English-speaking advocacy group QCGN rebrands as TALQ
One of the leading advocacy groups for English-speaking Quebecers is rebranding. This week, the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) will become TALQ.
A new name, a new website and a fresh look that is more representative of the organization's identity as an English-speaking minority within a French-speaking majority in Quebec were needed, according to director-general Sylvia Martin-Laforge.
'The rebranding of the QCGN has been a few years in the making. We renewed the organization over the last three years, but came to the conclusion that the name the QCGN didn't really represent anymore who the organization was and what we were doing,' Martin-Laforge said in a recent interview.
The not-for-profit group has been defending anglophone rights since 1994, when 15 Quebec-based organizations were funded under the federal Official Language Communities Program and brought together by Canadian Heritage, which, 30 years later, continues to fund the organization.
TALQ, pronounced 'talk,' is not an abbreviation, but it carries meaning.
'Talking, advocating, living in Quebec. But the word talk is in itself what we want to be known for — talking to our community, talking to the majority community of Quebec, talking to the rest of Canada about the needs, aspirations, priorities of the English-speaking community of Quebec,' she noted.
Since Premier François Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) was elected, the group has stepped up its efforts and taken a more assertive stance against policies that have impacted English-speaking Quebecers, such as Bill 40 and Bill 96.
'I think we have, over the last few years, become more able to articulate common causes with the majority in Quebec. I mean, we are all concerned about health care, we are all concerned about education, we're all concerned about the vehicles for culture in Quebec,' Martin-Laforge said.
The group also hopes that the rebrand will lead to better dialogue with French-speaking Quebecers.
'What the majority has to understand, and we will try and make that more evident, is our lens, the lens of the English-speaking Quebec, on health care, education, culture, what does that mean? What does it mean for us, and what are the benefits for social cohesion, economic prosperity in for all Quebecers?'
TALQ will be unveiling its new logo during its annual general meeting on Wednesday.
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