MONTREAL — As a way to encourage young Jewish graduates in the province to get experience in political and public affairs, the Quebec-Israel Committee is launching an annual parliamentary internship program.

The pilot project will allow – at least in the first year – three recent Jewish graduates to live in Quebec City for nine months and work as aides to MNAs from the three main political parties.

Their duties, among others, would include working with MNAs “in different sectors, particularly in parliamentary committees, correspondence, and work in the [MNA’s] riding.”

The new program, which is being run in collaboration with Canadian Jewish Congress, Quebec region, is modelled after a similar one in place for several years at the federal level and run by the Canada-Israel Committee.

But the provincial program’s aims go beyond simple involvement in governmental affairs or the political process, said QIC executive director Luciano Del Negro.

In the wake of the reasonable accommodation debate and subsequent Bouchard-Taylor Commission report, he said, it’s important for young Quebec Jews to deal with a perceived “disconnect” between themselves and their fellow Quebecers.

“In the aftermath of Bouchard-Taylor, the need to build bridges, to facilitate dialogue, to facilitate relations, I think is a crying one,” Del Negro said. “The program is not meant to radically change the world, but to make a contribution.”

The internship program, he added, is also being launched in the context of the “dismal” presence of non-francophones in the Quebec public service.

“There have been few applicants from cultural communities and fewer still from the Jewish community,” he said, “so we wanted to encourage the participation of young Jewish professionals in public life and the arena of political life, which could then expand into a larger community interest.”

The process will hopefully work both ways, he added.

A recent mission to Israel involving young professional leaders included Quebecers “who’d never been in contact with members of the Jewish community,” Del Negro noted.

“They had heard of them, but never met, or if they did meet, never had an opportunity to interact, to have lunch, supper, a drink, part of the normal way bonds and rapports are built,” he said.

So the presence of the young Jewish graduates in Quebec City’s political milieu will provide both them and the “broader community” with an opportunity to better understand each other’s “aspirations and challenges,” he said.

The QIC will give each intern a $12,000 bursary to cover expenses. “It’s certainly not a lot,” Del Negro said, “But it’s a fair amount of money for someone who wishes to take nine months out of their lives.”

Candidates can be graduates from their early 20s up to age 30 and from any number of diverse fields – such as law, political science or the humanities – but the criteria are certainly not restricted to those alone, Del Negro said.

“The most important thing is that it requires a candidate who is independent, a self-starter and motivated,” he said. “Selection will be based on merit… somebody who sees his or her future in Quebec, and wishes to make a contribution to the Jewish community and the broader society.”

Del Negro said several MNAs have already expressed a readiness to work with the interns. Ideally he said, the QIC would like to see the program become a permanent part of its activities, with perhaps six candidates each year instead of three.

Asked why such a program was not launched previously, Del Negro said this was due in part to the QIC having to deal with more pressing issues, such as the second intifadah and the negative publicity for Israel surrounding it.

Now seems to be a more timely moment to start such a program, he said, especially in the context of a revitalization of Quebec City’s Jewish community linked to the “Shalom Quebec” exhibit that’s part of the city’s 400th birthday celebration.

As well, Del Negro added, there has been a decrease in the Jewish presence in political affairs at all levels of government over the last number of years, as well as a decrease in the Jewish community’s “demographic weight.”

“It has been shrinking,” Del Negro said, “which make it all the more important for the community to develop tactics and strategies to ensure its voice is heard and not sidelined.”

The deadline to apply for the program is July 31. The individuals to contact are Philippe Elharrar or David Ouellette, at 514-934-0771, exts. 3674 and 3675, respectively. Their e-mail addresses are [email protected] and [email protected].