Legal dispute over Quebec's language policy

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The legal dispute over Quebec's language policy began soon after the enactment of Bill 101, establishing the

in 1977.

The Charter, enacted under the

of 1910.

Both statutes were drafted in an attempt to follow the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry on the Situation of the French Language and Linguistic Rights in Quebec (the Gendron Commission).

Unlike the (Quebec) Official Language Act of 1974 (not to be confused with the federal

), the Charter of the French Language is a legal framework defining the linguistic rights of Quebecers, and a language management policy giving the Government of Quebec the power to intervene in many sectors of public life to promote French as the common language of all citizens. Its enactment sparked a legal battle that still goes on today.

Before 1982

In 1867, the

"Either the English or the French Language may be used by any Person in the Debates of the Houses of the Parliament of Canada and of the Houses of the Legislature of Quebec; and both those Languages shall be used in the respective Records and Journals of those Houses; and either of those Languages may be used by any Person or in any Pleading or Process in or issuing from any Court of Canada established under this Act, and in or from all or any of the Courts of Quebec."

"The Acts of the Parliament of Canada and of the Legislature of Quebec shall be printed and published in both those Languages."

Language of legislation and justice

Main article:

Attorney General of Quebec v. Blaikie (No. 1)

Three Quebec Lawyers, Peter Blaikie, Roland Durand and Yoine Goldstein first challenged the constitutionality of the Charter of the French Language under section 133.

In 1979, the

. The highest court in Canada judged that the enacting and passing of laws had to be done in both French and English in the parliaments of Quebec and Canada.

Sections 7 to 13 of the Charter of the French Language had made French the only language of legislation and only provided for a translation of laws in English at the end of the legislative process.

The Quebec government responded by re-enacting the charter (and all other acts enacted since 1977) in French and English. Sections 7 to 13 of the charter were however left untouched.

In 1981, another Supreme Court decision (Quebec (Attorney General) v. Blaikie (No. 2)) declared that section 133 also applied to government regulations.

After 1982

The

introduced the notion of "minority language education rights".

Alliance Quebec, an Anglophone rights lobby group was founded in May 1982. It is through this civil association that various anglophone lawyers challenged the constitutionality of Quebec's territorial language policy.^[2]

Language of instruction

Quebec (A.G.) v. Quebec Protestant School Boards

In 1984, the Supreme Court invalidated Chapter VIII of the Quebec Charter of the French Language on the basis of its incompatibility with section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 23 of the Canadian Charter reads:

(1) Citizens of Canada

(a) whose first language learned and still understood is that of the English or French linguistic minority population of the province in which they reside, or

(b) who have received their primary school instruction in Canada in English or French and reside in a province where the language in which they received that instruction is the language of the English or French linguistic minority population of the province,

have the right to have their children receive primary and secondary school instruction in that language in that province.

Section 73 of the Charter of the French language had recognized the right to English language instruction to Quebec residents alone. Canadian citizens from outside Quebec are forced to send their children to French primary and secondary schools, in direct violation of S26.(3) of the UN Declaration of Human Rights,^[3] which states that "Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.^[4]

On July 26, 1984, the Supreme Court invalidated part of Section 73. Judged retroactively unconstitutional, the section had to be modified so that it no longer clashes with the Canadian charter's definition of a linguistic minority. The current Section 73 of the Charter of the French language reads:

The following children, at the request of one of their parents, may receive instruction in English:

1) a child whose father or mother is a Canadian citizen and received elementary instruction in English in Canada, provided that that instruction constitutes the major part of the elementary instruction he or she received in Canada;

2) a child whose father or mother is a Canadian citizen and who has received or is receiving elementary or secondary instruction in English in Canada, and the brothers and sisters of that child, provided that that instruction constitutes the major part of the elementary or secondary instruction received by the child in Canada;

3) a child whose father and mother are not Canadian citizens, but whose father or mother received elementary instruction in English in Québec, provided that that instruction constitutes the major part of the elementary instruction he or she received in Québec;

4) a child who, in their last year in school in Québec before 26 August 1977, was receiving instruction in English in a public kindergarten class or in an elementary or secondary school, and the brothers and sisters of that child;

5) a child whose father or mother was residing in Québec on 26 August 1977 and had received elementary instruction in English outside Québec, provided that that instruction constitutes the major part of the elementary instruction he or she received outside Québec.

