About twenty Quebec municipalities, including Côte-Saint-Luc, intend to go to court to challenge certain provisions of Bill 96, which reforms Bill 101.
The City of Côte-Saint-Luc has called the media to a press conference “concerning the legal challenge of certain articles of Law 96 by municipalities in Quebec”, which will be held on Wednesday in the presence of several elected officials.
On Tuesday, the City declined to give details of the proposed challenge.
Passed in May 2022, Bill 96 now requires towns that no longer meet the statistical definition of a bilingual municipality — i.e. the presence of a majority of residents with English as their mother tongue — to pass a resolution to maintain their status. bilingual, failing which it will be withdrawn from them by the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF).
Last month, the OQLF confirmed that 48 cities, municipalities or boroughs had taken the necessary measures to maintain their bilingual status.
And last Thursday, other provisions of the reform entered into force. Thus, municipalities in Quebec can now only offer services in English to certain targeted groups, such as persons declared eligible for instruction in English and Aboriginal people.
The City of Côte-Saint-Luc made fun of this provision by modifying the voice message of its telephone information line a few days ago.
“For service in English, press 2,” the message read, before making the following clarification: “By the way, you don’t need to show us your grade three report card or your family tree going back ten generations. And you don’t have to promise anything. We are the City of Côte-Saint-Luc, and that’s how we operate here. »