Opinion: More than language, Bill 96 is about rights

TOPICS:

Posted By: jasabacklink January 17, 2024

These are trying times for the 1.25 million Quebecers who use English as their main language and are being made to feel like pariahs by the government of François Legault.

The attacks have been constant: refusals of service from government offices; the imposition of the discriminatory status of “historic anglophone,” resulting in the exclusion of half a million English-speakers from government services; tuition increases that undermine our universities; and much more. All this in part because Legault and his ministers hear “too much English on the streets” of Montreal.

Article content

It is time we said “enough is enough.” To that end, The Task Force on Linguistic Policy has applied for an interlocutory injunction and judicial review of Bill 96. The injunction was filed Wednesday in Superior Court by our lawyer, Michael Bergman. This follows our comprehensive challenge to Bill 96 last May 31.

Our injunction application raises questions of the impact of the legislation on all Quebecers. It states: “The issues raised in Bill 96 are all serious and justiciable as they constitute encroachment on constitutional and human rights with respect to rights to life, liberty, and security; equality; healthcare services; government services; education; employment; as well as freedoms of expression and mobility, and freedom from undue state interference.”

I am the lead plaintiff in both briefs. This may sound unusual, as I am a municipal councillor in the historic village of Kamouraska, where I live and do business in French.

But this issue is less about language than about human rights. Quebec’s anglophones and allophones, who are largely bilingual and multilingual, are being scapegoated for the so-called decline in the French language. We have testimony from dozens of Quebecers who have been deliberately discriminated against by government employees. And this discrimination is putting the health and welfare of taxpaying citizens at risk.

Article content

In his landmark speech on civil rights in 1963, John F. Kennedy stated, “The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.” Indeed, the Kennedys were wealthy, white privileged men who fought for the rights of people who were marginalized. That is why this fight belongs to all of us.

If there is one flaw in our community, it is we tend to easily criticize our own. But as the saying goes, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” We sometimes cannot meet everyone’s expectations, but the Task Force and other organizations representing our community are doing their best. So, we must show solidarity to have an impact.

We are 1.25 million English-speaking Quebecers who may not share the same history, but we do share the same language, values, institutions and aspirations.  We are diverse, multilingual and multiracial. We can be found everywhere in Quebec, from Huntingdon to Kuujjuaq, from Pontiac to Harrington Harbour.

Our injunction application defines the implications of the implementation of Bill 96 by the Coalition Avenir Québec government: “The Government of Québec has created and promoted the social climate where the use of the English language is restricted and disdained and is considered to be a threat to the survival of the French language and identity in Québec.”

We are also concerned about the long-term psychological impact on the English-speaking community of further discrimination, as the CAQ proceeds with its “action plan” to introduce further measures to promote French. Our injunction points out the prospect of these measures “have the effect of creating fear and insecurity amongst Québec anglophones bringing them into disrepute, as a thorn, however unfounded, to the identity, culture and language of the Francophone majority.”

In short, the Legault government appears ready to do everything in its power to marginalize the anglophone community, at whatever cost. But we refuse to be silenced: Quebec is our home, and we will not be intimidated.

Andrew Caddell is president of the Task Force on Linguistic Policy (www.thetaskforce.ca).

Recommended from Editorial

Share this article in your social network