Tag Archives: November 16 2022

To the great pleasure of local skaters and tourists, the ice rink at Place D’Youville is now open. People can skate from noon to 10 p.m. from Monday to Thursday, and from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday to Sunday. Daily announcements of ice conditions will be posted on the city’s Facebook page (facebook.com/QuebecVille) at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Weekend hours will be in place from Dec. 24 to Jan. 9 and during March Break (March 6-10). (Photo by Cassandra Kerwin)

The Place D’Youville Rink is open!

The Place D’Youville Rink is open!…

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Remembrance, schools, support for the QCT

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Remembrance, schools, support for the QCT

Hi Shirley,

I was just thinking about how important the QCT is in its role of chronicling our community. I was also thinking how valuable you and Peter [Black] and Ruby [Pratka] are in particular and how lucky we are to have you.

Of late, I especially appreciated the article on the new school, the tribute to Larry Hodgson and Peter’s article on medically assisted dying, each very informative and well written.

Thanks to everyone at the QCT for being there. Long live the QCT!

Diane Kameen

Quebec City

Dear Editor,

In its brief submitted on Oct. 24 to the Senate Stand- ing Committee on Official Languages studying Bill C-13, the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) paints a doom-and-gloom picture of our public school system.

The organization asks that the English minority-lan- guage community of Quebec receive “the same recogni- tion, respect, and support” as the French minority-language community in the rest of Canada.

QESBA adds: “The need to support the Quebec minority-language education system is clear.”

No, it is not. Besides asking for more direct funding for the system, it is difficult to discern exactly what else the association wants.

There is mention of a land- mark decision by the Supreme Court of Canada – Mahé v. Alberta (1990) – when the Court wrote that minority- language representatives should have exclusive authority on decisions relating to “expenditures of funds provided for instruction and facilities.”

The group then complains that Constitutional rights to control and manage the school system are often in contradiction with the position of the Government of Quebec.

Of course, there is disagreement. QESBA is stuck on a decision made in 1990 concerning another province. Meanwhile, governments evolve; this is Quebec 2022. Besides, education is a provincial matter.

Consider the three articles in the Nov. 2 QCT issue concerning new schools. The piece “Parents have questions, but like new merged high school plan” concludes with CQSB chair Stephen Burke thanking CAQ Premier François Legault for the new high school.

“Our kids deserve it,” he said. Indeed, they do.

Chris Eustace

Montreal

Dear Editor,

I was going up Grande Allée with my sons on a sunny afternoon and as usual one of the boys was intrigued by the number of statues, busts and monuments one encounters on the way from the Parc de l’Esplanade to Place George-V, not to mention elsewhere in our beautiful city. Indeed, one crosses the likes of a Russian writer, an Indochinese philosopher, a Boer War volunteer, Churchill, Roosevelt, Gandhi, Garneau, Papineau, Duplessis, even Confucius (!) who greets us just short of Place George-V, where monuments take on a military flavour, such as the one to the Royal 22e Régiment, the Voltigeurs, and even one that has been recently placed there on the instigation of two Quebec radio stations.

Of course one expects to see monuments in a historic city like Quebec; not only does it give character to its public places, but it also brings questions from young people and forces adults to remember the history of their city, its institutions and the diversity of the people who made the city what it is today or who have represented it abroad.

As the boys were contemplating the names of some of our most recent casualties in Afghanistan at the monument to the Van Doos in front of the Grande Allée armoury, they asked if those soldiers had lived in the armoury just behind. I had to explain that the armoury was the home of the Voltigeurs, but also had been the home of another Quebec regiment who had left for the great adventure over 80 years ago. Indeed, The Royal Rifles of Canada was a Quebec City regi- ment, from which the sons of such families as the Addie, Bradley, Clarke, D’Avignon, Fitzpatrick, Hunt, Johnston, Kirouac, Leboutillier, MacMillan, Power, Price, Reid, Ross, Simons, Sommerville, Williams, Woodside, Young and so many others, had volunteered to serve their country abroad.

While we remember the casualties the nation has recently suffered in Afghanistan, in this year of the 81st anniversary of the sacrifice of many sons of Quebec families in Hong Kong (more numer- ous than all of our casualties in Afghanistan), I cannot but ask where is their memory preserved, so that the sons of my sons one day ask where they were from and why they went to the other side of the planet to die. If we can manage to have monuments to the likes of Gandhi, Confucius and others, why is the sacrifice of so many sons of Quebec not remembered through a monument of their own?

