglophobia, a Cautionary Tale for Head Offices...
