News from your Community Association!

Message from our President

by Richard Henderson

Things are looking good in the English–speaking community. 

In early September, the West Quebecers hosted a strategic planning session at the Hilton du Lac Leamy to which community leaders were invited to join with our Board and have a hand in fashioning a three-year action plan for our association’s activity.  

The spectacular surroundings and pampering hospitality of the Hilton provided the perfect setting for what all participants felt was a good day’s work.

Now, before going any further, I feel it’s necessary to point out to everyone that we do still practice fiscal responsibility at West Quebecers - in spite of possible appearances to the contrary. After checking everywhere, the Hilton’s price beat every other local facility for our proposed one-day session. Really!

This year, the Board had decided to expand the usual scope of our strategic planning to include participants whose experience and knowledge of our community’s affairs could help to both broaden our perspective and focus our plan for priority action.

In the end, the strategic planning session was very successful. The process of putting together an action plan is now underway and there is no doubt that West Quebecers will be better able to serve the community as a result of the invaluable input from our guests.

The West Quebecers, however, are not the only ones involved in strategic planning, as you are no doubt aware. It seems as though that is the current buzzword for every organization known to man at this time.

Nonetheless, the entire province is about to hear of a strategic planning initiative that is quite unprecedented and amazingly ambitious in its scope. Launched by the Quebec Community Groups Network, it is called the Global Development Plan for the revitalization of the English-speaking community of Quebec. The GDP’s main objectives are to help provide the means for us to take stock of our needs after 30 years of exodus and isolation and to begin to re-establish our presence in the policy and decision-making process of Quebec.

The whole process will require three phases spanning two to three years, by which time the province-wide public consultations should be completed. 

The GDP process will allow us to renew our sense of belonging and establish a shared sense of identity while recognizing the many unique forces in our society. It can help us to develop our new role as participating citizens in today’s Quebec and in particular develop better strategies for employment access for our youth. It will also allow us to build knowledge about the English-speaking community in Quebec and how it is evolving regarding education, demographics and cultural attitudes so that we can be in a better position to strengthen our institutions and revitalize the community as a whole.  

I really expect to see a big payoff from both of these ambitious planning exercises. Locally, we will hopefully ensure that more of the community at large will have a stake in our activity. Provincially there will certainly be a windfall of knowledge and research that will come out of the GDP process.  

As well, we’re hoping also that our involvement in both of these planning processes might begin to identify the new leaders of the future in both the region and the province.  

I don’t need to tell you that Quebec society is both a complex and changing environment and it is vital that we identify tomorrow’s leaders as early as possible if our community is to remain forever an integral part of Quebec.   

I think things are looking very good, indeed!