Bill 96, or the Act respecting the official and common language of Quebec, French, which officially became law on May 24, makes French the exclusive language in municipalities and workplaces with 25 or more employees. It thus eliminates the minority language rights protected by the Constitution, in particular the right to file documents in English in small claims court, and also limits access to essential services such as health care in a language other than French. For the moment, the wording of the law on the official language is also particularly vague and is content to mention “certain exceptions”.
Shockingly, provisions in the Act even allow the “language police” to search the phones, computers and documents of any business, without a warrant, to confirm that communications are in French. Who could have imagined that such a thing would happen in Canada?
The official language law is likely to lead to what Fareed Zakaria, a respected political commentator, calls an “illiberal democracy”, that is, a democracy that increasingly limits the freedoms of the people it represents. , ignoring the will of the minority. In contrast, as Zakaria points out, a properly liberal state protects individual rights and minorities against the mistreatment of democratic majorities.
As with the law on secularism, which has eroded the individual religious freedoms of some Canadians and some Canadians living in Quebec, the Legault government is once again limiting the rights of minorities. This time, it targets English-speaking Canadians who live in the province by attacking their language rights, those enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These same constitutional provisions also protect the linguistic rights of French-speaking minorities outside Quebec.
To circumvent these minority language rights protected by the Constitution, the Legault government once again invoked the notwithstanding provision of the Charter as a preventive measure. Otherwise, the Official Language Act would not withstand judicial review. We know this because the Superior Court of Quebec, in a decision rendered in April 2021, declared that the State Secularism Act (“Bill 21”) “violates the fundamental rights of religious minorities in the province, but such violations are permitted by virtue of the notwithstanding clause of the Constitution”.
In my recently published book, Black and white. An intimate, multicultural take on the “white advantage” and pathways to change, I call for the abolition of the notwithstanding provision of the Charter, which several governments have abused in recent years (and not only the Government of Quebec) and which contributes to the erosion of our liberal democracy. Removing the notwithstanding provision would open the door to a successful challenge and repeal of many of the unconstitutional provisions of Bills 21 and 96.
I also argue that it is necessary and urgent to promote and integrate French more deeply into all aspects of Canadian society, from coast to coast. But it is untenable to do so by limiting the rights of citizens under the pretext of protecting a chosen culture, language and heritage. What kind of society would Quebec or all of Canada become if the will of the majority prevailed over the constitutional rights of the minority? We need only look south of the border for an example of the danger this poses.
“All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others,” wrote George Orwell in his groundbreaking political satire, animal farm. Orwell highlights the danger of preaching equality on the one hand, while providing exceptions on the other simply to benefit certain people. Recent global thinking on race, for example, has given rise to a renewed call for the elimination of “white superiority” embedded in all our systems and institutions.
This is why all Quebecers must continue to oppose the erosion of constitutional rights and freedoms, regardless of race, religion, ethnic origin, cultural heritage or the language of the persons concerned. And this opposition should go hand in hand with a collective effort to formulate new ideas and new policies that promote the French language, strengthen it and integrate it into all aspects of society.
The support and promotion of the French language and culture in Canada, both in Quebec and outside, is of paramount importance, not only because we are officially a bilingual country, but also because French is part of integral to the Canadian identity.
With the Official Language Act, however, we stand before a precipice that risks plunging us further into division if we do not now stand up for the fundamental rights that unite us. Because we risk nothing less than losing our liberal democracy. Tragically, “Law 96” demonstrates the urgency of our current malaise.
This text was translated by Aycha Fleury.