Bill 96, the controversial provincial government legislation aimed at protecting the French language in Quebec, has been passed in the National Assembly.
Deputies voted 78-29 in favor of passing the law on Tuesday afternoon, and members of the opposition Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois voted against.
Bill’s approval comes when a Montreal-based constitutional lawyer says he, along with a committee of other lawyers, plans to challenge it in court.
Bill 96 “is … the most gratuitous use of power I’ve ever seen,” Julius Gray said Tuesday, hours before the legislation was passed.
Meanwhile, Quebec Prime Minister François Legault told English-speakers on Tuesday afternoon that the province is making a “historic promise” that it will “maintain” its services, and also said it believes they are already better served. in their own language than any other language. minority.
Reacting to the passage of the bill during a press conference in Vancouver, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters that he has “concerns” about Bill 96, but did not give a clear answer when asked. ask if the federal government would intervene in a legal challenge.
“We continue to look very carefully at what the final form of this will be and we will base our decision on what we consider the need to keep minorities protected across the country,” he said in English.
“I know how important it is to support French-speaking communities outside of Quebec, but it’s also extremely important to make sure we protect French-speaking communities within Quebec,” he added, noting that he once taught French in British Columbia.
CHANGE GAY IN ALL SECTORS
The bill was designed as an update of Quebec’s original language law, Bill 101, but contains huge and radical changes that will profoundly mark the justice system and the university education system, among many other sectors of society. Quebec.
Among other things, it would force new immigrants to Quebec to communicate with any government entity entirely in French from just six months after their arrival.
The bill would also change the system for deciding how many judges in Quebec should be bilingual, transferring that power to the Minister of Justice, who is currently the same person as the minister responsible for French.
It would limit enrollment levels to CEGEPs in English, making it increasingly difficult for universities to enter, as their growth will stop at 2019 levels.
Within these universities, students would also face new requirements: some would have to pass a French language exam to graduate and take some of their core French classes, while English-speaking students would also have to take more classes to learn. French.
This, in turn, will drastically change the staffing of universities, they said, by stimulating a significant recruitment of French-language teachers and probably jeopardizing the jobs of some English-speaking teachers.
There has been a lot of confusion about what kind of effect the healthcare law will have, with lawyers warning that their language leaves the door open to a serious change in the ease of obtaining healthcare in English, and the government insisting verbally that nothing. it will change in that direction.
Verbal guarantees, however, are cheap, say legal critics, while the bill as written is expansive and very complicated, leaving much uncertainty.
‘I DON’T KNOW ANY BEST LINGUISTIC MINORITY ATTENDED’: LEGAULT
Legault called the criticism “misinformation” last week. He reiterated on Tuesday, following the passage of the bill, that the government has promised that English services will be maintained.
“I know there are some who are adding fuel to the fire by saying that Bill 96 will prevent English-speaking Quebecers from receiving health services in English,” Legault said.
“We know that some people are concerned. We are committed to protecting your access to health care in English. It is a historic promise that we will keep, and will continue to have, hospitals, schools, cegeps and English-speaking centers. Universities,” he continued. .
“I don’t know of any language minority that is better served in their own language than the English-speaking community of Quebec.”
The Prime Minister added that “we are proud of this” and that “we are also proud to be a French-speaking nation in North America and it is our duty to protect our common language, and I invite all Quebeckers to speak it.” to love her and to love her. to protect her. “
‘DIVISIVE’ MASS LINGUISTIC REFORM LAW: ANGLADE
Liberal leader Dominique Anglade said her party was opposed to several sections of the bill, including the requirement that all new immigrants receive government services in French only after living in Quebec for six months.
“It’s not realistic, it’s not acceptable. There are a lot of families that will be affected by this. It will be a negative impact,” Anglade said after the bill was passed.
Speaking at a press briefing, he said that people living in Quebec may be in favor of promoting and protecting French, but also against Bill 96 because it “divides Quebecers.”
His message to the English-speaking community on Tuesday was to vote in the upcoming provincial elections in October.
“This is a way of expressing what kind of Quebec you want. We want a Quebec where, yes, we can protect and promote French, [but] where do we do it in an inclusive way where everyone feels respected, no matter what language you speak at home? “
WHO QUALIFIES AS ENGLISH SPEAKER?
The head of the Quebec Community Groups’ Network or QCGN, an umbrella group representing English-speaking Quebeckers, said that after a year of trying to educate people about the bill and influencing lawmakers to amend it , the final bill “is not yet what we wanted.”
“It’s a sad day. I think it’s a sad day for all of Quebec, “said QCGN director Sylvia Martin-Laforge.
Like lawyers who plan to challenge the bill, he said he finds it disturbing the way it was passed, protecting it from most legal appeals.
“The preventive use of the clause however is incredibly worrisome,” he said. “We cannot appeal to either the Quebec Bill of Rights or the Canadian Charter.”
The lawyers, so far represented by constitutional lawyer Julius Gray, plan to take their case to the United Nations if necessary, Gray said Tuesday.
In a statement, the QCGN said they had a “vision of an inclusive Quebec where French is the common language” and that most English speakers “favor the promotion and protection of the French language in Quebec and across Canada.” .
But the group is “convinced that there are more effective and inclusive ways to achieve this goal … and that it can be achieved without abandoning the human, equality and legal rights of Quebecers,” he wrote.
Martin-Laforge said that one of the concerns that ordinary citizens of Montreal most often raise is not necessarily with any of the sectors that will be affected by the bill, such as health or the justice system, but with the idea of separating “historical” English speakers of others. types of English speakers.
In Quebec, “historical English speakers” has been the term used to describe people whose parents can show that they went to an English school in Canada and therefore meet the requirements for an English school. and whose children do the same.
Others, especially immigrants, have to go to French school, even if their parents were also educated in English, but outside of Canada.
Bill 96 is the first time the government seems willing to extend this division out of the education system, also cutting off access to other government services in English to those who are not “historic” English speakers, especially new immigrants.
“I think people are very concerned about the use of the issue of identity around historical English speakers, and what does that mean? What does that mean in practice?” said Martin-Laforge.
“The English-speaking community is what it wants, it needs services in English.”
Even for those who meet the requirements for English school, the idea of proving that in many environments of daily life is discordant, he said.
“Me and others, what are we going to do, take out some kind of card that says we’re historical English?” she said.
“How do you prove it if you’ve lived in Quebec all your life, but most importantly, how do you prove it if you come from other parts of Canada? The whole notion of “historical Anglo” is bad.
People have made it clear to the QCGN repeatedly that “they don’t want to be categorized, they don’t want to be identified by the state,” he said.
What people outside of Quebec don’t always understand is that many English speakers are actually very proficient in French, or even bilingual fluently, like her, she said.
But there are situations in which people should have the right to speak their mother tongue, he argued.
“My example is that when I was growing up, my mom comforted me in English with, I don’t know, Mother Goose or whatever,” she said.
“When I grow up and need more compassionate attention, the language of comfort that will probably come to me is English, even though I speak perfect French.”
“It’s complicated,” he said. “Healthcare refers to health care outcomes: you want people to be better … most health professionals feel that way too. The government shouldn’t legislate what [language] doctors talk to their patients. “
With files from The Canadian Press
– This is breaking news. More to come.