Sherbrooke, Québec,
July 3, 2020
Premier François Legault
Minister Responsible for Relations with English-Speaking Quebecers
Édifice Honoré-Mercier
835, boulevard René-Lévesque Est, 3e étage
Québec (Québec) G1A 1B4
RE: THE FUTURE OF QUEBEC’S SCHOOL BOARDS
First of all, we would like to offer you and your government our congratulations on your handling to date of the Covid-19 crisis. It is great to see Quebecers of all backgrounds joining together to fight what has proven to be the worst health crisis of our time.
That said, we would also like to call your attention to an issue that is of immediate and pressing concern to our community. As a Quebec-wide network of organizations and individuals working to preserve the heritage of the province’s English-speaking communities, often in partnership with our Francophone colleagues, the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN) is hereby calling on the Government of Quebec to reconsider its plan to abolish school boards and replace them with regional “service centres.”
As you know, Quebec’s Anglophone community has a profound attachment to its institutions. Over the years, however, we have seen our numbers steadily diminish, in particular in the regions. Part of that trend has involved the loss of many of our most cherished institutions. QAHN views school boards, whose history dates back over a century and a half, as part of our community’s heritage. Indeed, they are one of the last bastions where Anglophones can actually exercise a degree of real control over their own culture and future – namely through their schools.
We respectfully request that you and your government reconsider a decision that we believe will have a serious and detrimental effect on our community.
Sincerely,
Grant Myers
President
cc. Jean-Francois Roberge, Minister of Education