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Anglo-Quebecers (also Anglo-Quebeckers) are anglophone (English-speaking) residents of the Canadian province of Quebec. According to the 2001 Canadian census, there were 572,085 Quebecers whose mother tongue was English, eight per cent of the total population of the province.

Communities

The bulk of the anglophone population of Quebec resides in the Montreal region, particularly in the West Island, where there is a well-established network of English-language educational, social, economic, and cultural institutions. Another large pocket of anglophones lives in the Outaouais region, just north of the Ottawa region of the neighbouring province of Ontario, and there is also a smaller pocket of anglophone settlement in Quebec City. (See: Demolinguistics of Quebec.)

Numerous towns in various parts of Quebec were founded by anglophones beginning with the settlement by the United Empire Loyalists in the Eastern Townships following the American Revolutionary War. (See: List of communities in Quebec.)

Institutions

Education

In 2001, Quebec had 340 primary and secondary English-language schools administered by nine anglophone school boards:

In addition, there are eight English CEGEPs:

There are also three universities which offer instruction in English:

Concordia, however, offers instruction in French as well.

Culture

There are several amateur and professional theatre companies, notably the Centaur Theatre. Since 1989, the Quebec Drama Federation has represented the English-language milieu in Quebec.

Since 1998, the Quebec Writers' Federation has represented the interests of English-language writers in Quebec and distributes the QWF awards. The federation grew out of the Quebec Society for the Promotion of English Language Literature and the Federation of English Writers of Quebec. There are 16 publishing houses in Quebec.

In the Montreal area, Quebecers have access to a wide range of English-language cultural activities and "goods" such as record stores, bookstores, cinemas, museums, concerts etc. Outside Montreal, the resources are more scarce.

There is still "cultural unity" between the English-speaking minority in Quebec and the English speaking majority in the other provinces of Canada. The Quiet Revolution which split the identity of the French speaking population of Canada, did not have the same effect on the English speaking minority in Quebec.

Media

Almost all English-language media in Quebec are based in the Montreal area.

Television: The province's English television stations are CBMT (CBC), CFCF (CTV), CKMI (Global) and CJNT (CH). CKMI is officially licensed to Quebec City, with a rebroadcaster in Montreal; however, its actual operations are in Montreal. CJNT airs multilingual programming in addition to the CH prime time schedule. These stations are available on cable throughout the province. Anglophones in the Outaouais region are served by English stations from Ottawa.

Radio: English radio stations in Montreal include AM stations CKGM (sports), CJAD (news/talk) and CINW (940 News), and FM outlets CBME (CBC Radio One), CKUT (campus radio from McGill University), CFQR (Q92, adult contemporary}, CJFM (Mix96, hot AC), CBM-FM (CBC Radio Two) and CHOM (rock). Listeners in Sherbrooke, Lennoxville and the Eastern Townships are served by CBC Radio One and CBC Radio Two, a CJAD rebroadcast transmitter, and the Bishop's University station CJMQ. CBC Radio One is also available in many other Quebec communities. Parts of the province also receive English-language signals from Ontario, New Brunswick, New York or New England. However, no community in the province besides Montreal has an English commercial station.

Newspapers: Quebec has two English-language daily newspapers: the large Montreal Gazette, and the small Sherbrooke Record, a local newspaper for the Eastern Townships. Many smaller communities in Quebec also have English-language weekly papers, including The Equity in Shawville, the Stanstead Journal in Stanstead, The First Informer in the Magdalen Islands, The Gleaner in Huntington, the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph in Quebec City, SPEC in the Gaspé region, the West Quebec Post in Buckingham, the Aylmer Bulletin in Aylmer and the Townships Sun in Lennoxville, the Suburban and the Chronicle in the West Island of Montreal. Montreal also has two English alternative weeklies, Hour and Mirror.

History

Main article: History of English-speaking Quebec

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Language

Main article: Quebec English

For the most part, the English spoken by first-language English-speakers in Quebec is the same as Canadian English. However, there are some local lexical features that stem from contact with French.

Recognised rights

Quebec's language regulations have at times been the centre of controversy. See Legal dispute over Quebec's language policy.

Federal

  • Since 1867, Section 133 of the Constitutional Act, 1867, has made the use of French and English possible for any person in the debates of the houses of the Parliament of Canada and the Legislature of Quebec and has made it mandatory for the records and journals of those houses. It also gives any person the right to plead in either English or French in any of the Courts of Quebec. Finally, the acts of the Parliament of Canada and of the Legislature of Quebec must be printed and published in both English and French. (The same is not true for all other provinces.) N.B. New Brunswick was made officially bilingual by the Canada Act of 1982.
  • Since 1982, Section 23 of the Canadian constitution recognizes educational rights to members of the linguistic minority of each province. For example, citizens of Canada whose home language is English have the right to have their children receive primary and secondary school instruction in English in Quebec. (Francophones have corresponding rights in the other provinces.)

Provincial

  • Since 1993, Sections 73 and 76 of the Charter of the French Language has protected and expanded the constitutional rights of the English-speaking minority of Quebec. The original 1977 charter recognized the rights of Quebec anglophones alone. That is, Canadian citizens from outside Quebec had to send their children to French schools like all other Quebecers. The introduction of educational rights for linguistic minorities in the 1982 Canadian constitution invalidated Chapter VIII of the charter. In 1993, the charter was amended to comply with the various rulings of the Supreme Court of Canada and the United Nations regarding language rights.
  • In 2002, Quebec's French Language Charter was amended with Bill 104, which aims to prevent education received in fully-private English schools or through temporary certificates from producing constitutional education rights. Several court cases are still pending.
  • In addition to the rights guaranteed by the constitution of Canada, the various regulations passed under the charter recognize other linguistic rights of Quebec anglophones. Quebecers have the right to receive services in English from all public health care and social service institutions in Quebec, although there is considerable controversy as to whether this is in fact the case. The charter also permits bilingual status to cities, but only those with a majority of English mother-tongue residents; other cities are not allowed to provide services in English. Ninety-three municipalities offer bilingual services in Quebec.

Other political aspects

Following the 1995 Quebec referendum, some Quebec anglophones proposed that the province be partitioned in the event of a successful sovereignty referendum, with predominantly anglophone areas seceding from Quebec to rejoin Canada. This idea was intensely controversial, with passionate arguments existing on both sides as to the legal and cultural validity of pursuing such an option. Some communities (mostly on the island of Montreal) have already voted to secede if Quebec were to declare independence.

Famous Quebec anglophones

See also

External links

Culture of Quebec | Ethnic groups in Canada | Lists of Canadian people

Anglo-Québécois

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Anglo-Quebecer".

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