Québec, March 22, 2020 — The Federation of Quebec Parents' Committees (FCPQ) and the English Parents’ Committee Association (EPCA) welcome the government's efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus in Quebec and understand the decision to extend the closure of schools.

“We have always prioritized academic success, but we are currently living in an exceptional situation during which everyone's priority must be the health and safety of our fellow citizens. Parents must contribute to the effort and follow the instructions of the public health department and the government, " said Kévin Roy, President of FCPQ.

"We appreciate working with the Minister, the ministry and education partners, during this tumultuous period of time, to find solutions to reduce the anxiety levels of our children and parents," said Katherine Korakakis, President of EPCA.

Facts:
• Schools will be closed, minimally, until May 1, 2020.
• The end of year ministerial exams are canceled and the missed school period will not be taken over.
• Tools and details will be announced ahead of March 30 to allow parents to help their children maintain their skills. There will be no new
learning during school closings and activities will be optional.

“The ministry has ensured EPCA that English educational tools will also be put in place to help support parents whose children attend English language schools,” said Katherine Korakakis.

“We are committed to relay parents' concerns and recommendations and ensure that the measures in place are accessible and equitable for all, and for students with special needs in particular," concluded Kévin Roy.

The FCPQ and EPCA offer their full collaboration to continue to work with their partners in the Education sector as well as with the Minister and the ministry of Education.

Profil de la Fédération des comités de parents du Québec (FCPQ)
La FCPQ regroupe, depuis 45 ans, les comités de parents des commissions scolaires du Québec et soutient les parents bénévoles soucieux de la participation parentale au sein des écoles publiques primaires et secondaires dans le but d’assurer la qualité de l’éducation offerte aux enfants.

English Parents’ Committee Association (EPCA) profile
EPCA is a coalition of parent committees from English-language school boards across Quebec, representing nearly 100,000 students in the English language youth sector.

Sources :

FCPQ
Stéphanie Rochon
Responsable des communications
Cell : (581) 985-7137
Email : communications@fcpq.qc.ca

EPCA
Katherine Korakakis
President
Cell : (514) 668-8672
Email : president@epcaquebec.org

News resources

The Suburban -Parent leadership welcomes announcement of extended closure

Appele Press Conference – EPCA President’s Speech

7 months ago
/ Press Release

APPELE-Québec Proposes Path for Breaking Impasse on Bill 40

(February 3, 2020) – Montreal, QC

Appele Press Conference - EPCA President's Speech

Good morning everyone, let me first start by explaining who we are. The English Parents’ Committee Association (EPCA) is a corporation funded by the government of Quebec. It represents all parents in Quebec whose children attend schools in Anglophone school boards. There is a clear consensus among those parents that the priority in education is about student outcomes: to prepare our children so that they will be ready to meet the challenges ahead.

Let's be clear! We at EPCA are representing the ones who have the most vested interest in the success of our students. Do we represent teachers, administrators, bureaucrats or school commissioners?

The answer is No! We represent the voice of the parents.

The 16 EPCA directors are elected from the Parents' Committees at eight of the nine English-language school boards in Quebec. Their opposition to aspects of Bill 40 is clear, and EPCA adds its voice to call for a comprehensive consultation as a prerequisite to any substantial educational reform.

For too long, the consumer has walked in the store ready to purchase bread, the store owner has taken the money and given the consumer a bag of chips. The consumer is then told that it’s more nutritious.

Are parents truly getting their money’s worth with regards to the education of their children?

EPCA asserts that parents want a high-quality bilingual educational system that will ensure its graduates flourish in Quebec and maintains that improved student outcomes should always be the focus of any reform regardless of language and election cycle.

We do commend the government for seeing the importance and necessity of returning greater control to the consumer, who are the parents.
We are however concerned about the transition and the resources to enable the parents to succeed in these new roles.
Other concerns are the students with special needs and of course students found in remote locations.

