EMSB schools transferred, New QC immigration system, G20 summit

Stories by Holly Cabrera

Produced by Holly Cabrera

LOCAL

Quebec Education Minister Jean-François Roberge announced that he will transfer two English Montreal School Board schools to the Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l'Île instead of the intended three. 

The decision to transfer General Vanier Elementary and John Paul Junior High school in Saint-Leonard comes as a response to overcrowding in the French school board.

The Pointe-de-l’île board, which serves new arrivals and French-language students, currently lacks space for nearly 3,000 students. 

Gerald McShane Elementary School will continue to be an English-language school because it is the only anglophone elementary in Montreal North. 

NATIONAL

The Quebec government launched its new system to select immigrants on Thursday in the hope of reducing application processing wait times and the provincial labour shortage. 

The new system called Arrima is already used in other provinces. 

Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette says the reform will prioritize skilled workers who are already living in Quebec and who are willing to live outside major cities. 

Arima’s introduction to the province is controversial due to the Coalition Avenir Quebec government passing legislation that would cancel 18,000 existing immigration applications. 

INTERNATIONAL

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is currently in Osaka for the G20 summit. 

The Prime Minister's Office said Trudeau had "brief, constructive interactions" with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the first day of meetings, but Trudeau does not have a formal meeting scheduled with Xi during the G20. 

At the summit, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said, “Canada is fortunate to have assembled a ‘broad international coalition’ of countries who support Canada and believe arbitrary detentions are harmful.”