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BCRC Weekly Update for the week of September 12th 2022 

The Weekly Update presents information on the status, needs and priorities of the English Speaking Black Communities.

NEWS

Language Trainers Will Start Working In Some Montreal Restaurants To Help Them With French
MTL Blog | September 9, 2022

French-language trainers will soon start working in various restaurants on the island to teach business owners and staff members the basics of working and serving customers in Molière's mother tongue.

In March 2021, the Government of Quebec granted financial support to the Association des sociétés de développement commercial de Montréal (ASDCM) for the promotion of the French language in local businesses.

The ASDCM is using it to launch two programs, called "Dialogue" and "Image." The first was developed by the Cégep du Vieux-Montréal in order to facilitate oral communication in the work environment, with trainers teaching directly in shops and a phone app to encourage self-learning.

"Learning French will be divided into five themes: basic business French, customer service, communication between employees, promotional communication and living your job in French," explained Mr. Billy Walsh, General Manager of the Association of SDCs in Montreal, in a press release.

 

Quebec election: Ridings to watch in the Montreal region
Montreal Gazette | September 12, 2022


Throughout the 21st century, voters on the island of Montreal have shown remarkable consistency, backing the Liberals in most ridings in almost every provincial election dating back to 2003.

That record was shaken in 2018, when the Liberals won 19 of the island’s 27 seats, Québec solidaire took six and the Coalition Avenir Québec made their breakthrough by claiming two east-end ridings.

That stability is expected to waver even more this October, with analysts predicting the Liberals’ woes will continue to gnaw at their historical stronghold, largely to the CAQ’s benefit. In Laval, where five of six ridings are urrently Liberal, their forecast is even more dire.

“They won’t be wiped off the map,” said Daniel Béland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. “The question is how many seats will they lose?”

Montreal and Laval are considered the remaining bastion of Liberal votes — the two cities gave the party 24 of the total 31 seats they won in 2018, while the CAQ slalomed to a landslide, winning 74 ridings.
 

4 overnight shootings in Montreal leave 3 men injured, property damaged
CBC News | September 13, 2022

Montreal police are investigating four separate shootings overnight on Monday that left three men injured and vehicles riddled with bullets. 

The most recent incident occurred around 2 a.m., when police responded to a shooting in the Ville-Marie borough, near the intersection of Saint-Denis and de Maisonneuve Streets. 

Upon arrival, police found two men with gunshot wounds — one aged 32, injured in the upper body, the other aged 26, injured in the lower body.

They were rushed to hospital. Police describe their condition as stable. 

Two suspects, aged 34 and 47, were arrested on site. The relationship between them and the victims remains unclear. 

Earlier in the evening, around midnight, officers responded to a shooting in Place Émilie-Gamelin, just two blocks away.
 

Montreal clothing manufacturer to keep francisation program subsidies, for now
CBC News | September 13, 2022


The Quebec government has backtracked on a decision to cut funding to a program that helped workers learn French at Peerless Clothing in Montreal.

The program has often been touted as exemplary and Mario Ayala, the director of the clothing division at Peerless, was discouraged to hear it would disappear as Quebec moves to centralize its French courses.

"The program that we have started 20 years ago, we cannot just let it go like that," he said. "It's something that helps people."

"We have our own way that is working," Ayala said.

The decision to cut subsidies to the program was first published in Le Devoir Tuesday morning. By afternoon, Labour Minister Jean Boulet took to Twitter to say the decision was being reversed.

Québec solidaire wants more immigration to province's regions
Montreal Gazette | September 11, 2022

Québec solidaire reiterated on Sunday its interest in having more immigrants permanently settle in the province’s regions.

On multiple occasions during the campaign, party co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois has said Quebec’s immigration target should be somewhere between 60,000 and 80,000 people per year for the entirety of the province, with the exact number coming from an expert committee.

​​Immigration lawyer Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, who is the party’s candidate in Saint-Henri—Sainte-Anne, did not completely rule out a higher target than 80,000 if the experts recommended it. He said the range being put forward by the party was inspired by expert consensus: “Look at the expert reports. Look at the needs. We have more than 200,000 jobs available; we’ll need to address the labour shortage.”

Appearing in Chicoutimi, Nadeau-Dubois quickly cleaned up after his candidate, saying his party’s position is clear on the range of 60,000 to 80,000 immigrants.

“Within that range, we’re comfortable,” he said. “After that, we’d give a mandate to an expert committee to work out the exact number.”

Québec solidaire announced that its immigration model would include the creation of welcome centres in each region, the francization of workplaces and giving immigrants a ticket worth $200 to discover Quebec culture.
The party says it would prioritize immigration to Quebec’s regions.

“We deserve a government that is not uncomfortable talking about immigration,” Nadeau-Dubois said, “and that government is a Québec solidaire government.”
 

In Quebec, the Queen's death raises questions about future of the monarchy in Canada
CTV News | September 11, 2022


The mixed reactions in Quebec to the death of Queen Elizabeth II highlight the province’s complex relationship with the monarchy.

