L’affaire Bedford: A scandal in a Montreal public school re-ignites a debate over funding private religious education
Muslim influence raises alarm over violating secular education rules.
Quebec opened a representative office in Tel Aviv after months of war-related delay—with Israeli consul general Paul Hirschson greeting director Alik Hakobyan
Quebec’s representative office is opening in Tel Aviv this week, after months of delay, caused by the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the subsequent war. Alik Hakobyan, who is the director of the office, had been operating the bureau in Quebec City but officially moved to Israel this week to continue his work with the […]
Quebec government to open a representative office in Israel—its first in the Middle East
Quebec plans to open a representative office in Israel, an initiative that the Jewish community and the Israeli consulate have long promoted. The Coalition Avenir Québec government, first elected in 2018, announced on Aug. 3 that it will establish the office in Tel Aviv, within the Canadian embassy, this fall. Its realization is being viewed […]
Climate change prizes have recognized the innovation of a group of Quebec researchers—with the support of Jewish National Fund
Five projects based in Quebec were awarded a total of $300,000 in the inaugural edition of JNF’s Climate Solutions Prizes, described as the largest incentive program of its kind in the province for non-profits and start-ups. The goal is to spur new ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency, and developing carbon capture […]
Quebec’s first school guide to genocide education is now available in English after six years of work
The first resource specifically for teaching about genocide at the high school level in Quebec is now available in English. Like the French version launched last year, Studying Genocide is only available online for now. It is the only material currently available covering 20th-century genocides, including the Holocaust, a subject that is not mandatory in […]
Study finds that Quebec’s secularism law leaves Jews feeling pessimistic for their children’s future in the province
Quebec Jews feel less accepted and hopeful about their future, especially for the younger generation, since the province’s secularism law, Bill 21, was passed in 2019, a major study of the impact of the legislation on religious minorities indicates. Sixty percent of Jews said their sense of being accepted as a “full-fledged member of Quebec […]
Julius Grey, the lawyer challenging Quebec’s French-language law, deplores its ‘massive abuse of civil rights’
Quebec’s new French-language legislation is a “massive abuse of civil rights” that threatens to turn the province into an “inspector state,” says Julius Grey, who is heading a legal team that will challenge Bill 96. The veteran human rights lawyer denounced the legislation in an online forum organized by B’nai Brith Canada, with the participation […]
Gregory Bordan is the lawyer who couldn’t persuade Quebec to accommodate foreign rabbis in its new language law
A small detail in Quebec’s new language legislation will have “enormous repercussions” for the Jewish community, says the lawyer who made a last-ditch effort to have that clause modified. Gregory Bordan was unsuccessful in persuading the government to maintain the longstanding flexibility afforded to rabbis from outside Canada who take positions with synagogues here as […]
Quebec’s Bill 96 with its stricter French-language rules is deeply worrying to the Jewish community
Bill 96, the Quebec government’s sweeping new legislation to strengthen the use of French, is being widely denounced by Jewish community members as violating the rights of not only anglophones, but all citizens. An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Quebec, which became law on May 24, is the most transformative reform […]
Canada’s first guide to teaching about genocide is launched in Quebec high schools
Quebec high school teachers now have a guide to discussing genocide, thanks to a decade-long effort by the daughter of Holocaust survivors who believes educating students about this complex topic is more critical than ever. Heidi Berger, who was motivated by what she saw as a profound ignorance among students she spoke to about the […]
