As a columnist, I receive my fair share of messages. But one recent email turned into a phone call after the writer’s frustration and fatigue resonated with me.

Maria, 36, born and raised in Montreal, wrote to ask for advice on whether she should leave Quebec because she’s tired of the language politics. Since I’m not a life coach, I decided a conversation — allowing her to simply voice her grievances — would be best.

Maria is a typical Montreal allophone with parents and grandparents who immigrated here in the early 1960s. She took French immersion, left the province for her master’s degree, then returned — only to now wonder whether it’s time to leave for good.

She wrote me in frustration shortly after it was reported that the Quebec government had cut all its funding to YES Montreal, an organization that for the past 30 years has provided career counselling, mentoring and networking opportunities for young English-speakers, many of whom come from minority and vulnerable communities.

Adding insult to........

© Montreal Gazette