Call to colleagues in Canadian and Quebec Studies worldwide!
The current Quebec Minister of International Relations and Francophonie (MRIF), after refusing to disburse the second half of this year’s contracted budget, has now decided to completely defund the Association internationale des études québécoises (AIEQ), including evicting the Association from their office and recalling the staff on loan from the MRIF.
We are mobilizing and are asking for your help and support. What can you do?
1. Spread the word and ask your membership to sign the petition.
2. Make your voice heard by sending an expression of support either directly to the AIEQ and/or to Quebec’s new Premier, Christine Fréchette.
3. Use your social media outlets to circulate the news and the petition.
4. Respond to social media posts by the MRIF and others, supporting the AIEQ and its mission and correcting their disinformation and denigration of the contributions of academic associations and institutions as valuable partners in cultural diplomacy and education.
5. Consider publishing your support via editorials in Quebec’s major news outlets.
Many of us have benefitted from the AIEQ’s programs supporting writer and director visits to our campuses, financial support for academic conferences, travel, and research, “formations de formateurs,” or the pedagogical tool of Le Québec: connais-tu? We would be grateful to receive any and all testimonials to how your association and its members have partnered with the AIEQ or been assisted by its programming.
Contact information to use:
Other ways to follow this unfolding crisis:
www.aieq.qc.ca || www.facebook.com/aieq.qc.ca || www.linkedin.com/aieq
To express your support more publicly, please email the Office of Quebec’s Premier, Christine Fréchette.