The Legault government's language policies "are harmful, injurious and unnecessary, and so new measures should be put on hold pending the outcome of the Bill 96 constitutional litigation.”
The Legault government’s policies have been so harmful to Quebec’s English-speaking community that a court should impose what may be an unprecedented injunction, blocking any new “discriminatory” language rules, an anglophone rights group says.
In a request submitted to Quebec Superior Court on Wednesday, the Task Force on Linguistic Policy says an injunction should be in place until multiple lawsuits against Bill 96 are settled, a process expected to take years and culminate at the Supreme Court of Canada.
In a 21-page court filing, the crowd-funded Task Force asks the court to order the Quebec government not to use its powers under the Charter of the French Language to bring in any “new measures which have the effect of restricting the use of the English language or (penalizing) its use.”
The request — expected to be heard in February — comes as French Language Minister Jean-François Roberge prepares to announce an “action plan” to reverse what the government sees as a decline in French, particularly in Montreal. The plan is expected to include multiple new measures.
The Coalition Avenir Québec government’s actions are “not simply discriminatory, they bring the community generally into disrepute,” Task Force lawyer Michael Bergman told the Montreal Gazette.
“It’s creating within Quebec an identifiable community of second-class citizens whose rights need to be limited without which the majority is either threatened or simply cannot survive.”
Bill 96 is a wide-ranging expansion of Quebec language rules enacted by Premier François Legault’s government in 2022. The bill reinforced several Quebec laws, including Bill 101, known officially as the Charter of the French Language.
