2026 Charles-Biddle and Maurice-Pollack award winners

The news. Fangfang Chen, founder of VieauQc, is the winner of the 2026 Solange-Chalvin award in the category “Adult who has followed or is following a French-language learning path in Quebec”, according to the official list of winners (in French). The awards were presented on Friday, November 6, at a ceremony that began at 2:30 p.m. at the Centre PHI in Montreal. She received her trophy, an original work by the Quebec artist of Guadeloupean origin Eddy Firmin, along with a certificate from Quebec's immigration and integration ministry (MII).

The ceremony. According to the Quebec government's press release (in French), Deputy Premier and Minister of Immigration and Integration Catherine Gentilcore opened the ceremony. “Congratulations to the finalists and recipients for their contributions, their talents and their generosity,” she said (our translation).

The award. The Solange-Chalvin award highlights four groups: adults who have learned or are learning French in Quebec, teaching staff, and the volunteers and partner organizations that support this learning. It is a collaboration between the ministry and the organization Culture pour tous. According to the official award presentation, the winning individual and the winning partner organizations receive a work by Eddy Firmin, and all finalists also receive a certificate from the ministry.

Its history. The award has been presented since 2023, when it replaced the Mérites en francisation, according to the official intercultural encounters week page (in French). It is named after Solange Chalvin, one of the first women journalists at the daily Le Devoir in the 1960s. She later became a manager at the Office de la langue française, now the Office québécois de la langue française. According to her biography on the Culture pour tous website, the Quebec government presented her in 2020 with the Prix Georges-Émile-Lapalme, the highest honour given to a person in Quebec for promoting the French language.

The other winners. The award has four categories and five prizes. According to the press release (in French), the other 2026 prizes went to Rachel Sauvé (MII teaching staff), the Centre d'appui aux communautés immigrantes (CACI), the Cégep Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and Diane Maurais, a volunteer at Carrefour le Moutier. In her category, Fangfang Chen was a finalist alongside Victor Ramon Fupuy Chiong and Maria del Pilar Pérez Estrada.

Her path. Born in China, Fangfang Chen began learning French in 2023. She is now taking a certificate in professional French communication at McGill University. Using her web development skills, she created VieauQc, a free website that helps newcomers understand procedures, Quebec culture and the resources available to learn French. Her favourite expression, according to her winner's profile (in French): “Petit à petit, l'oiseau fait son nid” (little by little, the bird builds its nest).

The context. The ceremony took place during Quebec's intercultural encounters week, held from November 2 to 8 (in French). The Quebec government announced the finalists on October 22; we reported her selection as a finalist on October 29.

Good to know for newcomers. This award honours people who learned French in Quebec, often while working or caring for their family. If you are just starting, the government's French courses are free for eligible people: our guide to free French classes explains how to register. To practise outside the classroom, our guide to volunteering in Quebec is a good place to start.

Related links (all in French):

• The Solange-Chalvin award, on the Quebec government website ↗
• Quebec's intercultural encounters week ↗
• The 2026 winners, on the Culture pour tous website ↗
• Newswire press release: 2026 Prix Solange-Chalvin winners announced ↗
• Prix Solange-Chalvin 2026 – Lauréate – Personne adulte (YouTube) ↗

What was just published. On October 15, 2026, the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS), the body that handles complaints about phone, Internet and TV services free of charge, released its early figures for 2025-26. It received 53,195 complaints, 79% more than the year before. It accepted 41,235, 74% more. The CCTS calls the demand “unprecedented.”

Two numbers not to mix up. The first counts every complaint received. The second counts the ones the CCTS accepted, meaning the ones it took on. If you see a different total elsewhere, check which of the two it is.

What it means if you complain now. The CCTS says it still resolves most complaints early in its process, and its global resolution rate is 87.2% for concluded complaints. But files that need conciliation or an investigation are taking longer than usual, and processing times may stay longer as long as demand stays this high.

Who gets the most complaints. The breakdown by company for 2025-26 is not known yet: it will be in the full annual report, which the CCTS will publish on January 13, 2027. The last full report covers August 1, 2024, to July 31, 2025. In it, the four national groups accounted for 95% of accepted complaints:

• Rogers: 38%
• TELUS: 27%
• Bell: 23%
• Vidéotron: 7%

How to read this ranking. These are shares of all complaints, not complaints per customer: a company with many customers will get more complaints. Each group also includes its other brands. In the report, Fizz and Freedom Mobile count with Vidéotron, Virgin Plus and Lucky Mobile with Bell, Fido and Chatr with Rogers, Koodo and Public Mobile with TELUS.

Before you file a complaint. The CCTS requires you to first give your provider a reasonable chance to fix the problem. It advises you to explain the problem and the solution you want clearly, keep your bills, contracts, chat transcripts and reference numbers, and note the dates of your calls and the names or employee numbers of the representatives. If nothing is resolved, and the problem falls within its mandate, you can then file a complaint.

Good to know for newcomers. The CCTS service is free. Keep a written record of every exchange with your provider from the first problem on: that is what you will be asked for if you need to go further. To choose a provider and understand contracts, see our guides on home Internet and TV and on choosing a phone plan.

What was announced. On October 28, 2026, Justice Minister Marie-Claude Sarrazin said she wants the next time change to be Quebec's last. This is an intention, not yet a rule: according to the Quebec government's news release on ending the time change (in French only), a bill will be tabled to make it happen. The announcement came four days before the return to standard time on November 1 at 2 a.m.

Why Quebec makes the call. In Canada, official time is usually set by each province and territory, explains the National Research Council of Canada's page on time zones and daylight saving time. So it is up to the Quebec government to change its own rules. It is relying on a survey carried out by the previous justice minister: 91% of respondents wanted to stop changing the clocks.

What is still to be decided. The government has not yet chosen between two options. The first is to keep daylight time all year, in other words summer time. The second is to keep standard time all year, the winter time. Before deciding, it wants to hear from experts, the public and the opposition parties in short consultations. These will start in the coming months, once parliamentary work resumes.

Where the bill stands. At the time of publication, it has not been tabled yet. On the National Assembly's list of bills, the most recent session ended on August 27, 2026, and no new session appears there yet. The release does not give a date for the change to take effect either. The bill will have to be tabled, studied and passed before anything changes.

What stays the same for now. Until a law is passed, the current rules apply. According to the National Research Council, clocks move forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday of November. For the practical side of the latest switch back to standard time, see our article on the fall time change.

Good to know for newcomers. Two terms come up again and again in this debate: “daylight time” (heure avancée in French), also called summer time, and “standard time” (heure normale), the winter time. The government says everyone concerned will be able to give their opinion, but it has not yet explained how to take part. If the issue matters to you, watch for the consultations to be announced in the coming months.