In 2005, a Supreme Court ruling upheld Section 73 of the Charter of the French language and its corresponding subsections (1 through 5). See Maclean's 5 April 2005, an article by John Geddes entitled "Tweaking the Language Laws". It maintains that the court upheld S.73 yet provided for flexibility in matters dealing with English-speaking Canadians and immigrants from other countries.

Bill 104

This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: Mentions an appeal to the SC but not its outcome.. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (May 2023)

In August 2007, the

The

which it did.

A judgment was given that delayed use of that conclusion until the Supreme Court of Canada judged on a provincial administration request.[8]

The challenge to Bill 104 continued but with funding from the English school boards affected,^[9] as the federal Court Challenges Program established for such minority language rights was cut by the Conservative minority government.^[10] There was a precedent for having the government pay the fees of the challenging side, or appointing an amicus curiae.^[10]

A representative of the Quebec Association of Independent Schools proclaimed its goal to strike the delay,^{[clarification needed]} and Brent Tyler, the advocate for the 26 families in the case, said he would pull together an appeal.^[8]

The Quebec English School Board Association (QESBA) suspected the volume of probable English-system learners who might be affected by this result to be 500 annually, the majority of whom would enroll in Montreal schools. It said such a loss to the French school enrollment of almost 1 million would be unimportant. It asked that the decision be respected until it can be referred to the Supreme Court.^[11]

About half of all enrollment decline in the

A coalition of groups for defending French supported the Quebec government in its venture to overturn the Quebec Appeal Court ruling.

Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois suggested in 2007 that the ruling could be "catastrophic" and described it as unsatisfactory. Over the 30-year life of Bill 101 "about 4,000 children have used this to get into the English network," she said, as opposed to the French network.^[14]

Language of commercial signs

Ford v. Quebec (Attorney General)

In 1988, the Supreme Court ruled that the sections of the Charter of the French Language enforcing the exclusive use of French on outdoor commercial signs were unconstitutional. The Court-based this decision on the guarantee of freedom of expression in s. 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Supreme Court remarked that the Quebec government could legitimately require French to have "greater visibility" or "marked predominance" on exterior commercial signs, however it could not enforce the exclusive use of French.

With the Act to amend the Charter of the French language, S.Q. 1988, c. 54 (also known as Bill 178), the National Assembly (under a Quebec Liberal government) made use of the

of the Canadian constitution and amended the Charter by allowing English provided that the letters are no larger than half the size of the French.

Ballantyne, Davidson, McIntyre v. Canada

The use of the notwithstanding clause led to formal complaints by three Quebecers: John Ballantyne, Elizabeth Davidson, and Gordon McIntyre, who own businesses in

.

They challenged sections 1, 6 and 10 of Bill No. 178 enacted by the Quebec legislature on 22 December 1988. They alleged to be victims of violations of articles 2, 19, 26 and 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by the federal government of Canada and by the Province of Quebec, due to the act's prohibitions on the use English in advertising or in the name of their firms.

After hearing both parties, the Committee gave its opinion on what it believed to be the three major issues:

• (a) whether Sec.58 of the Charter of the French Language, as amended by Bill 178, Sec.1, violates any right that the authors might have by virtue of article 27;
• (b) whether Sec.58 of the Charter of the French Language, as amended by Bill 178, Sec.1, violates the authors' right to freedom of expression;
• (c) whether the same provision is compatible with the authors' right to equality before the law.
• 1. The Committee observed that "provisions of article 27 refers to minorities in States", which English-speaking people in Canada are not. It stated that the "authors therefore have no claim under article 27 of the Covenant".
• 2. The Committee disagreed with the Government of Quebec which asserted "that commercial activities such as outdoor advertising do not fall within the ambit of article 19." The Committee stated "Article 19, paragraph 2, must be interpreted as encompassing every form of subjective ideas and opinions capable of transmission to others, which are compatible with article 20 of the Covenant, of news and information, of commercial expression and advertising, of works of art, etc.; it should not be confined to means of political, cultural or artistic expression." The Committee believed that "it [was] not necessary, in order to protect the vulnerable position in Canada of the francophone group, to prohibit commercial advertising in English." It suggested that "This protection may be achieved in other ways that do not preclude the freedom of expression, in a language of their choice, of those engaged in such fields as trade. For example, the law could have required that advertising be in both French and English." It concluded that "A State may choose one or more official languages, but it may not exclude, outside the spheres of public life, the freedom to express oneself in a language of one's choice. The Committee accordingly concludes that there has been a violation of article 19, paragraph 2."
• 3. Regarding the right to equality, the Committee found that "the authors have not been discriminated against on the ground of their language, and concludes that there has been no violation of article 26 of the Covenant."