Change is good. Change is needed. However, it must emerge under the right conditions. We know that the many other stakeholders in the educational system also have views on how to improve it. Certainly, the most central player, the Ministère de l’Éducation, has a critical role in any reform. But we believe the proposed Bill 40 fails to go beyond the Ministère and its perspective on the system. Many of the needs for educational reform are not as evident on the Grande Allée as they are on Rue Principale. We urge the government to be courageous and open this process to all stakeholders across the province. The future of our educational system is far too important to be left solely in the hands of the bureaucracy.

All too often history bears witness against the practice of rushing policy.

Should this be done without critical thought by all involved, the cost will be heavy, the majority of which will be absorbed, not by the law makers, but on the children themselves and the ones with the most vested interest: the parents.

Resources
Appele press conference link
https://appelequebec.org/2020/02/03/appele-quebec-proposes-path-for-breaking-impasse-on-bill-40/

EPCA Press Release 01-15-2020

8 months ago
/ Press Release

For Immediate Release

EPCA elects new leadership

(January 15, 2020) – Montreal, QC

The English Parents’ Committee Association (EPCA) elected a new executive during its Annual General Assembly last Saturday in Montreal.

Board members representing their respective school board Parent Committees elected outgoing Vice-President and English Montreal School Board delegate Katherine Korakakis as President, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board delegate Ailsa Pehi as Vice-President. Pierre Masson, Central Quebec School Board, was elected Treasurer.

Korakakis succeeds Rhonda Boucher who served as President for four years, thanking her fellow directors for their confidence. “I look forward to meeting the challenges that lie ahead and working with the diverse and dedicated board members who are the voice of parent stakeholders in Quebec’s English public education network.”

For 10 years, Korakakis has been responsible for the development of entrepreneurial initiatives and projects under the auspices of the Quebec government’s Quebec Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge
program. She has authored and co-authored guidebooks on entrepreneurship education and served on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations. Serving as vice-president of PME MTL Centre-Ouest and on the investment committees of PME MTL Centre and PME MTL Centre-Ouest..

Pehi is a former Sir Wilfrid Laurier school commissioner and currently serves as Vice-President of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier Foundation, and board Vice-President of the non-profit Centre d’Activités Récréatives et Educatives which serves adults with physical disabilities.

With 16 delegates elected from eight English school board Parent Committees, EPCA has worked with Quebec organizations and associations helping support parent committees with their mandates since 2009. EPCA also helps train Parent Committees and represents stakeholders’ interests to the Ministère de l'Éducation et de l'Enseignement supérieur.

For more information contact: Katherine Korakakis (514) 778-3722

Press Release November 22, 2019 Bill 40

10 months ago
/ Press Release

Montreal, November 22, 2019
The English Parents Committee Association (EPCA) is denouncing the paraphrasing used by the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge in the National Assembly yesterday on the comments made by EPCA Vice-President Katherine Korakakis during the parliamentary commission on Bill 40.

The Minister of Education used Ms. Korakakis’s statement in his own context. “The Minister of Education used my name to try and promote his bill in the National Assembly in the wrong context,” said Vice-President Katherine Korakakis.

“EPCA is not in favour of Bill 40 and if he had listened through the entire proceeding he would have understood our position as clearly as the other Members of the National Assembly on the Culture and Education Committee.

EPCA sees no added value to student success or to our community with this bill. It should be withdrawn and all education stakeholders should have a voice in the future of our extremely successful public education system,” concluded the Vice-President.

ComECH Quebec Press release

last year
/ Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – September 25, 2018 – (ComECH-Quebec)

Major Parties Want Votes of Minority Communities but Refuse to Stand-up for a History Curriculum that Reflects their Positive Contributions to Quebec Society.

September 24, 2018

Montreal, QC – The Committee for the Enhancement of the History Curriculum in Quebec (ComECH-Quebec) will hold a press conference on September 25th at 10:00AM at the English Parents’ Committee Association office (7875 Chemin de la Côte-de-Liesse). We will report on the responses we received to a letter outlining ten specific problems with the current history curriculum and asking the main political parties if they agree that each was a problem and whether they are willing to act to correct this problem.

