Events
October 5, 2023
Fighting Back: Challenging the Legault Government in Defence of English Language Education
Time: 12 Noon EST via ZOOM
Several laws enacted by the Legault government directly impact the anglophone community's ability to manage its own school system, including Bill 40, which seeks to abolish elected English school boards in favour of regional school services centres. Bill 21 outlaws the wearing of religious symbols by certain government sector employees, including teachers, and affects the ability of English school boards to staff their classrooms as they see fit. Bill 96 caps enrollment at English language CEGEPs and imposes new French language courses on students. Longtime education sector volunteers Rosemary Murphy and Leah Trineer, along with Andrew Cadell of the Task Force on Linguistic Policy will update MCW members on efforts to challenge these laws.
Registration
About Our Speakers
Rosemary Murphy
Rosemary Murphy, president of the Quebec Federation of Home and School Associations, has been active in educational circles for decades, first with school committees and governing boards, then as an elected commissioner at the Lester B. Pearson School Board.
She has been on the executive of the Quebec Federation of Home and School Associations since 2016, and its president since 2021. She has served as vice-president of the Canadian Home and School Federation since 2019.
Wanda Leah Trineer
Wanda Leah Trineer, chair of the finance committee of the Quebec Federation of Home and School Associations, is a longtime advocate in education circles. She is treasurer of the Quebec Federation of Home and School Associations.
Andrew Caddell
Andrew Caddell, President of the Anglo rights lobby group, the Task Force on Linguistic Policy, retired from Global Affairs Canada in 2017, where he was a senior policy advisor for 15 years; from 1996 to 2000 he worked with the World Health Organization in Geneva and UNICEF in Northern Macedonia and Bangladesh. He is the principal of QIT Canada, an emergency management software company, an elected councillor in the historic village of Kamouraska, and a weekly columnist with the "Hill Times" newspaper. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master's degree in journalism from Carleton University. He is fluently bilingual.
He began his career as a broadcast reporter in 1977 in Montreal, Quebec City, Calgary, St. John's and Ottawa, and then worked as an advisor to ministers in Ottawa, Toronto and St. John's and the opposition leaders in Quebec and Newfoundland. He has run for office at the federal, provincial and municipal levels, and was a town councillor in Montreal West in the 1990s. He is the author of two books, "Like Moths to a Flame: the influence of the news media on the UN," and "The Goal: Stories about our national passion." He has always been involved in community organizations and sports and has cycled all of Canada. He is married and the father of three children: James (1973-2005) Emily and Jack.