Disinformation about the FQE

[Pierre Dénommée]

1. The FQE does not want to have a team in Budapest, it would be far too late for that.
2. The FQE does not want to be a Federation affiliated to FIDE like Scotland, this is no longer allowed by the FIDE Charter.

The FQE wants to become an affiliated organization, which would not impact the relationship between the CFC and FIDE, nor would it reduce the powers and privileges of the CFC. Affiliated organisation are non voting members of FIDE, and contrary to the Canada NFP Act, non voting members never vote in Switzerland.

Art. 14 Affiliated Organisations
14.1 The General Assembly, following an advisory opinion of the Council, can be admitted as Affiliated Organisations:

a) organisations grouping Member Federations;
b) associations or organisations which represent some regions or transnational territories;
c) associations or other organisations representing people with a common ground or with same interests on some specific chess activities.

14.2 Affiliated Organisations have the right to take part in FIDE Congresses and in the General Assembly, without voting.
14.3 Affiliated Organisations can organise and participate in some specific FIDE competitions or events, according with FIDE rules and regulations.
14.4 Affiliated Organisations can be authorised to organise events under the auspices of FIDE.
14.5 Affiliated Organisations can be temporarily suspended or permanently expelled by the General Assembly, for just cause.

AND

1. Affiliated Members

1.1 Any association or organisation which represents some regions and is admitted in FIDE in accordance with art. 14 of the FIDE Charter organisation, is titled as an Affiliated Member if it:

represents a specific territory located within no more than one Member Federation;
provides a consent of the FIDE Member Federation representing the state on which territory the Affiliated Member is located;
provides a due geographical or historical basis explaining and confirming its specificities;
may demonstrate a reasonable autonomy and structural organisation;
complies with active chess community standards, such as minimum amount of active chess players requirements or other indicators of chess community if any specified by the Council.

1.2 The attributed title of Affiliated Member can be used alongside or in alternative with the title of Affiliated Organisation.

CFC should stop panicking, what FQE wants is allowed under the FIDE Constitution with the approval of the CFC. It is in the best interest of the CFC to approve, because having more Canadian teams is an advantage, not a disadvantage. The affiliation would not enable the FQE to vote in the FIDE General Assembly or to endorse a candidate to Elected FIDE positions, an action reserved to the CFC.


The CFC does not have to recognized that Quebec is a distinct Nation, the House of Commons already did that. On November 27, 2006, the House of Commons passed a resolution recognizing Québec as a nation. This resolution read as follows: "That this House recognize that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada."

The Supreme Court also recognize Quebec as different.

It should be noted that the Supreme Court of Canada stated that Québec has "distinct legal traditions and social values" in a major advisory opinion in constitutional law issued in 2014 (Reference re Supreme Court Act, ss. 5 and 6, [2014] 1 SCR 433, para. 49). In a unanimous decision handed down in 2021,

the Court of Appeal of Québec also wrote that it is "an indisputable sociological and political fact" that "Quebec is not a province like others" and that "Quebec is the hearth and home of the French language and culture in North America and its legal regime based on the civil law differs markedly from those of its partners and neighbours" These statements are not meant to "negate or diminish the significant and important special characteristics of the other provinces of Canada, but rather to prevent Quebec's own significant and indisputable characteristics from being eclipsed or eliminated from the legal discourse."

The FQE affiliation is a risk free operation for the CFC, it does not take away anything from the CFC, because of the limited rights of affiliate orgainsations. It will empower Canada with more players in some international competitions. This affiliation would not make the FQE soveraing in Chess, all title applications would still go through the CFC...

[Vladimir Drkulec]

The CFC is not panicking. My blood sugars and blood pressures have returned to normal after the excitement surrounding the Candidates. They were not normal during that crisis but I wouldn't describe that as a panic either. Victor Plotkin was reacting to what he has been hearing from some of the top players in Canada from Quebec. Given the propensity of information to distort and lose and gain content as it goes from one person to another to another it is not surprising that misunderstandings can result.

I very much value the contributions of my friends from the FQE to chess in Quebec, in Canada and in the world. We are partners and will continue to be partners. We are friends and will continue to be friends. Misunderstandings do arise among friends. Lets everyone calm down and not make them more of a problem than they are up to this point.

[Pierre Dénommée]

The CFC is not panicking. My blood sugars and blood pressures have returned to normal after the excitement surrounding the Candidates. They were not normal during that crisis but I wouldn't describe that as a panic either. Victor Plotkin was reacting to what he has been hearing from some of the top players in Canada from Quebec. Given the propensity of information to distort and lose and gain content as it goes from one person to another to another it is not surprising that misunderstandings can result.

I very much value the contributions of my friends from the FQE to chess in Quebec, in Canada and in the world. We are partners and will continue to be partners. We are friends and will continue to be friends. Misunderstandings do arise among friends. Lets everyone calm down and not make them more of a problem than they are up to this point.

I agree with all that.

[Hugh Brodie]

FYI - here are FIDE's "affiliated organizations". The Isle of Man and New Caledonia are the only ones that represent an individual political division. No Catalonia, no Basque, no Bavaria, no Chechnia, etc. The Isle of Man is already a recognized FIDE federation, so I don't know why it's "affiliated" as well.

https://www.fide.com/directory/affiliated-organizations