Overview of the laws, findings and reforms that have punctuated the history of the French language in the province.
“The idea of legislating on language has been consensual in Quebec for a long time,” says Benoît Dubreuil, French language commissioner. He takes as proof a little-known piece of legislation, the so-called Lavergne law, named after the deputy Armand Lavergne, who had it voted for in 1910. “He had led a two-year campaign. Virtually the entire population of Quebec had signed his petition. »
Essentially, it was a bilingualism law. It introduced French into certain types of commerce at a time when English was often the only language of signage. But this first rather timid legislation – it provided for fines of “twenty piastres” – will not be enough. We will have to wait another 50 years for the Quebec government to begin seriously legislating on the issue.
The first piece of the puzzle fell into place in March 1961, when the liberal government of Jean Lesage created the Office québécois de la langue française, whose vocation was then essentially terminological. But the 1961 census raises the risk of assimilation: the birth rate is falling and immigrants are becoming massively Anglicized.
“The issue was social: French did not ensure socio-economic advancement,” says Martin Pâquet, historian at Laval University and co-author of Language and politics in Canada and Quebec. A historical summary with historian Marcel Martel of York University. “It took English to climb the social ladder, and immigrants received the message five out of five. »
Aftermath of the Saint-Léonard crisis
The abscess burst in 1967 in what was then a suburb of Montreal. The Saint-Léonard Catholic School Board decides to eliminate bilingual classes, which are, in fact, almost strictly English. The Italian community completely rejected this policy, and the affair turned into a riot.
In order to defuse the crisis, the National Union government first promulgated the very timid Bill 85, which proposed free choice and guaranteed education in English for the English-speaking minority. This bill satisfies no one and dies on the order paper.
The start of the 1969 school year sparked a riot in Saint-Léonard, and the government proposed Bill 63. But the official name — “Law to promote the French language in Quebec” — was misleading: it included the essence of the project. of law 85 and accentuates the crisis, provoking numerous demonstrations for many months.
Nothing was yet settled in 1974 when Liberal Prime Minister Robert Bourassa tabled Bill 22 on the official language. “It was a compromise law,” explains Jean-Charles Panneton, historian and author of two volumes on the Lévesque government. Adopted on July 31, 1974, Law 22 made French the official language and required schooling in French, but it established English tests to determine which children were entitled to English schooling.
Law 22 displeases everyone. Nationalists interpret it as a free pass in favor of English speakers – who are very angry against the assessment of the linguistic competence of five-year-old children, which they consider unmanageable and fussy. “Bill 63 defeated the National Union government, and Law 22 defeated the Bourassa government in the 1976 elections,” summarizes Jean-Charles Panneton.
From law to law
In a documentary on the 40 years of Bill 101, sociologist Guy Rocher, who was one of its drafters as Camille Laurin’s deputy minister, explains that the Parti Québécois government simply adopted the structure of the law. 22, but with new content.
Like Law 22, Law 101 proclaims official unilingualism and decrees compulsory French teaching. But the English school is reserved for children of parents who attended English school (what we call the Quebec clause). “This very strong law goes very far in its provisions, which are obligatory, clear, and solid,” explains Jean-Charles Panneton. Martin Pâquet adds: “It had a strong utilitarian dimension: French becomes the working language and companies must obtain francization certificates. »
In the following years, the Supreme Court dismantled several sections by invoking article 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which protects minorities. It will impose bilingualism in courts and judgments; it will extend the right to English schooling to all Canadians; and it will invalidate the regulation on commercial signage in French. This latest judgment leads the Quebec government to resort to the notwithstanding clause, leading to a serious constitutional crisis.
It will take more than 40 years for the Quebec government to decide to play under the hood again: it will be Bill 96. “Bill 101 repealed Bill 22, Bill 22 repealed Bill 63, but Bill 96 did not repeal 101. It is an administrative reform,” explains Martin Pâquet.
What Jean-Charles Panneton agrees with: this new law creates Francisation Québec and the French Language Commissioner. “But it’s still a redevelopment. We feel that the government is aware of a problem, but does not know how to respond to it. »
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