Charter of the French Language

The Charter of the French Language (also known as Bill 101 and Loi 101) is a law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French as the only official language of Quebec.

Proposed by Camille Laurin, the Minister of Cultural Development under the first Parti Québécois government of Premier René Lévesque, it was passed by the National Assembly, and granted Royal Assent by Lieutenant Governor Hugues Lapointe on August 26, 1977. The Charter's provisions expanded on the 1974 Official Language Act (Bill 22), which was enacted under Premier Robert Bourassa's Liberal government to make French the sole official language of Quebec. Prior to 1974, Quebec was legally bilingual (English and French).

Objective

The preamble of the Charter states that French is the official language of Quebec and its government and law, as well as "the normal and everyday language of work, instruction, communication, commerce and business". It also states that the National Assembly is to pursue this objective "in a spirit of fairness and open-mindedness, respectful of the institutions of the English-speaking community of Québec, and respectful of the ethnic minorities, whose valuable contribution to the development of Québec it readily acknowledges". In addition, it states that the National Assembly of Quebec recognizes the right of the First Nations of Quebec, "to preserve and develop their original language and culture".

Titles

Title I defines the status of the French language in the legislature, the courts, the civil administration, the semipublic agencies, labour relations, commerce and business, and language of instruction. It also defines French as a fundamental language right of every person in Quebec.

1. The right of persons to have all government branches, professional corporations, employee associations and enterprises doing business in Quebec communicate with them in French.
2. The right of persons to speak French in deliberative assemblies.
3. The right of workers to carry on their activities in French.
4. The right of consumers to be informed and served in French.
5. The right of persons eligible for instruction in Quebec to receive that instruction in French.

Title II pertains to the linguistic officialization, toponymy, and the francization of the civil service and Crown corporations.

Title III establishes the Office québécois de la langue française, defines its mission, powers, and organization.

Title IV establishes the Conseil supérieur de la langue française.

Title V and VI define penal provisions and sanctions and transitional and miscellaneous provisions.

Dispositions

To achieve the goal of making French the normal and everyday language of Quebec, the Charter contains a number of key dispositions and various regulations. The Office québécois de la langue française (Quebec Office of the French language) is the government branch responsible for overseeing the application of the Charter.

Fundamental language rights

When the Charter was drafted, the National Assembly had to consider the historical and constitutional rights of the English-speaking minority and that of the aboriginal peoples. The Charter includes several guarantees for the uses of languages other than French in Quebec. It provides, for example, that:

• Quebec laws are published in English as well as in French;
• Persons may address courts of law in either French or English;
• Judgements by courts are made available in either the official language or in English upon request by one of the parties;
• The Charter does not apply on Indian reserves (Early primary instruction in Cree and Inuit school boards are respectively in the Cree and Inuktitut languages, with later primary and secondary instruction carried out in both English and French);

Some of these guarantees are constitutionally mandatory under section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867, which requires federal and Quebec laws to be enacted in both English and French. The first version of the Charter of the French language stated that the laws of Quebec would be published only in French, so the provision was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada in Blaikie v. Quebec (Attorney General) [1979] 2 S.C.R. 1016.

Language of civil administration

The Charter makes French the sole official language of communication of the state. This means that the government of Quebec and all its branches communicate primarily in French with its residents. To this day, French is the official language of government and civil service; however, the same cannot be said of the private sector. The francization programs for businesses were largely successful in the 1980s; however, the 1990s saw the return of bilingualism and the exclusive usage of English in a number of new economic sectors that did not exist in Quebec before, for example the high-tech industry.

Language of labour relations

The Charter makes French the official language in the workplace. In particular, current and prospective employees cannot be subject to discrimination if they are unable to or do not wish to use a language other than French. A regulation states that internal written communications for all corporations in Quebec must be in French, but a translation in any other language may be included if the employer deems it necessary.

