"I'm a language teacher and translator, but I can't learn French in Quebec."

I left Brazil to be with the man I love. When the province cut its French classes, I couldn't access the program I need to thrive.

- Itala Fortes

EARLY IN 2020, I MET MY FUTURE SPOUSE, Matthieu, online. I was living in São Paulo, working as an English teacher and translator. A year into our long-distance relationship, Matthieu came to visit me in Brazil and, a few months later, I flew to see him at his home in Sherbrooke, Quebec. In the winter of 2022, I officially moved in with him and his son, Noah, and we became a family.