Search Results

Following a recommendation from the Charbonneau Commission, the National Assembly of Quebec passed the “Act to facilitate the disclosure of wrongdoings relating to public bodies” in December 2016 which was approved in May 2017. Although representing a major step forward for whistleblower protection, the Act has faced several criticisms in recent years, highlighting the shortcomings of the associated plan, which has proven, in some respects, to be insufficient to uphold its spirit. It is to address these limitations that Bill 53, “An Act to enact the Act respecting protection against reprisals related to the disclosure of wrongdoing and to amend other legislative provisions”, was approved by the National Assembly on May 29, 2024. In the following pages, the criticisms aimed at the act passed in 2016 are reviewed, and the observations on Bill 53, which will be effective on November 30, 2024, are then presented. Thus, despite advances for whistleblower protection, it is shown that the bill also still has persistent shortcomings.

Keywords: Public integrity, Intégrité publique, lanceurs d'alerte, whistleblowers, law 53, loi 53, Quebec, Québec

Social inequalities in health services (SIHS) include several challenges that governments and civil society actors are trying to address. Confronted with the complex situations experienced by the populations that are affected by them, intersectoral and territorial interven-tions are an avenue to be explored. This paper looks at the integrated community care in the Centres intégrés de santé et services sociaux (CISSS) and the Centres intégrés universitaires de santé et services sociaux (CIUSSS), and its contribution to reducing SIHS through a practice that acts on the social determinants of health. Four intersectoral and territorial interventions in Quebec are examined to understand how practitioners are involved in identifying these determinants that contribute to SIHS, and how they act on these determinants. The discussion raises issues of governance of the health and social services network in relation to the disparity of powers and the erosion of public services in general.

Keywords: Integrated community care, Intervention de proximité, social determinants of health, déterminants sociaux de santé, social inequality in health, inégalité sociale de santé, gouvernance, governance, population responsibility, responsabilité populationnelle

This article is part of broader research on the well-being of teachers in Quebec; more specifically, assessing their socio-emotional competencies (SEC), which are poorly documented. In the absence of questionnaires in French (Yoder, 2014) to assess them, it was proposed to develop a new questionnaire following the seven-step approach of Frenette et al. (2019), which maximizes obtaining validity evidence. A sample of 401 teachers allowed us to accumulate various validity evidence supporting the use of this questionnaire. The analyses showed that the two-factor (intrapersonal and interpersonal) conceptual model fits the data well. According to the perception of Quebec teachers, the results highlight three findings: (1) SEC are used occasionally in classroom, (2) the interpersonal component is more present in their interventions than the intrapersonal one, and (3) young teachers present lower averages for the intrapersonal component compared to their older colleagues. Future research is needed to support these findings and justify the importance of introducing SEC into teacher training in Quebec.

Keywords: compétences socioémotionnelles, socio-emotional competencies, CASEL, CASEL, enseignant, teacher, questionnaire, questionnaire, processus de validation, validation process

This paper highlights Kanien’kéha (Mohawk language) “adult immersion” as an effective and expedient program structure for creating second-language (L2) speakers and argues that concentrated efforts to strengthen and expand adult immersion are essential in advancing Kanien’kéha revitalization. By conducting a comprehensive vitality assessment, detailing the ‘health’ of Kanien’kéha use and transmission in all Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) communities, this paper argues that adult L2 speakers play a crucial role in revitalization and that adult immersion is essential in creating those adult speakers. Adult immersion as a unique program structure is defined and the foundational components of an effective adult immersion program are described, as well as the challenges that these programs continue to face.

This essay places David Graeber’s consistent focus on imagination and possibilities into conversation with social studies education. In a sociopolitical climate characterized by neoliberalism, militarized borders, and political censorship of social studies teaching and learning in P-12 schools, it is crucial that social studies teachers and teacher educators in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere continue to engage in pedagogies that are critical and responsive, providing students with representations of the past and present that, rather than reproducing the status quo, playfully imagine alternative futures that are more equitable, just, and free. Building from Graeber’s work in direct civic action, this essay offers ideas for how standardized social studies concepts can be reconfigured in affecting, life-giving ways.