After more than 25 years of application of the Charter, English is still often made a requirement by employers in Montreal and to a lesser extent Gatineau and Quebec City. Most non-tourist areas outside these three urban centres are completely francophone.

Language of commerce and business

A number of exceptions are also made to the general rules for commercial production, signage, and advertising:

• Products destined exclusively for export;
• Educational products for the teaching of a language other than French;
• Cultural and ideological companies, groups, signs, and literature (including non-French broadcasters, newspapers, etc.);
• Companies (usually multinational corporations) that sign an agreement with the OQLF permitting an exemption from the francization requirement. (However, the rules regarding the right of a worker to work in French still apply.)
• French must be the main language except in Chinatown, Montreal, where Chinese Canadians enjoys an exception to the sign regulations

Language of instruction

One of the Charter's objectives is to increase the knowledge of French among the immigrant population so that it integrates to the mainstream society of Quebec. To do so, a disposition stipulates that children attending public schools must do so in French until the post-secondary level. It is however possible to attend non-subsidized private school in any language if the parents choose to. An exception allows for children to attend the English-language public schools if either one of the parents received his/her education in English in Canada. With this exception to the rule, the constitutional rights of the English-speaking minority of Quebec are protected. The original 1977 Charter made it legal only for children of a parent who had received his/her education in English in Quebec. This had to be amended following the adoption of the Constitution Act 1982, which defined the educational right of French and English minorities in all provinces under section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Another disposition provides for state-funded French courses for immigrants. This measure is quite popular with newcomers; however, it has been thus far inadequately funded by all Quebec governments. Quebec has become a popular destination for emigrants from French-speaking areas, especially Indochina, Maghreb and Haiti, because the province combines a Francophone culture with North American economic opportunities.

Legal dispute

Main article: Legal dispute over Quebec's language policy

Language in Canada is defined federally by the Official Languages Act and is part of the Canadian Constitution. Parts of the Charter have been amended in response to rulings by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Language of commerce and business

The most well-known and controversial change affected the regulation of exterior commercial signs. In its first enactment the Charter made it illegal to post such signs in a language other than French. English-only and bilingual English and French exterior signs were taken down and replaced by French-only signs. (Note that the regulation did not affect trademarks.)

Following a court challenge, this section of the law was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms in 1988 (see: Ford v. Quebec (A.G.)). The Supreme Court ruled that Quebec could legitimately require that French have "greater visibility" or "marked predominance" on exterior commercial signs; however, it could not enforce the exclusive use of French. Robert Bourassa's Liberal government invoked the notwithstanding clause of the Constitution to temporarily overrule the Supreme court ruling; the Charter was subsequently amended by the Liberals in 1993 with Bill 86 in accordance with the ruling.

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. Nevertheless, English–French bilingualism quickly returned on exterior signs after 1993, especially on the island of Montreal (which has a 53/29/18 Francophone/Allophone/Anglophone split).

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.

Language of instruction

Bill 104

In August 2007, the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled that a section of the province's language legislation is unlawful. The judgment stated that Bill 104, an amendment to the Charter passed in 2002 that stopped children of francophone and newcomers from using the English educational system, was contrary to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The amendment was passed to thwart entry to English schools by pupils who had gone to at least one year of an unsubsidized private institution. It had been passed unanimously (by all parties) in the provincial legislature.

The Appeal Court verdict disallowed a segment of Bill 104, suggesting that students can be present English public establishments if they have been at an English private academy for a minimum of one year or have been permitted a special dispensation. The Quebec government immediately announced it would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada, which it did.

A judgment was given that delays use of that conclusion until the Supreme Court of Canada judges on a provincial administration request.

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

A representative of the Quebec Association of Independent Schools proclaimed its goal to strike the delay, and Brent Tyler, the advocate for the 26 families in the case, declared he would pull together an appeal.

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.

About half of all enrollment decline in the EMSB since 2002 has resulted from Bill 104, a low fertility rate and urban sprawl being other reasons, said a spokesman.

