English-speaking CEGEPs and universities: no law 101, but no more courses in French

The French language commissioner recommends imposing courses in French in English-speaking CEGEPs and universities, rather than Bill 101 at colleges, in order to counter the attraction of English among young people.

Benoît Dubreuil proposed his own solution on Wednesday in the eternal debate on the language of teaching in higher education.

It recommends increasing the share of teaching in French in the college and university networks from 78% to 85%.

This objective could be achieved either by increasing the number of young people in the French-speaking network, or by creating courses in French in English-speaking establishments.

As the Quebec government has already imposed three courses in French in English-speaking CEGEPs since last spring, the changes would mainly apply to universities.

Loi 101

In this debate, the Parti Québécois and many civil groups are campaigning instead to extend the imposition of Law 101, which requires children to attend primary and secondary school in French, with the exception of young people from the historic community. English-speaking.

Even if he describes this proposal as “legitimate” and recognizes that it “would contribute to strengthening French”, the commissioner considers his approach “more relevant”.

“First, it concerns all of higher education. This is important because our studies show that the issue is not specific to colleges, but concerns universities just as much,” he says.

Then, it offers greater “flexibility” in order to achieve the desired result without harming establishments.

For example, some universities could offer two courses for the same field of study: one only in English, particularly for the historic English-speaking minority, and the other with 30% content in French.

These courses would have the advantage, among other things, of teaching French vocabulary in the areas where the students are heading. “The idea is to have measures that will allow these young people to stay in contact with French,” also says Mr. Dubreuil.

The commissioner is inspired by a similar measure in Catalonia, an independent region of Spain, which seeks to increase teaching in the local language from 60% to 80%.

Criteria for businesses

Among other recommended measures, Benoît Dubreuil suggests that the government use linguistic criteria to determine the aid granted to businesses, whether tax credits, subsidies or energy blocks.

It compares this new obligation to environmental standards or those of labor law used in an analysis grid.

Before promising nearly $3 billion to Swedish Northvolt, for example, Quebec should have evaluated its linguistic practices. “We could, for example, have asked them for their plan for staffing the 4,000 positions,” illustrates Mr. Dubreuil.

Regional planning

In addition, the commissioner notes that the decline of French is more pronounced in certain regions of Quebec, such as Montreal and Gatineau.

He therefore recommends regional planning in efforts to strengthen French, in order to intervene more specifically in these places at risk.

Such a plan would ensure that French classes are available, that non-French-speaking families have access to French-speaking childcare services and would take language into account in the economic development strategy.