A brutal assault on English is underway in Quebec where its 45-year-old Charter of the French Language — or Bill 101 — is on the verge of becoming even more extreme with a new update.
The new Bill 96 emphasizes the use of French and would directly impact not only those seeking provincial services, but also newcomers, enrolment at English CEGEPs (junior colleges), municipal services, small businesses and even the law with judgments being issued in French and eliminating the need for judges to be bilingual.
Companies with 25 or more employees would also be required to use French in the workplace and are to avoid requiring employees to know any language but French — a move that is expected to put a financial and administrative burden on businesses.
Another concern is that, without requiring English or other languages, doing business outside of Quebec’s borders would be impeded.
Immigrants to Quebec can seek government services in a language other than French for only six months. That’s an exemption to the requirement that service providers communicate exclusively in French
Quebec also preemptively invokes the notwithstanding clause, setting aside basic equality rights guarantee in both the Canadian and Quebec charters of rights and freedoms.
There are fears that health care and social services could decline as new restrictions inhibit effective communication.
Just weeks ahead of its expected passing, hordes of people descended on Montreal streets this past weekend during a protest that travelled two kilometres.
The goal of further strengthening the status of the French language has largely been accepted. But Bill 96 further inhibits the ability to exist, and do business, in English — which has been eroding in Quebec for decades dating back to the Quiet Revolution.
It was the original Bill 101 that prompted Sun Life to abandon its self-named building in Montreal and move its global headquarters to Ontario, marking a significant chapter in the exodus of anglophones from Quebec. The move was considered so crucial it was dubbed Black Friday at the Montreal Stock Exchange.
Quebec stands alone in our generation in so aggressively preserving language rights which have been accompanied by attempts to become independent. But where there was once a concern among all Canadians, that spotlight on current efforts seems somewhat dim.
Years ago, the entire country rallied when the very real threat of separatism was being taken to a vote in a referendum, its second and final one. It was 1995 and the identified need to voice opposition led to the organization of the Unity Rally being organized at Montreal’s Place du Canada and the call went out to Canadians across the country.
The now-defunct Canadian Airlines had a 90 per cent “unity” sale. And bus companies provided hundreds of vehicles to transport Canadians from other provinces to the rally, including at least one bus from Barrie.
I was on that bus as a reporter, travelling back to a community with which I was familiar. The others on the bus represented a cross-section of the community, most of whom weren’t typically taken to attending demonstrations or protesting.
It struck me, standing in the centre of the square that late fall day, that it was a bit limiting for the large number of people attending and the country’s largest political rally at the time — estimated at somewhere around 100,000.
But it was an empowering day in which the country and its people stood together to demonstrate the importance of keeping the country together.
That seems so long ago now. The attention Bill 101 and the referendums generated is lost in this latest chapter. And Quebec continues to travel further down this path of exclusion in its goal to ensure French as its official language.
Marg. Bruineman is a staff reporter at BarrieToday.
