Bill 96 raises concerns for Montreal’s Vanier College as school year begins

As another school year begins here in Montreal for CEGEP students, faculty, and staff at Vanier College are concerned about the changes Bill 96 — Quebec’s language law reform — will soon bring.

According to the school’s website, there are four major impacts of Bill 96 on English colleges: a fixed cap on admissions, priority admissions to certificate holders, additional French language courses, and language exit exams.

“Basically, we’re going to try to balance three things: One is to respect the law; two is to mitigate the impact on faculty…and the third is to ensure we maximize student success,” said John McMahon, the director general of Vanier College.

Vanier is one of the largest English-language CEGEPs in the city, with over 8,000 students. Starting Fall 2024, students will be required to take at least three courses in French. McMahon says that given the shortage of teachers in the province, that change will be most challenging to navigate.

“There’s going to be a change in the curriculum. In order to meet this three-course requirement, it’s going to impact the offerings that we have program by program,” said McMahon.

“We’re in Quebec and we should have the right to be bilingual, and that doesn’t mean we should be forced speaking French, especially in our education system,” said one student attending Vanier College. “I think it’s more work for nothing,” adds another student.

McMahon adds that if the college does not have enough teachers capable of teaching in French, the jobs of those who are currently employed may be impacted.

“We know there are going to be challenges, says McMahon, “and as we go through the academic year, those challenges are going to become more evident.”