Keywords: social studies education, citizenship, civics education, democracy, David Graeber, critical education, debt

The bureaucratic precepts engendered by modern universities produce a slew of negative effects inimical to educational justice. Drawing on historiographical evidence from the 1968 Strax Affair, a little-known protest held at the University of New Brunswick, we identify the arts of discombobulation as a novel approach to challenge the intellectual constraints imposed by university bureaucracies. By theorizing the arts of discombobulation, we aim to counteract bureaucracy’s most alienating affective residues, equipping scholars with an administrative arsenal capable of transforming the corporate academy into a playful, joyful environment. Inspired by cultural historian Johan Huizinga’s theory of the “play-function,” we introduce five interrelated tactics—burlesque versions of both formal and informal administrative practices—that amplify the contradictions inherent to the corporate academy’s contemporary bureaucratic structure: personalization, befuddlement, signal jamming, mapping, and abeyance. Even during moments of Kafkaesque bureaucratic defeat, discombobulation can generate a sense of heightened play necessary to fuel democratic resistance.

Keywords: universities, bureaucracy, resistance, discombobulation, play

Despite its status as archival source, the public correspondence of Machiavelli has rarely been studied by historians. This essay offers an analysis of this source from the viewpoint of the history of political communication. Usually focussing on the means of transmission, studies on political communication generally fail to address the question of the ontological status of public opinion and its relationship to truth: it is precisely this point that concerns us first of all. We then propose to study communication practices in a defined historical and historiographical context, namely, the construction of the state in modern Italy, understood as both territorial control and conflict management. Machiavelli’s correspondence captures the practical dimension of doxa in a twofold context: that of diplomatic mission, which requires the construction and transmission of truth, and the government of the territory, which requires constant attention both to current rumours and the changing moods of the subject populations.

The position of Chief Minister established by Cardinal Richelieu conjoined the minister’s role with the exercise of power. Since all final decisions remained with the king, this system of government was claimed as legitimate. Nevertheless, there were opponents of Richelieu’s ministry. The devout faction, represented by Mathieu de Morgues et Michel de Marillac, saw the new institution as a change to the current theory of monarchy, and thus open to legal challenge. On that basis, they laid out their opposition with a set of arguments. This essay analyzes the arguments, against Richelieu ’s ministry, that refer to the principles of monarchy.

This paper is a methodological reflection on my time as a graduate student studying Indian Residential Schools through archival sources. I broadly survey relevant secondary studies to access the current state of the field and to chart prospective avenues for future scholarly engagement. I suggest that, for religionists, the frameworks of church history and mission history can be selectively utilized to examine the history of residential schooling. I argue that the ‘Indian Residential School’ (or IRS) terminology creates a narrowed understanding of colonialism and assimilative education by disregarding other modes of schooling deployed in Indigenous communities: the day schools and mission schools, but also hospitals, convents, and other church-operated institutions. Largely dating to the pre-Confederation period, mission schools especially fade from view when studies focus on the national model of the IRS launched in 1879 and expanded in 1884. In many regional contexts, mission schools of the colonial era laid the literal and conceptual groundwork for the later launching of the IRS system. By studying the works and the records of specific church bodies, religionists might elucidate with greater clarity the evolving differences, synchronicities, or collaborations of ideologies, policies, and practices among members of church and state over several centuries. Attending to pre-Confederation, colonial history also lends a transnational scope to a topic that is often framed in the context of national history, i.e., ‘Canada’s residential school system’. A global perspective on colonial education could assist historians of religion to assess the legacies of church, empire, and imperialism on Canada’s national model of residential schooling.

Keywords: residential schools, Christian missions, church history, truth and reconciliation, Indigenous peoples, education