Follow the leaders: reconciling identity and governance in Quebec's Anglophone population

Abstract

Resolving matters related to identity, leadership, and governance has represented a considerable challenge in the community-building process of Quebec's English-speaking population. Despite a strong institutional network in the Montreal region where the majority of English speakers reside, there have been important debates about how and by whom political advocacy and representation are conducted on behalf of the minority language community. Organizations delivering education, health and social services to Montreal's English-speaking population have assumed near complete responsibility for representing their concerns to government, thereby forcing the once influential language-based advocacy bodies to rethink their objectives. Problems of governance and leadership in organizations defending the concerns of Quebec English speakers have also been challenged by the need to define a constituency which is in a state of demographic flux. It is contended that under certain conditions, being institutionally complete does not lead to community vitality and may result in some disengagement from the broader society. It is further argued that no study of the institutional completeness and governance of Canada's language minorities can be complete without properly evaluating the role of government as principal stakeholder and, as such, examining its influence on identity formation of the country's language minorities.