For the past few days, the Quebec public administration in the broad sense (departments, corporations, municipalities, etc.) must communicate only in French with citizens. The rules that Minister Roberge is defending today were adopted more than 20 years ago, but the state never had the courage to enforce them. Here we are finally.
The principle defended by the law is simple: French is the common language of Quebec and, on this basis, the State will only communicate in French. Every citizen must therefore speak it. Like Italian in Italy, like Japanese in Japan. Most countries do not need a law to confirm the existence of a national language, a common language. It goes without saying that in Rome we do as the Romans do. This is also a way of protecting the diversity of the world.
But it’s more complex here. Quebec is simultaneously a neighbor of the greatest cultural power in the world and a province of a culturally satellite State of this giant. We also have a strong English-Quebec community. With us, the omnipresence of Anglo-Saxon culture is such that it is quite easy to be convinced that “doing like the Romans” means speaking English.
To add to the difficulty, we live in two states that do not send the same message regarding the common language. While Quebec chooses French, Canada promises to be bilingual (especially in Quebec), so a country where you can choose English, anywhere.
Hence the need to clarify the message with the help of a law. Henceforth, the Quebec State, cities included, will communicate only in the common language. It’s the end of an institutional bilingualism that didn’t speak its name.
Obviously, the denunciations that systematically follow any measure to protect French have begun to be heard, and not just on social media: a city like Côte-Saint-Luc is already expressing its contempt institutionally and indicating that it will not respect the law.
Côte-Saint-Luc makes fun of a choice which, however, is to the credit of Quebec. In fact, we have chosen to recognize “rights holders”, that is to say exceptions: the historical English-speaking community of Quebec, immigrants who arrived less than six months ago, Aboriginal people, people who do not not residing in Quebec and those eligible for English school. They will all be able to choose to interact in English with the State. It’s a dream come true for any Francophone outside Quebec!
To take advantage of the exceptions concerning them, the rights holders must identify themselves. As a measure of identification, the government has chosen to rely on the good faith of people, so they will only have to indicate that they belong to this group. It doesn’t get any easier.
Departments, cities and Crown corporations are currently implementing various mechanisms to offer services in English only to those who are entitled to them (telephone messages, websites, etc.). Some measurements, some messages, will be clumsy, it will be necessary to make adjustments (I hope that those who will laugh at these clumsiness will propose solutions). People in bad faith will try to get around the law, that’s for sure. It is also certain that people will find it difficult to have to address the state in French. They will have to ask for help, be accompanied by a friend. Obviously, if no one was inconvenienced by the law, it would be useless. Its very objective is to make the use of French unavoidable, necessary.
With this law, the Anglophone community does not lose any rights, it is French that is progressing as the common language.
It’s a shame to have to legislate. It would be much nicer to content ourselves with enhancing the language, making it attractive, celebrating its beauty, it’s very important to do so, I’ve already spoken to you about it here.
But we must also recognize that there is resistance, that not everyone agrees with the idea that French must be preserved or with the idea that language and culture are inseparable. We must also recognize that there are people who hide behind an absolutist vision of individual rights and others behind the defense of bilingualism in order, in fact, to defend the right to be unilingual English, even in Quebec.
Quebec constitutes less than 2% of North America, it will always have to take special measures to ensure the protection and development of its language. Choosing inaction or laissez-faire would be choosing the law of the strongest, a principle that erases minority cultures. While our national government will only communicate in French to protect our language, a common good, we Quebecers will remain, individually, the most bilingual and trilingual people in North America. When it comes to language, we have no lessons to take from anyone, especially not from English Canada, where bilingualism is on the decline.
French as a common language is the keystone of our entire linguistic edifice. There are, and always will be, consequences to the application of this principle. It must be applied anyway, without complex. To renounce it would be to renounce to exist.