Dawson College says real impact of Quebec language law yet to be seen — but that'll change in 2024

As the director general of Montreal's Dawson College, Diane Gauvin says not much has changed yet because of Quebec's new language reform law, but change is coming.

With the new school year approaching, Gauvin said components of Bill 96 coming into effect for now affect the French department, but staff there already speak French.

Gauvin said she is more concerned about next year, when the CEGEP will have to offer some core courses in French.

"That will have a significant impact on the offering here at Dawson," said Gauvin. "So, we have a year, less than a year, to prepare ... to make sure that we have everything in place as required."

Adopted in the spring of 2022, the new law, officially titled An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Quebec, reforms several pieces of Quebec legislation, including the Charter of the French Language, touching everything from education and health.

Students attending English CEGEP will be required to take at least three 45-hour courses in French.

For those with English eligibility, those can be French second-language courses — so, classes that just teach how to speak and write in French. 

For those without eligibility, it has to be three courses from their core curriculum. For example, for a student studying health sciences, three of their health science courses will have to be in French. English-eligibility students can also choose to go this route, if they prefer.

That all starts in the fall of 2024. Gauvin said Dawson, the province's largest CEGEP, hasn't needed to hire more French teachers yet but will need to eventually.

At Dawson, nearly 60 per cent of students hold English eligibility certificates, while the rest don't, she said.

As part of the effort to analyze the situation and prepare, she said the school is looking into how many teachers are able to teach in French. There may be some language training for teachers who speak French but need a bit of polishing, she said.

"We have a large number of teachers who are comfortable teaching in French, but it is certainly not all teachers," said Gauvin. "Even when you speak French, it requires a certain level of French when teaching."

Éric Cyr is the head of the union representing non-teaching professionals in Quebec, and he said English CEGEPS are being forced to do a lot of restructuring.

"It is not catastrophic up to now, it's going OK," said Cyr. "We're still not sure how it's going to end up."

But the need to restructure comes at a time when finding enough staff is already a challenge throughout the province, no matter the language.

The union, the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), held a news conference Wednesday. Representatives said CEGEPs are struggling to find new employees, and when they are found, experienced colleagues are expected to support new staff in addition to their usual tasks. 

This doesn't help retain professionals who are drawn to the private sector by better pay, they said.

"We need people. We don't talk about CEGEPs enough," said CSQ's president, Éric Gingras.

The Quebec government is predicting that, in the coming decade, there will be a 14 per cent increase in the number of CEGEP students, he said.

"Not only do we need to retain the people who are already there, but we will also need to support them even more in the coming years," said Gingras.