Imagine a war, a real one, breaking out in Quebec. In an emergency, reluctantly, you are forced into exile with your children. Germany is the only country that might be able to welcome you. You don’t speak a word of German, but you are ready to learn. Do you really think that after six months, even with all the good will in the world, you will master the language perfectly?
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
I don’t know about you. But not me. I may have done a year of German at CEGEP, but that doesn’t exactly make me a German speaker. If I had done a year of immersion in Germany, I would probably master the language better. But certainly not well enough to discuss in German the school problems my children might have or the traumas they might have experienced during their flight.
As unrealistic as it may seem, these are the kind of requirements that could be imposed on immigrants and refugees, with Bill 96.
This reform of Bill 101 proposes to prohibit public sector employees from communicating with the people they serve in a language other than French, with some exceptions. Exceptions include communication with citizens who attended elementary school in English in Canada, with natives or with immigrants who, during their first six months in Quebec, would need reception services. An exemption, the exact scope of which has not been specified by Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, is also provided “when health, public safety or the principles of natural justice so require”.
As worrying as it may be, this aspect of Bill 96, which could jeopardize the accessibility and quality of services offered to newcomers, has received very little media attention. Perhaps because those most at risk of suffering are among the most vulnerable in society. Most often speechless, busy trying to rebuild their lives, they do not run the demonstrations.
Family doctor at the CLSC de Parc-Extension, Dr Juan Carlos Chirgwin is among those who worry about the new barriers that Bill 96 will impose on people who already face their share of obstacles.
“I know the government is trying to tell us, ‘Don’t worry, your direct contact with the patient won’t be affected by the law.’” He knows, but he remains skeptical.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Dr Juan Carlos Chirgwin (right), in 2015
In his office, the Dr Chirgwin sometimes does consultations in Spanish when necessary. He gives me the example of a Mexican asylum seeker, who believed he had to continue to go to work after being injured in a work accident. “He did not understand the system with the CNESST. I had to explain to him. He said to me, “I can’t miss a day of work, because my boss isn’t going to pay me.” »
The Dr Chirgwin was able to help him in Spanish to take the necessary steps for his rehabilitation and return to work. Law 96 will not prevent it from continuing to do so. “Except that the biggest problem is that health is not just about what happens in the office of health workers. At some point, the patient will leave the office and will not be able to receive services that are essential to maintaining good physical or emotional health. The law will affect several other situations where the patient, who does not speak French, will try to receive services, whether for housing, food or childcare”. And when someone falls through the cracks because of language barriers, society as a whole loses.
In the field of education, stakeholders who work daily with newcomers wonder how they will be able to continue to do their job well under Bill 96. “In education, it would be particularly serious because there is no no exceptions provided,” observes Janet Cleveland, researcher on the rights and health of asylum seekers, refugees and non-status migrants at the SHERPA University Institute.
With a coalition of professionals and stakeholders, Janet Cleveland has multiplied the steps so that essential public services are exempted. But two briefs and an open letter supported by 2,500 people did not make it possible.
“Speech therapists or remedial teachers tell us: when you meet the parents of a child who is having difficulty at school and the parents don’t speak French, it’s important that you can communicate with them. Otherwise, we cannot seek their informed consent and their participation in supporting the child. »
Would a speech therapist in a school environment who would like to speak in Spanish to the Spanish-speaking parents of a student in Quebec for more than six months have the right to do so?
In a private school, yes. In a public school, no, because the speech therapist must embody the exemplarity of the State and therefore provide his service in French, I was told at the office of the minister responsible for the French language.
If the employee does not comply with the law, she could expose herself to anonymous reporting and sanctions.
However, nothing prevents her from using an interpreter if she feels the need, it is specified. She could therefore, in theory, complicate her life legally and do indirectly what she cannot do directly… In reality, as access to interpreters is already difficult, the employee risks nothing to be able to do anything and find yourself faced with a beautiful ethical dilemma. But at least, rest assured, it will have been exemplary in the eyes of the State, because this nothing at all will have been provided in French.
Far be it from me to oppose the objectives of a new Bill 101 to protect the French language in Quebec. That French should become the common language of all Quebecers, whether they have been here for six months or six generations, I completely agree. But I don’t see how provisions that add barriers to immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers or elderly grandparents sponsored by their children get us any closer to that goal.
My grandmother, who nevertheless did not lack the will to integrate, did not master French perfectly six months after her arrival in Quebec. But she ended up learning. And that hasn’t stopped his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren from all living and working in French today. His case is far from being anecdotal. Examples like these, there are thousands. After decades of progress in welcoming newcomers to Quebec, seeing immigrants like her as a threat to the French fact in America seems to me a sad setback.