A union of trusts zealous to watch over French is supporting the Quebec government in its venture to overturn the Quebec Appeal Court ruling. Former CSN leader Gérald Larose, chairman of the Conseil de la souveraineté, vilified this "undermining" of the so-called Bill 101 by an "English judge". (Larose was also the Parti Québécois–appointed president of a commission on the future of the French language and has agitated for some time that Quebec be granted unshared supremacy over language legislation, despite the Canadian constitution which divides such power between the national and provincial governments.) Jean Dorion, president of the Société St. Jean Baptiste de Montréal, lamented that Appeals Court judges are appointed by the national government and asserted that they should not have the power to overrule Quebec's language laws. Other commentators remonstrated that Justice Hilton had previously served as legal counsel for Alliance Quebec, an anglophone rights group. Le Devoir reported, however, that the Quebec department of justice did not ask Hilton to recuse himself from the case. Through a spokesperson, the Ministry of Justice said that such a recusal was not necessary and that the government trusts the Court of Appeal to be fair. Parti québécois leader Pauline Marois suggested 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.

Opposition

Main article: Legal dispute over Quebec's language policy

The Charter of the French Language, though popular among a majority of Francophones, has been poorly received by many anglophones and allophones. The enforcers of the Charter, widely derided in English media as the "language police" or "tongue troopers", are able to levy fines of up to seven thousand dollars per offence to punish those who are not in compliance with the law. The charter is claimed by opponents to have caused up to 244,000 people to emigrate from Quebec to other provinces since the 1970s. Many companies most notably Royal Bank and Bank of Montreal (which even considered removing "Montreal" from its name), moved their major operations to Toronto. Many angrily blame the Charter for hindering Montreal's economic development, arguing about the status of English as a language of international business.

The Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) (which is commonly referred to as the OLF or language police) provides several warnings before resorting to any legal sanctions. Alleged abuse of its power has led to charges of racism and harassment being levelled against them by members of minority groups. The OQLF urged stores to remove imported kosher goods that did not meet labelling requirements, an action perceived in the Jewish community as an unfair targeting that coincided with a high-profile case against the well-known delicatessen, Schwartz's. In 2002, media reported cases of harassment of allophone merchants who refuse to speak French.

The 2004 annual report of the OQLF was criticized in the English media in an attempt to equate it with a so-called totalitarian mindset in the bureaucracy. The report contained sections describing the continued prevalence of languages other than French in two-thirds of Montreal's households as an "alarming" trend, because it would present a formidable challenge to francophones in Montreal.

Political opposition to the Charter and earlier language laws have been ineffective because a large majority of francophone Quebecers support the law. Due to such support, both the Parti Québécois and Quebec Liberal Party have upheld the legislation. After Bourassa passed the Official Language Act, opponents turned their support to the Union Nationale in the 1976 election, but despite that short resurgence of support, the party collapsed in the subsequent election. Court challenges have been more successful.

The provisions of the Charter that enshrined the right to English-speaking schools to the children of those educated in English in Quebec have also faced legal challenges. Most criticisms come from allophones who want to integrate into the anglophone community as opposed to the majority francophone. Ironically, some of the challenges to these provisions have come from francophone Quebecers themselves, a small minority of whom, seeing English as an economic necessity, regarded the fact they were not allowed to provide their children with an English education as a form of discrimination against French-speaking people - and such discrimination being initiated by the French themselves. These challenges are particularly controversial, as the majority of Quebecers see them as shifting the ratio between French students and English students back to pre-Charter levels. Because many anglophones relocated outside of the province, several English-language schools in Montreal closed their doors after the introduction of the Charter in the 1970s.

The use of the notwithstanding clause in the 1990s to circumvent the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms also drew a Francophobic reaction in other Canadian provinces; the syndrome de Sault Ste. Marie was a series of symbolic but divisive resolutions by some municipalities outside Quebec declaring their towns unilingually English in protest of this supposed infringement on the rights embodied in the charter.

