Letter from the Executive Director, June 2022

Dear Members,

It is so nice to see you all! It seems like many of us have been out and about this past month, and I am really enjoying meeting many of you at shows and events. If we cross paths anywhere, I encourage you to say hello, as I am always happy to meet our members and chat.

One of the events I attended recently was Guy Rodger’s movie What We Choose to Remember opening the Hudson Film Festival on a very hot day in May. It is an important, insightful and moving piece of work, and especially timely in light of the recent adoption of Bill 96. I encourage everyone to take the time to watch it.

As we move forward under the newly adopted Bill 96, I encourage all English-speaking Quebecer’s to learn what your rights are under the legislation, and be a part of the conversation in how it is going to be enforced. There are a lot of unanswered questions around this bill so even though it has passed, the advocacy work around it is not over.

I also wanted to highlight the exciting new funding from the Quebec government for the arts and culture sector. ELAN translated the document that lays out government’s plan and there is a lot of good news here for our community. Click here to consult the translated document. Keep an eye on ELAN’s social media and website as we will host a webinar with CALQ on this new funding at the end of June. Details TBC.

Also, it is almost Fringe time I know we have all been waiting for this for ages – so get your comfy shoes, call in sick, and have fun!

See you soon!

Vanessa Herrick
Executive Director

Land Acknowledgement

ELAN is an official minority language organization within a country that recognizes two languages as official. ELAN is located in Tiohtià:ke, the original name for Montreal in Kanien’kéha, the language of the Mohawk—also known as Mooniyang, which is the Anishinaabeg name given to the city by the Algonquin. While we are based in this city, our projects have also taken place in many regions across Quebec.

We acknowledge the colonial origin of English and French in Canada, and recognize that both languages benefit from official status throughout the land. The province that we know as Quebec is an amalgamation of the traditional territories of the Innu and Inuit nations, Algonquian nations, as well as the Mohawk nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Kanien’kéha and Anishinaabemowin are but two of the original languages of this province; Atikamekw, Cree, Inuktitut, and Innu-aimun are also among the many Indigenous languages spoken across Quebec as majority languages, all well before French and English.

ELAN acknowledges the important work being done by First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples to revive the traditional languages of these territories, and their advocacy for the official status of Indigenous languages.