Latest news with #Dubreuil
Montreal Gazette
21-05-2025
- Business
- Montreal Gazette
French language training at work does little to help new arrivals integrate, commissioner says
Quebec Politics By QUEBEC — The province's system for teaching new arrivals French in their workplace does not offer most participants a realistic chance of success and a smooth integration into Quebec society, Quebec's French language commissioner said Wednesday. In his 2024-2025 annual report tabled in the National Assembly, Benoît Dubreuil says while the system looks promising on paper and is widely supported by the business and political class, the reality on the ground is otherwise for most participants. Dubreuil identifies a series of flaws hampering better results in the system. Many participants, for example, arrive with no prior knowledge of French, which makes progress tough. Participants often don't have the time to focus on the courses because they are working full-time. The dropout rate is about 23 per cent. Others, anxious to improve their skills, opt to take French courses outside the workplace on their own time. The workplace itself is not conducive to learning French, especially if the English language is present, he says. 'A policy that consists of admitting to the workplace a large number of workers who don't understand French, and then offering them a low-intensity program to learn it, is not compatible with the objectives of the Charter of the French Language,' Dubreuil said in his report. 'Most participants (in workplace French courses) cannot aspire to socialize easily in French with their colleagues for many years. As a result, many non-francophone workers remain isolated in their workplace and potentially vulnerable.' Dubreuil argues the problem is not even a money issue. The fact many workers are not available to take the courses is. Dubreuil makes a series of recommendations to make the system work. He suggests Francization Québec, the agency responsible for teaching French to Quebecers and immigrants, deploy standardized courses with measurable objectives. He also says employers should be obliged to give workers more time to participate in the courses. 'The investment in workplace French will not produce durable results until the training is included in a global French integration vision of francization in the workplace,' Dubreuil said. From May 2023 to January 2025, 539 Quebec companies participated in the French workplace program. Seventy five per cent of participants were temporary immigrants. It's the second time Dubreuil has looked into the operations of Francization Québec, the agency created along with the adoption of Quebec's language reform law, Bill 96. Last year he highlighted long waits for services, blaming bureaucratic bottlenecks.
CBC
23-02-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Dubreuil picks up his 2nd speed skating silver medal over 500m at Poland World Cup
A model of consistency of late, Canadian speed skater Laurent Dubreuil collected his second silver medal in three days over 500 metres in Sunday's World Cup men's race in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland. Dubreuil, who clocked 34.70 seconds behind Kazakhstan's Yevgeniy Koshkin (34.52), continues his strong form after becoming the first Canadian in nearly 20 years to reach the podium at Milwaukee's Pettit National Ice Center last month, where he took bronze in the 500m. Marek Kania of Poland also reached the medal podium, finishing 6-100ths of a second behind Dubreuil, who has earned 41 medals on the international scene. The Lévis, Que., skater reached the finish in 34.73 on Friday in a race won by American superstar Jordan Stolz in 34.49. Stolz has 130-point lead over Dubreuil in the season standings for the discipline, with the Canadian extending his hold on second place over Tatsuya Shinhama of Japan to 27 points. Dubreuil now has six gold, 21 silver and 14 bronze medals since joining the World Cup circuit during the 2011-12 season. WATCH | Dubreuil earns his 2nd World Cup silver medal of the week in Poland: Quebec's Laurent Dubreuil speeds to his 2nd 500m silver medal of the weekend in Poland 1 hour ago Duration 1:26 The speed skater was also won eight career medals (three gold, two silver, three bronze) at the world single-distance championships and has two medals from the world sprint championships. "After the last Olympics, I challenged myself — I was at 24 medals at that point, and I wanted to shoot for 50," Dubreuil said earlier this week. "It seemed a bit ambitious back then, but I won seven the year after the Olympics, five last season and I'm at four this season. Winning 50 medals is now the goal." Anders Johnson of Burnaby, B.C., was 18th of 20 finishers in 35.42. Meanwhile, Ottawa's Ivanie Blondin earned a pair of medals Sunday. She partnered with Carolina Hiller (Prince George, B.C.) and Quebec City's Béatrice Lamarche for team sprint silver. Their time of one minute 28.30 seconds was narrowly shy of the Polish trio (1:28.09) and ahead of the Netherlands (1:28.46). Earlier, Blondin took women's mass start bronze in 8:20.79. Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands was victorious in 8:20.34, 54-100ths ahead of Italy's Francesca Lollabrigida (8:20.88).