In the days after the Queen’s death, incumbent Premier Francois Legault — who is currently on the campaign trail ahead of an Oct. 3 election — has faced questions about whether the province should now eliminate the position of lieutenant governor, as well as criticism from the Parti Québécois for lowering the Quebec flag to half mast in honour of the late queen.

Quebec media outlets ran both tributes to the monarch and retrospectives about a riot during her 1964 visit to Quebec City that has become known as "Truncheon Saturday."

The majority of Quebecers don't look kindly on the monarchy for historical reasons as well as their support for democracy, said Gérard Bouchard, a historian and sociologist who teaches at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi.

"In Quebec, this appears to be a vestige of a colonialist era that we thought had disappeared," he said in an interview. "In Quebec, the majority of people would say, 'we don't know why this continues in Canada and we don't know why this has been imposed on us in Quebec.'"

 

Quebec won’t take day off for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, Legault says
Global News | September 13, 2022

Quebec Premier François Legault was quick to react to the news that Canada will hold a national holiday to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

When asked by the reporters on the campaign trail for the upcoming provincial election on Oct. 3, Legault said Quebec will hold a commemoration day but there won’t be a holiday.

“I will continue the campaign,” Legault said in Montreal’s Verdun borough.

Legault offered more details about his decision when speaking at Montreal city hall later in the day, following a meeting with mayor Valérie Plante.

“First I think about the students and I wouldn’t like them to miss school, we’ve had enough with the pandemic. I think it’s not a good idea to close schools or put parents in a position where they wouldn’t be able to work,” Legault explained.
 

As Quebec's worker shortage worsens, employers plead with leaders to welcome more immigrants
CBC News | September 14, 2022

At a packaging plant in a Montreal suburb, workers from 35 countries work the line, nailing and assembling crates for shipment.

The company, Creopack, has about 100 employees — 60 per cent of whom were born in countries other than Canada. The company is actively seeking more.

Efforts to hire locally have been unsuccessful.

"It can take six months to find one person," said Creopack's vice-president, Jean-Sébastien Comtois. The company paid tens of thousands of dollars and went through nearly three years of red tape to attract temporary foreign workers, only to hire just 12, six of whom have not yet arrived.

Comtois says the worker shortage is hampering his business development prospects, and he's calling on Quebec's political parties to do whatever is necessary to attract more people to the workforce.
 

Quebec election: Leaders go ‘face-to-face’ in first election debate tonight
Global News | September 15, 2022


The first of two French-language leaders debates during the Quebec election campaign takes place in Montreal Thursday night, and it will be the first contest as party leader for four of the five participants.

Polls have shown the Coalition Avenir Québec with a sizable lead over its four main opponents ahead of the so-called “face-to-face” debate on TVA network, which will pit one leader directly against another.

CAQ Leader François Legault, the incumbent premier and the only participant who has debated before as a provincial party leader, told reporters this week he recognizes he’ll be the target.

“I expect the four leaders to attack me; it’s a bit normal, when you look at the polls,” Legault said Tuesday. “So we try to predict these attacks, predict responses.”

Organizers say the debate will be split into three sections: the environment, quality of life and the economy; health, family and education; and immigration, language and identity.

Queen's funeral will be marked by federal holiday on Sept. 19, Trudeau says
CBC News | September 13, 2022

The date of Queen Elizabeth's funeral will be marked in Canada with a national holiday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.

"We have ... chosen to move forward with a federal holiday on Monday [Sept. 19]," Trudeau said in New Brunswick, where he is attending a Liberal caucus retreat. 

"We will be working with the provinces and the territories to try and see that we're aligned on this. There are still a few details to be worked out, but declaring an opportunity for Canadians to mourn on Monday is going to be important."

Unless the provinces come on board with the plan, only federally regulated workers will get the day off work — similar to the way Remembrance Day is observed. About 85 to 90 per cent of workers are regulated by provincial governments.
 

Canada to send $25M in additional aid for Pakistan floods
Global News | September 13, 2022

The federal government will match donations from Canadians to help the people of Pakistan, where a humanitarian emergency has been caused by massive flooding.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says donations made to one of the 12 aid agencies that make up the Humanitarian Coalition will be matched until Sept. 28, to a maximum of $3 million.

Emergency food, water, sanitation and health services are badly needed after monsoon rains over the last three months have left more than one-third of the country underwater.

More than 33 million people are affected by the floods and with much of the country’s agricultural land underwater, the Pakistani government is warning of an impending food shortage.

 

Majority of Canadians have now caught COVID — so what does that mean for the future?
CBC News | September 14, 2022


The majority of Canadians have caught COVID-19 since Omicron and its highly contagious subvariants triggered enormous waves of infection this year — with new estimates suggesting almost two-thirds of the population have had it.

Researchers in British Columbia analyzed close to 14,000 blood samples in the Lower Mainland throughout the pandemic to track antibody levels in the general population, and found a massive shift in the number of infections in the past few months.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (BCCDC) and University of British Columbia team previously found almost half previously had COVID as of April, but their new data suggests that number continued to skyrocket into the spring and summer.

