Jobs and belonging shape why young English-speaking Quebecers leave

A bilingual admission sign displays information in French and English. A new research review examines how employment, language and belonging shape young English-speaking Quebecers’ decisions to stay or leave. Stock photo: Erik Mclean / Pexels.

Get local news like this every morning . Subscribe free below. Employment opportunities, a sense of belonging and the strength of local communities all help shape whether young English-speaking Quebecers stay or leave, according to a new research review that highlights added pressures outside Montreal.

For Eastern Townships readers, the paper offers context for questions about access to work, training and English-language services. It also identifies a significant gap: many English-speaking communities outside major cities remain insufficiently studied. Dated September 2026, the paper from the Quebec English-Speaking Communities Research Network (QUESCREN) at Concordia University draws on more than 60 academic publications, reports and demographic studies.

Authors Simon-Pierre Lacasse and Meghan Rulli examine research stretching from the 1970s to the present. Their paper is a review of existing evidence, rather than a new survey measuring how many young people intend to leave Quebec today. Across the research reviewed, employment prospects repeatedly emerge as an important influence on migration decisions.

Earlier studies found that young English speakers often saw moving as a way to secure better professional opportunities. Later research placed increasing emphasis on finding work, advancing in a career and earning a higher income. The review also cites research reporting higher unemployment and lower median incomes among English speakers than French speakers across most Quebec regions.

Those findings concern broader English-speaking populations, rather than exclusively young people, and draw on data from earlier years. They provide context for youth employment concerns. They do not establish that every young English speaker faces the same barriers or that language alone explains differences in employment outcomes.

The authors describe decisions to move as involving both pressures at home and opportunities elsewhere. Limited local work can encourage departure, while better salaries, education or career prospects can attract someone to another region or province. The review finds that stronger French-language skills are an important part of the picture, but do not explain it completely.

The authors describe growing French-language proficiency among younger English-speaking Quebecers. Research discussed in the paper presents bilingualism as a skill that can support participation in Quebec society and encourage people to stay. However, studies discussed in the paper also describe some bilingual English speakers reporting discrimination or feeling unwelcome despite their French skills.

The authors connect those experiences to questions of identity and belonging, alongside access to employment and advancement. Their conclusion cautions against assigning one explanation to everyone who moves. “Together, these factors suggest that youth mobility is not simply a response to a single cause but the result of multiple overlapping dynamics,” the paper states.

The review highlights differences between Montreal and communities elsewhere in Quebec. Studies from the 1990s and early 2000s identified limited employment, lower salaries and access to post-secondary education as reasons young English speakers left rural regions. The consequences of migration can also extend beyond the people leaving.

Research reviewed by the authors describes difficulties maintaining English-language schools and local services in some regions as younger and more educated residents move away. Schools can play an important role in supporting the wider English-speaking community, beyond providing classroom instruction.

The paper examines moves between Quebec regions as well as departures from the province. A move to Montreal may keep someone in Quebec while still reducing the population of their home community. The Pulse previously reported on a partnership between the Eastern Townships School Board and Townshippers’ Association intended to expand skills training for the region’s English-speaking community.

As reported by The Pulse in June, the UpSkills initiative was announced as offering free training in high-demand sectors, including health care, construction and digital technologies. The agreement was presented as running until March 31, 2030. The initiative builds on Townshippers’ Guide employment program, which provides personalized employment support for English speakers in the Eastern Townships.

That work offers a local connection to the employment and training issues discussed in the review. The paper does not evaluate UpSkills or establish whether the initiative has helped retain young people in the region. In a separate Oct.

6 statement previously covered by The Pulse, TALQ called for dialogue with Quebec’s incoming government and highlighted health care, education and economic security among the priorities identified through its community survey. That statement provides additional context for the concerns of English-speaking communities.

Neither it nor the September review establishes how the recent election will affect youth migration. The authors identify a shortage of studies following young people over time to see whether they actually leave, return later or settle permanently elsewhere. “Much of the research focuses on whether young English-speaking Quebecers plan to leave Quebec rather than whether they eventually do so, return later, or remain permanently elsewhere,” the paper states.

The review also identifies gaps in research on English speakers educated primarily in French, and on how race, immigration status and social class shape mobility. QUESCREN notes that its working papers receive internal review by affiliated professors but are not externally peer reviewed.

For the Townships, the paper provides a framework for examining employment, belonging and community life. Establishing how those factors affect young residents here requires local evidence and their own accounts of choosing to stay, leave or return. The full paper, Understanding Youth Out-Migration Among English-Speaking Quebecers: A Literature Review , is available through Concordia University .

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