There were 5 concurring and dissenting opinions, signed by eight Committee members.

Internet

The Court of Quebec rendered a number of decisions regarding the applicability of the Charter to advertising over the Internet. The court found that commercial websites of businesses that operate from Quebec and sell to Quebec need to conform to the provisions of the Charter regarding the rights of Quebecers to receive services in French. In A.G. of Quebec (Procureur Général) c. Stanley John Reid et Frances Muriel Reid (JE 2002-1266), the defendant raised the argument that the content of Internet is of exclusive federal jurisdiction pursuant to the Constitution Act, 1867, and thus its regulation is ultra vires of the Quebec Government. The court confirmed the applicability of the Charter on advertising over the Internet.

Compliance

With the Act to amend the Charter of the French language, S.Q. 1993, c. 40 (also known as Bill 86), the National Assembly (under a Quebec Liberal government) amended the Charter of the French Language to make it comply with the Supreme Court rulings. The amending law introduced the "Canada Clause" which replaced the "Quebec Clause". That is, the recognized right to English language education was extended to all Canadian citizens. It also introduced the current regulations on the "marked predominance" of French on outdoor commercial signs in conformity with the Supreme Court suggestion.

As suggested by the Supreme Court ruling, the current law specifies that commercial outdoor signs can be multilingual so long as French is markedly predominant. The current provisions regarding exterior commercial signs were confirmed as constitutional by the Quebec Court of Appeal in R. c. Entreprises W.F.H. [2001] R.J.Q. 2557 (C.A.) (also known as "The Lyon & the Walrus Case"). Today, many businesses choose to put up French-only signs, and at times, even change their registered trademarks to adapt to the Quebec market.^{[citation needed]} Nevertheless, English–French bilingualism quickly returned on exterior signs after 1993, especially on the island of Montreal.

See also

• Anglophone problem (Cameroon)
• Language planning
• Language policy

Notes

References

In English

• Beaudoin, Gérald-A. (6 February 2006). "Bill 101 Case". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada.
• Hudon, R. (7 February 2006). "Bill 86". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
• Hudon, R. (7 February 2006). "Bill 178". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada.
• "The language of legislative instruments under the Constitution", Department of Justice Canada, March 5, 2002
• "An Act Judgment rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada on the language of statutes", Canadian Legal Information Institute
• "John Ballantyne Elizabeth Davidson, and Gordon McIntyre Complaint followed by the Opinion of the Committee", Human Rights Committee of the United Nations
• Kondaks, Tony. (November 14, 1988) “The Doctrine of ‘Preponderance of Blood’ in South Africa, the Soviet Union and Quebec”, Freedom House, Exchange
• Ramsey Clark, A legal opinion on international law, language and the future of French-speaking Canada, June 14, 1993
• Gregory Baum, Ethical Reflections on Bill 101, 1993
• Marc Chevrier, The principles and means of Québec's language policy, Ministère des Relations internationales du Québec, February 1997

In French

• "Repères et jalons historiques", in the website of the Office québécois de la langue française, September 18, 2006
• Jacques Leclerc, "Clause Canada / clause Québec", in the website L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde
• Jacques Leclerc, "La politique linguistique et la Charte de la langue française", in the website L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde, 21 décembre, 2005
• "Histoire de l'interventionnisme de l'État dans le domaine linguistique", Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de la Mauricie
• Françoise Labelle, "Planification linguistique : Le Québec et le Canada", 2004
• Marc Chevrier, "Les fondements d'une politique linguistique au Québec", in Uni.ca