The letter was accompanied by a document containing excerpts from the secondary four textbook providing concrete examples of the problems identified in our letter. The letter was sent to the leaders of the PLQ, CAQ, PQ, QS and PVQ as well as the candidates for these parties in the ridings of Laurier-Dorion, Mont-Royal-Outremont, Notre-Dame-de-Grace, Saint-Marie-Saint-Jacques and Westmount-Saint-Louis.

ComECH-Quebec chairperson Robert Green expressed disappointment at the tepid response the letter received. “Each of the major parties have been courting the votes of Anglophones and other minority communities and yet neither the Liberal, CAQ, PQ nor QS leadership is willing to speak out about a history curriculum that eliminates the positive contributions of any minority community from the curriculum.”

According to Green, this should be an election issue: “In considering who to vote for, members of minority communities should be aware that the leaders of the major political parties see no problem forcing their children to endure two years of ethnic nationalist propaganda that sends them a clear message that they are second-class citizens.”

According to Green, this problem has academic implications for students from minority communities: “As a teacher I know that my students have a better chance at success when they can make personal connections with the curriculum. By writing the positive contributions of minorities out of the program and neglecting local history the government is systematically putting all students from minority communities at an academic disadvantage”.

Green also expressed disappointment at the lack of response from major party candidates running in ridings representing large numbers of citizens from minority communities.

“None of the candidates from major parties running to represent the large Jewish community in Mont-Royal-Outremont were willing to agree that it is a problem that the textbook represents a complete whitewash of Quebec’s history of antisemitism; none of the candidates running in the ethnically diverse riding of Laurier-Dorion were willing to agree that it is a problem that the textbook re-enforces Islamophobic stereotypes and reduces the contribution of immigration to replenishing the labour market; none of the candidates running in the primarily Anglophone riding of Westmount, including Liberal candidate and President of the Quebec English School Boards Association, Jennifer Maccarone, were willing to agree that it is a problem that the textbook demonizing the entire Anglophone community as a monolithic block of elites. It is a shocking lack of courage and principles we are seeing from these candidates.” said Green. “These candidates claim to want to see minority voices represented in the National Assembly but refuse to stand up for them being represented in the history curriculum.”

However, Green pointed out that the letter did receive some positive responses. In addition to a supportive response from QS candidate for NDG, Kathleen Gudmundsson, our letter received several supportive responses from Green Party candidates, including party leader Alex Tyrell.

“The Green Party was by far the most supportive of our letter. Alex Tyrell was the only party leader willing to commit to changing the curriculum to reflect the values of an inclusive democratic society”, Green said. “We were also particularly impressed with the strong words of support offered by Westmount Green Party candidate Sam Kuhn and NDG Green Party candidate Chad Walcott.”

Finally, the members of ComECH-Quebec want voters to consider that recent changes to the history curriculum have occurred in a context of rising xenophobia in Quebec society.

“Political parties in Quebec have in recent years shown an increased willingness to pander to xenophobic sentiments in the population. By remaining silent about this highly problematic curriculum, they are now signalling their willingness to have the provincial history curriculum politicized in order to reproduce such xenophobic views in the minds of young people. This is a very serious issue for the future of our society,” warned Green. “Those who believe in a Quebec that is open, democratic and inclusive of its minority communities, should think long and hard about this issue before casting a vote”.

About the Committee for the Enhancement of the Curriculum of History in Quebec
ComECH-Quebec is an ad hoc committee created by the English Parents’ Committees Association (EPCA), Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN), the Quebec Federation of Home and School Associations (QFHSA), and the Quebec Association of Geography Teachers. The Committee is chaired by Westmount High School teacher Robert Green.

Contact: For more information contact Robert Green at 438-878-8398

Enclosures: Letter sent to parties and candidates; Documents from Secondary 4 Textbook Reflections.qc.ca; Quebec’s Secondary III & IV History Curriculum: In Need of Change

Category Archives for Press Release

EPCA elects new leadership