In 1977, First Nations representatives strongly opposed Bill 101, demanding that their members be exempted from the application of the articles concerning the teaching of French. Today, they reiterate the same requirement with regard to the reform of the Charter of the French language that the Legault government wants to implement with Bill 96.
In its preamble, the Charter of the French language affirms that the National Assembly recognizes the right of the First Nations and the Inuit to maintain and develop their language and their culture of origin. Furthermore, the Charter does not directly apply on Indian reserves, whose schools are funded by the federal government.
The only change made by Bill 96 to the languages taught affects English CEGEPs. Collaterally, without the First Nations being mentioned (and without them having been consulted beforehand), the bill affects the Aboriginal peoples whose first language is English — or second, after their ancestral language.
Following a proposal by the Liberal Party, it provides for the addition of three courses in French, or French, at the English CEGEP. Remember that the successful completion of two French as a second language courses is already required. Similarly, to receive a high school diploma from an English school, one must also obtain a passing grade in French as a second language. An equivalent requirement for English as a second language applies to students in the French network, including the Aboriginals who attend it.
Not only does the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador reject the change introduced by Bill 96, but it demands that French no longer be imposed as a third language either on Aboriginals in the English school system or on those, such as the Innu and the Atikamekw, who attend French school and whose French, one might say, is the first colonial language spoken.
For anglicized Aboriginals, “French is a foreign language,” as Chief John Martin, chief of the Micmacs of Gesgapegiag, said during public consultations on the bill; learning it, both in high school and in CEGEP, is a “systemic barrier” and the cause of many young people dropping out. However, we have never heard the Innu, who pursue their studies in French schools and who do not have access to English schools, complain that they must pass two English as a second language courses at CEGEP. like all the other students.
English is not seen as a barrier, but as the colonial language that we want to adopt: the indigenous representatives demand access to education in their ancestral language and in English.
The preservation and strengthening of Aboriginal languages and cultures is certainly a major issue that would have required special attention. Under Bill 101, nothing prevents the use of ancestral languages in the education provided to Aboriginal people, but it is far from being generalized. However, Bill 96 in no way addresses the issue of Aboriginal languages. The CAQ government could at the very least have designated them as “first languages”, as suggested by Daniel Turp.
But the fundamental issue is the self-government of the First Nations. In its reference on the subject of federal law C-92 concerning youth protection and Aboriginal peoples, the Court of Appeal took it upon itself to modify the Canadian constitutional framework by laying the foundations for a third order of government which will largely train—whether we like it or not—using Quebec’s skills. The reasoning that applies to youth protection can be extended to education.
It should be noted that the Charter of the French language already provides for an exemption for the Crees, the Inuit and the Naskapis resulting from the James Bay Agreement. These nations already run their own school boards.
Although Quebec has appealed the reference to the Supreme Court, the evolution towards First Nations self-government, reinforced by the introduction into Canadian law of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, appears as inevitable as it is desirable. If we rely on the reference, Quebec would not lose its prerogatives in education: when all the Aboriginal nations manage their schools, the compatibility of their programs with those of the Quebec school system must be ensured, including for the teaching of French, and the requirements must be substantially the same.
All of this will have to be the subject of nation-to-nation negotiated agreements. However, Bill 96 was not designed with this dimension in mind. The Quebec government, once at the forefront of Aboriginal rights, has an interest in preparing the ground for this development.