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QAAL'S ROOTS

English-speaking Quebec

The formal education system, which was but one of the providers of learning opportunities for adults, came about much later in the history of Quebec. With its deep roots, community education in English-speaking Quebec has a vital connection with community life: it was also a source of learning opportunities outside the formal education system. The "lighted schoolhouse" of the 1920s and the Folk School Movement of the 1930s are examples of such provider sand leaders in the field of adult education in Canada went on Study Missions to Denmark, where a lively Folk School Movement had been in operation since the 1840s, bringing back this concept to Canada, where it was popular well into the late 1950s.

In English-speaking Quebec, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was a resolute belief in community and in bringing communities together. With the English-speaking community at large perceiving itself as fragile, particularly in the rural areas, it was a time of working to form mutual support systems. Great changes were taking place, and no one knew what the future would hold.  There was a realization that if any change was to take place-never mind what shape that change was going to take, it was not going to be by political parties. Clearly the English-speaking communities had to take control of their future to ensure its viability and sustainability. The way this would come about, opined the community leaders, was through the actions of people and groups who cared, such as the Quebec Farmers Association, the Quebec Council of Minorities, and the Quebec Drama Federation. The expectation of these groups was not chauvinistic; rather it emerged as a consequence of a feeling of vulnerability, real or perceived.

There were major cultural issues in many Quebec communities in particular the two solitudes each with its own traditions. In the francophone communities the Catholic church, via its clergy, had traditionally looked after all aspects of education. The English-speaking villages-from the Gaspé to the Outaouais- were based on the Protestant model: Church councils composed of community members took responsibility for the health, education, and welfare of their communities, building their own hospitals, and organizing learning opportunities, occasionally in collaboration with the Church. As leadership emerged out of these communities, the people would gradually organize themselves, all on a voluntary basis.

As learning opportunities and services in the English language for programs of culture, education, public affairs, and citizenship were not readily available in Quebec, uneasiness about sustaining the health and the vitality of the English value system grew. Individuals were also longing to be informed. Distances and access made this a particular challenge. All these circumstances endangered the development of community-based providers and the use of public broadcasting as a delivery system for learning. Various methods were used to deliver the content. Some methods used feedback loops to learners. Others did not. The focus was nevertheless the same: improve community life and promote Canada as a nation.

A number of forces that pushed adult learning to the forefront, particularly in English-speaking families and groups: the traditions of popular education, partly inspired by populism, the labour movement, Protestantism, and the vast geographic distances between rural and urban centres as well as rural centres and farming villages. These factors created conditions that nurtured the intense seriousness of such programs as the National Farm Radio Forum, the Citizens' Forum, and As It Happens.