When Stephanie Valenzuela was elected mayor of the Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough in Montreal’s 2025 municipal elections, she became the first Filipino-Montrealer to serve as a borough mayor in the largest francophone city in North America.
For Valenzuela, who grew up speaking English and Tagalog at home, it was a symbolic milestone. One, she says, she owes to Bill 101, Quebec’s landmark Charter of the French Language that mandates children of immigrants attend French schools.
“I’m really grateful for Bill 101,” says Valenzuela, “because if my parents had the choice at the time—because of convenience and fear of not being able to help us with our homework—they would have probably put us in the English system.”
Valenzuela attended French school and later rounded out her education by graduating from Vanier College and McGill University. Today, the multilingual public servant credits the legislation for ensuring she communicates effectively in French which, she says, widened her prospects.
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