Colin Lang
In 2022, the provincial government of Québec enacted Bill 96: “An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec.”[1] Bill 96 amended Québec’s Charter of the French Language and ushered in sweeping reforms to Québec`s official language policy, with the ultimate goal of making French the primary language of all business and government functions in the province.[2] Bill 96 has had a significant impact on education as well, as it imposes new limits on the number of students in the province who can receive instruction in English-language schools.[3]
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bill 96 was met with significant opposition from English speakers in Québec and from indigenous communities. The English Montreal School Board brought a constitutional challenge to the language-quota provision shortly after Bill 96 became law.[4] The Assembly of First Nations Québec-Labrador and the First Nations Education Council likewise challenged the new educational requirements, objecting to the highly preferential status of French and emphasizing that “assimilation policies and residential schools have caused enormous damage to [indigenous] languages.”[5]
Additionally, 23 municipalities sued the provincial government over Bill 96, raising constitutional challenges to various provisions relating to the day-to-day functions of local government, including the Minister of the French Language’s ability to deny provincial funding to non-compliant communities.[6] Five individuals also brought suit, citing concerns about Bill 96’s effect on access to English-language medical care and government services.[7] In the business sector, The International Trademark Association urged members to submit comments to the Minister of the French Language highlighting the difficulty of complying with new signage regulations for businesses holding non-French trademark rights.[8]
Thus far, none of the legal challenges to Bill 96 have reached a final resolution, although a judge of the Québec Superior Court has ruled that English School Boards are exempt from certain of the French Language Charter’s requirements pending the outcome of those cases.[9] While the primary focus of the ongoing litigation has been Bill 96’s legitimacy under the Canadian constitution, Bill 96 also raises serious concerns under public international law. In particular, many of its provisions may violate Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).[10]
Canada has been a party to the ICCPR since 1976.[11] The government of Canada is legally bound to uphold the ICCPR, as is the government of Québec.[12] ICCPR Article 2 provides that a state has a responsibility to secure the rights of its people “without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”[13] Bill 96 explicitly creates such distinctions between linguistic groups: “[t]he purpose of [Bill 96] is to affirm that the only official language of Québec is French. It also affirms that French is the common language of the Québec nation.”[14] Under the terms of Bill 96, “the identity of Québec’s francophone majority and culture takes precedence over the individual identity, language and culture of Québec’s non-francophones who are required…to restrain the public expression of their minority identity, language and culture.”[15] Principles of international law can thus provide another basis for future challenges to Bill 96’s legitimacy.
[1] Civil Code of Québec, S.Q. 2022, c 14 (Can.).
[2] Emond Harnden, Bill 96 & Quebec’s Language Law Explained, LEXOLOGY (Nov. 16, 2023), https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=5a5d9f31-5de8-4240-88db-24f617713d59.
[3] Sidney Singer, Bill 96: A Violation of English-speaking Rights in Québec, 4 PRINCETON LEGAL J.F. 1, 1 (2024).
[4] Id. at 1–2.
[5] Andy Riga, First Nations Take Quebec to Court Over Bill 96 “Infringement of Ancestral Rights,” MONTREAL GAZETTE (April 20, 2023), https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/provincial-news/article581809.html.
[6] Andy Riga, Quebec Municipalities to Launch Lawsuit Against Bill 96, MONTREAL GAZETTE (Sep. 28, 2024), https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article46058.html.
[7] Andy Riga, Crowd-funded Lawsuit Focuses on Bill 96’s Concrete Impact on Human Rights, MONTREAL GAZETTE (May 31, 2023), https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article46175.html.
[8] What Quebec’s Bill 96 Will Mean for Trademarks and Businesses, INT’L TRADEMARK ASS’N: INDUSTRY UPDATES (Feb. 8, 2024), https://www.inta.org/perspectives/industry-updates/what-quebecs-bill-96-will-mean-for-trademarks-and-businesses/.
[9] Andy Riga, English School Boards Are Allowed to Communicate in English, Quebec Judge Rules, MONTREAL GAZETTE (April 18, 2024), https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article144726.html.
[10] Pearl Eliadis, Pearl Eliadis on the Overreach of Bill 96, MCGILL U.: MAX POL’Y (Dec. 6, 2021), https://www.mcgill.ca/maxbellschool/max-policy/the-overreach-of-bill-96.
[11] Reports on United Nations Human Rights Treaties, GOV’T OF CANADA (Aug. 15, 2024), https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/canada-united-nations-system/reports-united-nations-treaties.html.
[12] Eliadis, supra note 10.
[13] International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Dec. 16, 1966, S. TREATY DOC. NO. 95-20, 999 U.N.T.S. 171.
[14] Civil Code of Québec, S.Q. 2022, c 14 (Can.).
[15] Riga, supra note 7.