The findings were published in a preprint study co-authored by B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry this week, which has not yet been peer reviewed, that found more than 60 per cent of the overall population had antibodies from prior infection by August.
 

Could physician assistants help with Canada’s health care staffing crisis?
Global News | September 15, 2022


Kevin Dickson treats dozens of patients a day in the emergency department of the Dr. Everett Chalmers hospital in Fredericton.

He does physical exams, takes medical histories, develops treatment plans and discharges patients.

But Dickson is not a doctor, a nurse or a surgeon. He’s a physician assistant.

Working in a hospital that, like most others across Canada, is struggling to cope with health care staffing shortages and increased patient demand, Dickson says he is pleased to have the opportunity to help address gaps in the system — namely, seeing more patients who need medical care.

We’re seeing unprecedented wait times here in the emergency department on an almost daily basis,” he said.

“I see 20 to 30 patients that wouldn’t otherwise be seen, and that in and of itself is rewarding.”

EVENTS
Cummings West Island presents a Mini-Med Lecture Series: Taking the Mystery out of Aging
Register

This forum on November 6, 2022 (9AM-4:30PM) brings together speakers with expertise and personal experience to discuss innovative policy solutions and to foster community trust among marginalized and racialized communities Our goal is to raise the level of awareness and to provide a safe, transparent and supportive space for public and community leaders to explore, discuss and sustain anti-racism and equitable practice.

The forum will include specific guidance from experts in supporting the community in identifying and denouncing hidden racism, racial profiling and inequitable practices.

Outcomes will include:

  • Engaged research facilitating evidence-based action,
  • Enduring institutional networks that support communities,
  • Evolution in attitudes,
  • Building of social bridges resulting in increased social cohesion.

Remarks:

  • The activity will take place in English.
  • French simultaneous interpretation will be provided.
  • The conference setup will be hybrid.
  • In-person participate will gather at: Centre socio-communautaire Le 6767
  • The link will be emailed to online registered participants
Thank you to our funders
Register
RESEARCH
Innovative New Program Attempts to Address Failure to Launch among Young Black Men ‘Addressing Failure to Launch in Young Black Men through Participatory Action Research’
 
A substantial number of emerging adults are facing difficulties in (i) completing an education; (ii) entering the workforce; and (iii) moving out of the parental home to become independent adults. This phenomenon is known as failure to launch and is a serious issue that can contribute to exclusion, marginalization, poverty, isolation and adverse mental health.

Evidence suggests that young Black men are disproportionately experiencing failure to launch. For example, a recent Statistics Canada report found that 20% of young Black men are in the ‘Not in Education, Employment nor Training’ (NEET) category, compared to 12% of other young men. Other data indicates that only 17% of young Black men in Canada have a university degree compared to 34% of young Black women, even though 94% of Black youth state that they would like to obtain such a degree. Worryingly, another Statistics Canada report indicates a decline in the proportion of Black men obtaining any post-secondary diploma since 2006, whereas other men and women showed an increase in obtaining such a diploma.

Given this situation, a team of researchers have got together to develop and launch a new on-line program called ‘Flex to Launch’ targeted at young Black men, aiming to help them develop new skills that can help them succeed in employment, education and mental health. This program will involve weekly sessions taught by experienced teachers covering topics such as communication skills, job interviews, study habits, networking, and psychological resiliency.

The precise curriculum will be developed in collaboration with various sectors of the Black community, and the team is organizing a set of focus groups with young Black men, Black educators and Black parents to obtain their perspectives on the incipient program. Anyone interested in participating in a focus group can contact the team (see contact details below).

The project team comprises of Dr Rob Whitley (Psychiatry-McGill), Dr Stan Chase (Education-Toronto
Metropolitan University) and Mrs Valerie-Gordon Williams (Community Organizer who serves on the Board of Directors of the Black Community Resource Center.) The official project name is ‘Addressing Failure to Launch in Young Black Men through Participatory Action Research’, and the project is funded by the New Frontiers in Research Fund- Exploration Grant.

The project is supported by a generous in-kind contribution from D2L, a pioneering Canadian company providing on-line teaching and learning platforms to organizations across the world. D2L is providing the research team with a complimentary on-line learning platform, which will be used to deliver the course.
The researchers are available for telephone, in-person or Zoom interviews. Please email
robert.whitley@mcgill.ca or call 514-761-6131 ext 3436 to set up an interview.
MISC.
AMI-Quebec is hiring a Family Peer Support Worker. Deadline to apply is September 30th. For more info, please click here.
 
Black Girls Gather (A Book Club) is a bilingual program that is open to young Black girls and non-binary persons between 12 and 17 years old.
Registration period: August 1st 2022 to October 1st 2022
Duration of program: January 2023 to June 2023
For 12 to 14 year olds, register
here!
For 15 to 17 year olds, register here!
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