Aside from the allegation of civil rights infringement, the Charter has faced legal challenges because the restricted education opportunities have hindered many unilingual anglophones' employment. Although the Charter made French the official language of government and civil administration, the same cannot be said of the private sector. The francization programs for businesses were largely successful in the 1980s; however, the 1990s saw the return of bilingualism and the exclusive usage of English in a number of new economic sectors that did not exist in Quebec before, for example the hi-tech industry. Despite nearly 30 years of the Charter, it has never been applied as rigorously as intended. English is still often made a requirement by employers in Montreal and, to a lesser extent, in Gatineau and Quebec City.

On November 14, 1988 the political and human rights watchdog organization Freedom House published “The Doctrine of ‘Preponderance of Blood’ in South Africa, the Soviet Union and Quebec” in its journal Exchange. Introduced by Zbigniew Brzezinski, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s National Security advisor, the essay compared the language of instruction provisions of Bill 101 with South African apartheid statutes and jurisprudence. The statutes of both Quebec and the now-defunct South Africa apartheid system employ the “doctrine of preponderance of blood“ which is the assigning of classifications to individuals based upon who one’s parents are, what the parents’ classification is, and the handing down of this classification from one generation to the next, in perpetuity. The conclusion: the Quebec Charter's language of instruction provisions produce de facto segregation of civil rights. The basic premise of free and democratic societies of equality under the law is violated by the creation of two separate civil rights categories: those individuals that can freely choose to send their children to either French or English publicly funded schools and those that are forced to send their children only to French publicly funded schools. It should be noted, however, that the Supreme Court of Canada refused the discrimination-based-on-ancestry argument under the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms in Gosselin (Tutor of) v. Quebec (Attorney General) on the grounds that it conflicted with s. 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

See also

• Demolinguistics of Quebec
• Language policy
• Minority language
• French language
• Anglo-Quebecers
• Children of Bill 101
• Bilingualism in Canada
• Toubon Law
• Ford v. Quebec (Attorney General)
• Devine v. Quebec (Attorney General)

References

• Charter of the French Language, Éditeur officiel du Québec (online through the Canadian Legal Information Institute, updated on December 1, 2006)
• Regulations adopted under the Charter of the French language, Éditeur officiel du Québec, (online through the Canadian Legal Information Institute, updated on November 17, 2006)
• Supreme Court written judgment: Ford v. Quebec (A.G.) 1988 2 S.C.R. 712 (online through the Canadian Legal Information Institute)
• B'nai B'rith. 1996 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents. Retrieved November 26, 2004.
• Hanes, Allison. (March 11, 2002) "More and more francophone parents buck school restrictions", The Gazette. (Montreal), page A1
• Macpherson, Don. (November 25, 2004). "OQLF report borders on bigotry", The Gazette (Montreal), page A27
• Martin, Susan Taylor. (August 9, 1999). "In Quebec, some take law as sign of discrimination", St. Petersburg Times, (Florida), page 1A. Retrieved December 5, 2004.
• L'Office québécois de la langue française. (2004) Rapport annuel de gestion 2003–2004 (PDF), page 13. Retrieved November 26, 2004.
• L'Office québécois de la langue française. (2004) Titre V : Dispositions pénales et autres sanctions. Retrieved December 4, 2004.
• 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

External links

• Website of the Office québécois de la langue française (English section)
• Infoguides on French language requirements (business, commerce, workplace), in the website of the Office québécois de la langue française
• Quebec Statutes and Regulations
• Filippo Salvatore, Vive a trilingual Quebec!, in the UNESCO Courier, July-August 2001
• CBC Digital Archives - Fighting Words: Bill 101
• Educaloi - La Loi vos droits - Citizens - Charter of the French Language
• AngryFrenchGuy - Bill 101, hum, 101
• Bill 199 Charter of the French and English Languages