As the work of the Committee on Culture and Education resumes, the Quebec Federation of Labor (FTQ) is concerned about the delays. We all know that the work of parliamentarians is in its final months before the election is called. Our fear is that the bill will die on the order paper. This must not happen, because this bill on the future of French, our common language, is too important to be forgotten.
Greatly inspired by this great union leader, Fernand Daoust, the FTQ has been fighting for more than 50 years for the protection of French as a working language. The modernization of the Charter of the French language needs this update. Let’s not miss this opportunity.
Even today, we organize meetings with our affiliated unions in order to ensure the generalization and vitality of French in companies. This is certainly no small task in the current context, but we assume this role with determination and pride.
Since our appearance before the parliamentary committee in September 2021, we have been following with great interest the work that should lead to the adoption of Bill 96. We cannot stress enough the importance of giving more influence to the Charter of the French language and in particular as a working language. Consequently, we hope that the representatives of all the political parties present at this parliamentary committee will quickly approve the bill.
As mentioned in our brief, francization committees are one of the cornerstones of our desire to strengthen the position of French in the workplace. More than ever, the FTQ believes in the speaking out by workers in order to carry out this generalization of French. To achieve this, we believe that the legislator must amend section 136 of the Charter in order to lower to 50 employees the threshold necessary for the creation of francization committees in companies. A measure that should be applied quickly to support efforts to francize the workplace.
This measure, as well as others already provided for in the bill, should enable us to assert the place of French in our businesses and thus counter the unfortunate tendency to anglicize our workplaces.
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