(Ottawa) The Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities (FCFA) is calling on recalcitrant Liberal MPs to rally behind Bill C-13 to modernize the Official Languages Act. A dozen Quebec elected officials are ready to vote against it, even if it is an election promise, because they believe that the amendments adopted by the opposition parties distort the legislative text.
“We continue to call for the unity of all parliamentarians so that it passes because for us there is no question that this bill does not pass. It would be really catastrophic for the future of French, which is already in decline, ”reacted the president of the FCFA, Liane Roy, in an interview.
The reference to the Charter of the French language in Bill C-13 irritates Quebec Liberal MPs who see it as an attack on the rights of Quebec’s English-speaking minority. It was already mentioned in the preamble, but during the study of the legislative text in parliamentary committee, the Bloc Québécois presented an amendment to add it to an article in order to recognize that “French is in a minority situation in Canada and in America of the North because of the predominant use of English and that the Charter of the French language of Quebec aims to protect, strengthen and promote this language”.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather tried to pass another amendment earlier this month to remove any reference to this Quebec law, without success. He believes that it violates the rights of the English-speaking minority in Quebec. He has already indicated his intention to vote against C-13 in its current version like Minister Marc Miller and MP Emmanuella Lamproboulos, even if the Trudeau government maintains that it must make more efforts to protect French in Quebec and across the country.
This bill must pass because if we go back, we have been working on this for six years, pushing, recommending, devoting a lot of effort to it.
Liane Roy, President of the FCFA
The FCFA finds itself somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place, but hesitates to comment on the inclusion of Quebec’s Charter of the French language in the federal bill on official languages.
“For us, the bill still guarantees the real equality of the two official language minorities, namely Francophones outside Quebec and Anglophones in Quebec,” she argues. The only difference is that the bill states that specific measures are needed for each community to achieve that equality. »
The FCFA still feared a backlash against the Francophonie after the adoption by the National Assembly in 2022 of the reform of the Charter of the French language (Law 96) which makes it the official and common language of Quebec. The organization had proposed to the government of François Legault not to use a derogation provision to protect this legislation from legal challenges.
Several Liberals believe that an Anglophone province could in turn use the notwithstanding clause to impose English in federal institutions on its territory, which would harm the Francophone and Acadian minorities.
For Liane Roy, Bill C-13 is not yet in danger, but she is following the situation closely. She now calls on all federal MPs to find a consensus so that it will eventually be adopted by the House of Commons.