Worth watching this video report from CTV’s Cindy Sherwin from the intensive care unit at the Jewish. With news items pressing for reopening, it’s sobering to see weary health care workers bracing for a third wave of Covid.
Updates from March, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
It was only after CBC did a story about a patient found dead on the floor in an isolation room at the Lakeshore General that a family figured out it was talking about the circumstances of their mother’s death.
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Kate
Needing to speak English to get a job in Montreal is becoming a more high-profile issue, and the parallel story about whether judges in Quebec should be fluent in English is also simmering away.
What to say? Quebec doesn’t exist in a bubble. Businesses will always need people who can communicate with suppliers and customers outside Quebec and even with other branches of the same business in places where people don’t speak French. This can’t be changed by edict.
Jack
Anyone want to help me out here, what does “espace publique” mean in this context?
“Des voix s’élèvent pour dénoncer la place grandissante qu’occupe l’anglais dans la métropole, dans les milieux de travail comme dans l’espace public.”NP
In this context, I think “espace publique” has the sense of “public square” or “public sphere”–i.e., the shared space of civic discourse.
Jack
That is what I thought to, so by implication English speakers are not welcome in the shared space of civic discourse. Where do we hide?
Kevin
We can’t because we will soon be the only ones left in Montreal
thomas
I did not realize that anglophones are being acquitted due to a lack of English speaking judges. Best treated minority in the world!
dhomas
Well, sure some jobs have an English requirement, but it’s almost impossible to get an interview if you don’t speak French. I have a friend who moved away from Montreal (to Australia!) because he couldn’t find work in his field here due to the French requirement.
Also, we are competing for jobs on a global scale now. Montreal has many advantages over other locales. Cost and bilingualism are two of them. My previous company, a tech company, was acquired by another company that also had offices in Seattle. Montreal talent is just as qualified; it is cheaper due to the Canadian dollar and lower salaries; bilingual Montrealers can also handle customers in all of North America (including Quebec), plus overflow from France (HR costs in France are astronomical). So the Montreal office grew, in part because of its bilingualism, not in spite of it.
But French is also a global language. And if our workers aren’t bilingual, there are others elsewhere that will be. Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria could all be competing for our French jobs in the future, if they’re not already. We’ve seen quite clearly during this pandemic that location is not too important as every can work remotely.
Ephraim
I’m trying to remember the statistic from the Quebec government study from years ago. Something like two-thirds of unilingual women will remain at or close to poverty all their lives because they are unilingual. (Doesn’t matter if unilingual Anglo or Franco, being unilingual has financial repercussions.
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Kate
The Royalmount project, which opened a drive-in theatre last summer (did anyone go?) has bigger plans for this year. I looked for an “advertorial” marker on this JP Karwacki piece in the Gazette, but I think they mean it as actual news.
Mark Côté
I went to see Beetlejuice there in October. It was quite full and a fun experience!
JP
I saw a JFL show there in July…it was a nice night out in the summer during a pandemic…
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Kate
CBC has a short video about how Nakuset reclaimed her indigenous identity after her forcible adoption from a Manitoba reserve to a Jewish family in Montreal. An emotional piece.
(And yet, and I say this cautiously, is it not possible that being brought up in that culture equipped her uniquely for the role she has today as organizer and spokeswoman for indigenous women?)Meezly
That was a powerful piece. Is someone cutting onions in the house?
But Nakuset makes it extremely clear that her upbringing with her adopted family had nothing to do with where she is today. Her adopted parents had always made her feel inferior and less than as she was growing up.
Her Bubby was the only one who gave Nakuset unconditional love and saw her true potential, and because of Bubby, she was able to leave her toxic and racist family. It was only when she found her biological family was she able to find herself and only then was she able to get her life together and become who she is today.
The fact that she was a survivor of the Sixties Scoop gives her a unique background but I feel that Nakuset could have been raised in a loving home with her biological family and still could have found her own path towards helping her community. Nakuset is obviously a bright star and saying that her upbringing in a white family contributed to her success would not be fair to her own struggles and accomplishments.Kate
You are right, Meezly. I will cancel what I ventured to suggest above.
Raymond Lutz
Ouf, I had to search for that one… “Bubby is Yiddish for Grandmother” is this correct? (it seems, from the photographs).
Meezly
That’s right, RL. Though I think the actual spelling tends to be Bubbe or Bubbie. Bubba is another variation. No matter how it’s spelled, thank god for Bubbes in general!
EmilyG
Very moving documentary. Thank you for sharing it.
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Kate
The city will not be appealing the Superior Court ruling in Sue Montgomery’s favour that came down in December. Now Montgomery wants Valérie Plante to apologize.
dwgs
And yet (from the Gazette)
“A spokesperson for the city confirmed that it would not be appealing the Superior Court decision, but noted that other disciplinary tribunals are ongoing.
“We emphasize that the disciplinary process launched by the Quebec Municipal Commission is still under way,” Audrey Gauthier wrote in an email.
Montgomery faces 28 charges of ethical breaches before the commission, including allegations she failed to maintain a harassment-free workplace. Each accusation carries a possible penalty ranging from a reprimand to a 90-day suspension.”SMDH
Jack
This is the group that will judge Montgomery, Quebec City bureaucrats who will of course take a critical gaze at a fellow municipal bureaucrats discomfort when he was viciously asked to do his job.
Sue you will be suspended longer than Marty McSorley.
https://www.cmq.gouv.qc.ca/fr/la-commission/l-organisation
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