The City of Montreal’s French language committee, chaired by former minister Louise Harel, submitted its final report on October 9. Presenting several ambitious recommendations, the document calls on Valérie Plante’s administration to make a direct commitment to French, both politically and institutionally.
Three years after Montreal launched its action plan to promote the French language, a proactive approach is now essential. The metropolis must adopt structuring measures to strengthen French as a common language and finally implement its principle of interculturalism through concrete orientations and practices.
To ensure real consideration of French by Montreal, three recommendations from the committee stand out.
First, the conclusion of a framework agreement with the Ministry of the French Language of Quebec would provide the City with overall funding, while current government assistance is intended for specific projects which are limited in scope. time.
The committee also proposes the creation of an Office of the French Language and Francophonie to structure the City’s actions in these areas. Currently, while the commissioner for the fight against racism and systemic discrimination in Montreal has a team, the commissioner for the French language works almost alone. This situation is inconsistent with a real commitment to French.
Finally, the committee recommends reviewing the Montreal 2030 strategic planning in order to add French as a priority. If the Plante administration wishes to be coherent, it must integrate this vision into the document that guides all of its actions. Indicators and targets must also be put in place to ensure monitoring.
These three measures are essential to concretely improve the situation of French in Montreal. But is it up to the metropolis to assume this role?
Role of local elected officials
The main obstacle to Montreal’s commitment to French is the idea that this issue is the exclusive responsibility of the provincial government. However, this reading ignores the profound transformations of the municipal environment over the last 20 years.
In his essay Liberate the cities (2023), the former mayor of Gatineau Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin illustrates this change well when he describes the new role of local elected officials. According to him, we are on the way to going beyond the narrow conception that municipalities must confine themselves to their traditional mandates, such as waste collection. It is now legitimate for our local governments to intervene beyond their powers, in particular to ensure better social cohesion on their territory.
Since 2020, a broad consensus has existed at both the provincial and federal levels: action must be taken at all levels to strengthen the place of French. The municipal level is no exception, because supporting our common language allows everyone to participate in Quebec society, without leaving anyone behind.
The committee’s report makes interculturalism one of its guiding principles. “Montreal, as a plural and French-speaking metropolis, is a major anchor point of the Quebec host society,” we read. The French language occupies a central place, essential to this model of inclusion and living together that the City has claimed to support for more than 30 years.
In 1991, Mayor Jean Doré recognized interculturalism as Montreal’s official approach. More recently, the Plante administration reaffirmed its adherence to this principle in its action plan for promoting the French language. She expresses her wish “to create links between different cultural communities around the French language”, with the aim of creating “an attachment and a feeling of belonging to French-speaking Quebec society”.
However, despite these declarations, Montreal has never truly translated this commitment into concrete directions and actions. Instead, the municipality appears to be adopting an ambiguous approach that downplays the role of Quebec’s host society and its French-speaking majority. The coherence of the City’s intervention in favor of French requires the implementation of interculturalism which is still overdue.
The report tabled this week could mark a historic turning point. Is Montreal ready to move from words to action to promote French?