The Minister of Justice of Canada said he would not rule out taking part in a legal challenge against the recently passed Bill 96 in Quebec, and also listed a number of potential issues with the controversial language law.
The main concern for Justice Minister David Lametti is the preventive use of the clause, however, by Quebec, which essentially protects the bill from legal challenges based on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. .
“I remember those debates when the Constitution came into force and the clause nevertheless had to be the last word,” Lametti said when he met with reporters Wednesday morning.
“It didn’t have to be the first word.”
The new law has a wide scope, limiting the use of English in courts and public services and imposing stricter language requirements on small businesses and municipalities.
It also limits the number of students who can attend CEGEPs in English, which are undergraduate universities, and increases the number of French courses that students at this level must take.
The Quebec government has used the clause however for Act 96 and Act 21, the religious symbol law that was passed almost three years ago.
Lametti, who is the Montreal district deputy for LaSalle – Émard – Verdun, said the use of the notorious clause has the effect of “cutting off political debate” and judicial review of a law.
Law 96 was passed on Tuesday, after weeks of protests over concerns that violate the rights of Anglophones, allophones and indigenous communities.
The government of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) has insisted that the new law would not do such a thing, but many legal experts disagree.
TARGET | The federal justice minister says Canada may consider challenging Bill 96:
Lametti: “Am I less Quebecois because I oppose Bill 96? No.”
Justice Minister and Attorney General of Canada David Lametti says the federal government could join lawsuits against Quebec’s 96th bill.
Lametti said the federal government will monitor how Bill 96 is implemented before deciding whether to intervene.
“We will have all the options on the table,” he said. “We will not rule out the possibility of joining the judicial challenges where we believe it is necessary to protect the constitutional rights of Canadians.”
The justice minister said he was concerned about the potential effects of the law on access to justice in both French and English, indigenous rights and access to health care.
He also highlighted a clause in the law that gives broad powers to the Quebec language office to investigate companies suspected of not operating in the official language of the province.
“I am a Quebecker. As a citizen of Quebec, I am concerned about access to health care. I am concerned about the ability to conduct searches and confiscations and whether this violates the rights of the charter,” he said.