Creating Spaces for Young Quebecers: Strategic Orientations for English-speaking Youth in Quebec
From Activist Den
Format: PDF
Source: www.qcgn.ca
Over the past decades, Francophones in Quebec have taken formal steps to preserve and promote their language and culture. To most English-speaking youth growing up in Quebec today, this makes sense and we agree that steps should be taken to protect Quebec's uniqueness in North America. However, young English-speakers living in Quebec - from Montreal to the North Shore to the Gaspé - face their own set of unique challenges. In small English-speaking pockets scattered throughout the province, young English-speakears struggle to become bilingual, access services, create strong ties with their communities, participate in Quebec society and define their own identities.
The members of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) Youth Standing Committee have worked together over the last year to ensure that this document reprensents the perspectives of as many youth as possible from a wide array of regions and backgrounds. We have also worked to ensure that the process has been directed by youth and that the voices we have heard are heard by others as well.
Keywords: Youth, English-speaking, Quebec
Creating Spaces for Young Quebecers: Strategic Orientations for English-speaking Youth in Quebec
In 2008, the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) undertook a province-wide youth consultation, with funding from the department of Canadian Heritage, in order to provide a comprehensive assessment of this population before moving into an action phase.
WIth guidance provided by the QCGN Youth Standing Committee, consultations took place inwhich some three hundred English-speakers aged 16 to 29 participated. Through individual interviews, cocus groups and questionnaires in eight regions of Quebec, the consultation were carried out by the QCGN member organizations and a local youth coordinator.
Five prominent themes were explored from these consultations: bilingualism, identity and isolation, education, employment and communify life, and arts, culture and heritage. These themes were the focus of the GENERATION Provincial Youth Forum, held on September 27 and 28, 2008 in Montreal. The forum brought 100 participants from across the province together to collaborate on strategic recommendations and concrete project ideas to address challenges related to these themes. The following video gathers the best moments of the forum [1]
