Category Archives: Quebec

Quebec plans to impose a ‘health contribution’ tax on the unvaccinated

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The tax comes amid a new wave of coronavirus in the province and would be for those who refuse the jab for non-medical reasons

Quebec has announced plans to impose a “health tax” on residents who refuse to get the Covid-19 vaccination for non-medical reasons, as a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic overwhelms the province.

Premier François Legault announced the new “contribution” for the unvaccinated on Tuesday, as the province reported 62 new deaths, bringing the total number of people killed by Covid-19 in the province to 12,028 – the most in Canada.

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Isolating Quebec health staff may have to return to work early under new plans

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Canadian province’s government says measure will be required if staffing levels become too low during Covid surge

Quebec healthcare workers exposed to Covid-19 may have to go to work sooner than expected if staffing levels in the Canadian province’s facilities reach a critical point.

Quebec’s health minister, Christian Dubé, made the announcement earlier this week, explaining that in a worst-case scenario the province would have no choice but to insist that isolating employees return to work.

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Outrage as Quebec teacher removed from classroom for wearing hijab

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Fatemeh Anvari was told her headwear ran afoul of Bill 21, which bars some public servants from wearing religious symbols

The removal of a Canadian teacher for wearing a hijab in the classroom has sparked widespread condemnation of a controversial law in the province of Quebec, which critics say unfairly targets ethnic minorities under the pretext of secularism.

Fatemeh Anvari, a third-grade teacher in the town of Chelsea, was told earlier this month that she would no longer be allowed to continue in the role because her headwear ran afoul of Bill 21, a law passed in 2019.

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‘Dead because she was Indigenous’: Québec coroner says Atikemekw woman a victim of systemic racism

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Hospital staff assumed Joyce Echaquan was an opioid addict. She was dying of a rare heart condition

An Indigenous woman who was taunted by nursing staff as she lay dying in a Quebec hospital would probably be alive today if she were white, a coroner has concluded.

The death of Joyce Echaquan was an “undeniable” example of systematic racism in the province, the Québec coroner Géhane Kamel told reporters on Tuesday.

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Underground review – mine explosion disaster film digs deeper than most

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French-Canadian director Sophie Dupuis puts human drama ahead of the action in this naturalistic, character-driven film

Here is an arthouse disaster movie from Quebec: a naturalistic, character-driven drama about what it might truly look like if a mineral mine exploded, trapping five workers underground. It’s the second feature from French-Canadian director Sophie Dupuis, who herself grew up in a mining family.

She opens her film in the heat of the rescue: red lights flashing, a response team descending into darkness. One of the rescuers, Max (Joakim Robillard), would be the hero of the Hollywood version, running around hot-headedly, disobeying orders: “Fuck you! I’m going to get the others!” Actually, much of the film is about how damaging it is for Max living with this tough-guy masculinity.

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Quebec court strikes down part of contentious religious symbols ban

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Ruling removes limits on some teachers and provincial politicians but maintains ban for police, judges and other civil servants

A Canadian court has struck down part of a disputed Quebec law against public employees wearing religious symbols, removing limits on some teachers and provincial politicians but maintaining the ban for police officers, judges and other civil servants.

The 2019 law, which the Quebec government said was designed to preserve secularism in the mainly French-speaking province, prohibits many civil servants, including police officers, from wearing religious symbols such as hijabs and turbans on the job.

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Pardon my French: dismay in Quebec as francophones fail language test

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Exam once again draws attention to province’s notoriously difficult language requirements to gain permanent residency

Language exams have long struck fear in unprepared students as they nervously stumble over verb conjugation and struggle to get their tenses right.

Yohan Flaman, a long-haul truck driver from Limoges, France, however, was confident that proficiency in his native tongue would be enough to satisfy officials in the Canadian province of Quebec.

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Quebec to enter full lockdown as Covid cases spiral

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Canadian province implements ‘shock measure’ intended to blunt steady growth of infections

Quebec will enter a full lockdown on Saturday, becoming the first Canadian province to enact a curfew as coronavirus cases once again spiral out of control.

The premier, François Legault, announced the sweeping rules on Wednesday, describing them a “shock measure” intended to blunt a steady growth in cases.

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Quebec City stabbing: man charged with two murders after Halloween sword attack

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Suspect was dressed in medieval clothing and wielded a Japanese sword, police said, in attack that killed two and wounded five

A 24-year-old man has appeared in court via video link charged with murdering two people with a sword in Quebec City, Canada on Halloween night.

Two people were killed and five wounded after being stabbed by a man dressed in medieval clothes and wielding a sword, Quebec police said on Sunday, noting the attack appeared to be driven by personal motives and not linked to any terror group.

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October Crisis: 50 years after a bloody spasm that nearly tore Canada apart

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A campaign by Quebec separatists culminated in two kidnappings, a killing and the suspension of civil liberties

Tanks rumbled down Montreal streets. Soldiers stood guard in Quebec City. After the declaration of martial law, police conducted warrantless raids, detaining nearly 500 people. Two high-profile kidnappings – of a British diplomat and a senior politician – ended with a grisly murder.

For a brief period in October 1970, Canada was gripped by fear as separatists in the province of Quebec dramatically escalated their battle for independence.

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Trudeau urges caution as Quebec plans to ease lockdown: ‘We’re not out of the woods yet’

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Hardest-hit region in Canada with over 1,600 deaths plans to reopen elementary schools and childcare facilities on 11 May

Justin Trudeau has urged caution as Canada’s most populous provinces announce plans to ease their lockdown measures, highlighting the challenge of balancing public health recommendations with a growing pressure to loosen coronavirus restrictions.

“The measures we’ve taken so far are working. In fact, in many parts of the country the curve has flattened,” Trudeau said on Tuesday. “But we’re not out of the woods yet. We’re in the middle of the most serious public health emergency Canada has ever seen and if we lift measures too quickly, we might lose the progress we’ve made.”

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Quebec denies Frenchwoman residency for failing to show command of French

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  • Student Emilie Dubois wrote part of scientific thesis in English
  • ‘You cannot tell me that I cannot prove that I speak French’

A French doctoral student has been denied residency in Quebec after officials in Canada’s francophone province ruled that she had an inadequate command of her mother tongue.

Emilie Dubois, a graphic designer who has lived and studied in Quebec City for eight years, was stunned to find her recent residency application denied on the grounds that she failed to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of French.

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Canadiens and Canadiennes in uproar as student paper takes stand on gender

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A publication at the Université du Québec is ceasing to favour masculine over feminine in its language – not everyone is happy

The changes were slight, though Molière probably wouldn’t have approved.

Montreal Campus – the student newspaper serving Université du Québec à Montréal – announced in February that it would cease favouring the masculine over the feminine.

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Quebec mosque attack: two years on, will security trump openness?

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The planned transformation of Quebec’s Grand Mosque is haunted by the deadly attack on the Islamic centre in 2017

Until 29 January 2017, random motorists on the busy Chemin Sainte-Foy would sometimes pull over to the Quebec City Grand Mosque to withdraw some money.

Converted from a Desjardins Bank, it still looks like one, with its rows of rectangular glass panes and a barricaded drive-through. Its only crescent and minaret are in graphic form on a small plastic sign, blocked from the road by trees.

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