Two organizations representing the First Nations are asking the Superior Court to invalidate large sections of “Bill 96” on the protection of French, since it jeopardizes “the cultural and economic survival of the First Nations”.
In a motion filed in court Thursday, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) and the First Nations Education Council (FNEC) argue that certain provisions of the Act respecting the official and common language of Quebec, French , “constitute obstacles to the academic and professional success” of Aboriginal people.
They specify from the outset that they “do not question the competence of the Quebec legislator to legislate with respect to the French language”.
The AFNQL and the FNEC nevertheless argue that 14 sections of the bill should be declared “null, invalid, unconstitutional and inoperative” given the negative effect they could have on the success of First Nations members.
The request attacks in particular the imposition of French “as the language of instruction by default”. “French is imposed [aux élèves autochtones] with the success standards of a mother tongue while it is a second or third language” for some of them, it is written.
The AFNQL and the FNEC also fear that the mission of the Kiuna Institution — the only Aboriginal CEGEP in Quebec — will be “endangered” by “Bill 96”, which provides for “the cancellation of the bilingual nature of college education”.
Among the professional obstacles imposed by law, the prosecutors target the new obligations imposed on professional orders. These can “take various measures” against their members who do not have a knowledge of French “appropriate to the exercise of the profession”.
Cultures at risk?
“The preservation of a language is based on the right to education in this language”, write in their request the AFNQL and the FNEC. The latter represents 5,800 Aboriginal pupils and students.
From the point of view of the prosecutors, “Bill 96” compromises “the learning, use, transmission and survival of Aboriginal languages”. Its provisions “hinder or even prevent First Nations from determining and regulating the educational services provided to their members as well as from deciding and implementing measures for the preservation and revitalization of their Aboriginal languages and cultures”.
Based on article 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982 and on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the AFNQL and the FNEC recall that the First Nations have ancestral rights to self-determination and self-government in education. They also emphasize that Aboriginal language rights are “essential to the continuity and cultural survival of Indigenous Peoples as distinct peoples”.
“Indigenous Peoples are in the best position to decide on the measures required to provide culturally appropriate education to their members and thus ensure both their safety and the continuity of their distinctive culture, which is an essential aspect of the survival of Indigenous Peoples as peoples. distinct,” they argue.
Further details will follow.