Charles Branchaud

Quebec City

 

 

OBITUARY: Alma LaBar (1922-2022)

OBITUARY: Alma LaBar (1922-2022)

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our mother, Alma Alice LaBar, on Oct. 27 at the Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington, Ont. Alma was a beloved mother of six, grandmother of 13 and great-grandmother of 23. She passed just four days short of her 100th birthday. She was predeceased by her loving husband, Billy LaBar (1968), son Bobby (1963), son Jimmy (2019) (Louise, Norma) and sisters-in-law Norma and Vivian. She will be missed by her children, Steven (Monique), Vance (Christine), Harvey (Anne) and Karen (John Neal); and her grandchildren, Bobby, Eric, Kim, Josée, Sonya, Michael, Chris, Tim, Brenda, Andrew, Tina Neal, Will Neal and Laura Neal.

Alma was born on Nov. 1, 1922 in Northampton, England. She was the second daughter of Lilly and Charlie York, born two years after her older sister Edna. Alma was working for the war effort in Northampton, as many Brits were, when she met a dashing young Canadian soldier who asked her to go to the movies. She refused him the first time however, when he met her a week later and asked again, their romance began. They were married in 1942 with the war raging. Unfortunately, Billy suffered war injuries and had to return home to Canada to be hospitalized. Alma waited to see her husband again and sailed from Southampton, arriving at Pier 21 in Halifax in January 1944 with a young son, Jimmy, by her side. She took the famous CN War Brides Train and got off in Lévis, Quebec to begin her new life. Our Mum and Dad had a wonderful life together for 26 years before Billy passed in 1968. Mum continued her journey alone but her many great friends, Betty, Bernice, Dot, Daisy, Dorothy, Phil and more helped her get through these hard times. She went back to work, took in student boarders and raised her only daughter, Karen, who was eight years old at the time.

Mum loved going to Trinity Church and sang in the choir for over 50 years. She had a beautiful voice. She was an excellent knitter and would sit and knit watching TV, never looking down to see her hands doing their magic. The knitting table at the church tea and sale saw hundreds of Mum’s baby sweaters and blankets. She was an active volunteer in many charitable organiza- tions. Mum loved playing bridge and played weekly until the pandemic stopped her and her friends. Mum’s love of travel in her later years took her on many enjoyable trips to England, Ireland, Scotland, Texas, the Maritimes and the Northern States. She crossed the Atlantic one more time by ship on the Queen Mary II in 2010.

Mum left Quebec City in 2014 and moved to Burlington to be near her daughter Karen and John. She moved into the Pearl and Pine Senior Residence and spent her last years enjoying the view of Lake Ontario from her 12th floor apartment.
A celebration of her life will take place in the spring, date to be announced, at Trinity Church in Quebec City. Donations can be made to the Kidney Foundation of Canada or any foundation of your choice.

Mum, we know that you are smiling now with Billy, Bobby, Jimmy and the ones you love. Rest awhile before you start knitting again. Your strength will live on in us.
Love you Forever!

In the province of Quebec, not all internships are paid, especially in social services and the public sector. A group of interns and their supporters walked the streets of Quebec City from Parc de L’Amérique-Française through the Old City, ending at the National Assembly, where they called on elected officials to ensure a living wage for interns. (Photo by Cassandra Kerwin)

Interns rally for a guaranteed living wage

Interns rally for a guaranteed living wage  Cassandra Kerwin cassandra@qctonline.com On Nov. 10, a group of university students and interns assembled at the Parc de L’Amérique- Française to protest against…

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Université de Montréal goalkeeper Catherine Langelier punches out a ball before Léa-Jeanne Fortier of the Rouge et Or can head it towards the Carabins net in the U Sports women’s soccer national championship game at Stade Telus on Nov. 13. The Carabins won 1-0. (Photo courtesy of Université Laval/Yan Doublet)

Carabins end Cinderella tournament for Laval in U Sports final

Carabins end Cinderella tournament for Laval in U Sports final Luc Lang luc@qctonline.com Justine Lalande broke a 0-0 tie in the 75th minute to give the Université de Montréal Carabins…

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