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Tag Archives: Bill 101

A Unilingual Province in a Bilingual Country

29 Saturday Oct 2022

Posted by michelinewalker in Bilingualism, Just Society, Language Laws

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Assimilation, Bilingual Education, Bilingualism in Quebec, Bill 101, Bill 22, Champlain College - Lennoxville, No Language Laws, United Empire Loyalists

Red House by Lawren Harris, 1925 (wikiart.org)

—ooo—

I have underlined the sentence revealing that a question can lead to multiple answers. My name is a problem. I wrote that my mother tongue was French. But how was this interpreted?

Overview as of the 2016 census

  • Population: 8,164,361
  • Official language: French
  • Majority group: Francophone (77.1%)
  • Minority groups: Allophone (13.15%), Anglophone (7.45%), Aboriginals (0.6%)
In the field of linguistics, the word allophone means “other sound.” It is used to describe when a phoneme (the smallest unit of sound in speech) sounds slightly different depending on how it is used in a word. In Canada, this idea of “other sound” is applied to the notion of languages other than French or English. (See Allophone, The Canadian Encyclopedia)
(See Language Demographics of Quebec, Wikipedia)

Knowledge of Languages

The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses. The following figures are from the 2021 Canadian Census and the 2016 Canadian Census, and lists languages that were selected by at least one per cent of respondents. See Language Demographics of Quebec, Wikipedia)
  • 49.99% knew French only
  • 44.46% knew English and French
  • 4.62% knew English only

(See Language Demographics of Quebec, Wikipedia)

Another set of figures under Knowledge of Languages gives us:

  • 93.72% Francophones
  • 51.96% Anglophones

(See Language Demographics of Quebec, Wikipedia)

About Language Laws in Quebec

  • Bill 22 (1974)
  • Bill 101, The Charter of the French Language (1977)
  • Bill 96 (2021)

Having provided figures, we are returning to the subject of Language Laws in Québec.

In 1974, five years after Canada passed the Official Languages Act of 1969, the Liberal Government of Quebec, under Robert Bourassa, passed Bill 22. Bill 22 made Quebec a unilingual (French) province in an officially bilingual country. Many Canadians could not believe that Quebec had declared itself unilingual after the “Canada” question had been solved. The Official Languages Act of 1969 had been passed. So, when Bill 22 was passed, there was an exodus of English-speaking Montrealers, the Province of Quebec’s best taxpayers. They moved to Toronto but soon moved to Calgary and Vancouver. These were their favourite destinations. Bill 101 (The Charter of the French Language) was passed in 1977 by René Lévesque‘s Parti Québécois. Bill 96 updates The Charter of the French Language. It was passed in 2021 under François Legault‘s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government.

Bilingual Areas

The Province of Quebec has bilingual areas. Montreal has an anglophone and allophone population. The Eastern Townships of Lower Canada, future Quebec, were given to United Empire Loyalists shortly before the Constitutional Act of 1791. Quebecers living in small communities in the Eastern Townships receive services in English. Moreover, although Montreal is not a bilingual area of Quebec, many anglophones live in the Greater Montreal Area. The North West Company, a fur trading company, was headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. Many lived in the Golden Square Mile.

Introduced by Camille Laurin, Bill 101, the Charter of the French Language (1977) made French the official language of the Government and the courts of Quebec. French became the "normal, everyday language of work, instruction, communication, commerce and business."
(See Bill 101, the Canadian Encyclopedia.)

Francization

The validity of Bill 22 (1974), passed under the Liberal government of Robert Bourassa, and Bill 101, the Charter of the French Language (1977), passed under René Lévesque‘s Parti Québécois, and Bill 96, a continuation of Bill 101, passed by François Legault‘s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) has been questioned. It is an assimilative process. Bill 96 is a continuation of Bill 101, the Charter of the French Language. The majority of Quebec’s citizens are francophones, but Quebec has anglophone citizens. As mentioned above, the Eastern Townships of the province of Quebec are a bilingual area, as are other communities. Besides, many anglophones live in the Greater Montreal Area.

Quebec may wish to make French the “normal, everyday language of work, instruction, communication, commerce, and business.” Still, Quebec is not universally unilingual and therefore promotes unilingualism in an officially bilingual country. Moreover, francisation comes at a price. In the workplace, businesses are supervised by the Office québécois de la langue française, which jeopardizes “doing business,” a foolish policy and one that is calculated to drive anglophones away from Quebec. Businesses are not language schools. Language laws also penalize businesses and other groups (numbers matter) that are not contributing substantially to Quebec’s francization. Companies must comply with Quebec’s francization or be punished.

If a business doesn’t follow the francization rules, it might have to pay a fine ranging from $700 to $30,000, or even more. (See Language Laws and Doing Business in Quebec.)  

Businesses are supervised by l’Office québécois de la langue française until they receive a Certificate of Francization. However, they must carry on with the good work because, after three years, the business must report to “l’Office québécois de la langue française.” (See Language Laws and Doing Business in Quebec française.)

It must also report to the Office every three years on the use of French in the business. 

Terminologies

Languages have terminologies. There are languages within languages. Does l’Office québécois de la langue française have examiners who know all terminologies? But, more importantly, if a bilingual and competent employee can no longer bear the burden of francization, will he or she stay in Quebec. No, he or she will not. Therefore, I genuinely fear losing the experts currently managing my pension fund. They are bilingual, but what I need is their expertise. Competence is my first criterion.

Competence and Francization

On 4 October 2021, I was diagnosed with pericarditis in an emergency ward, but my new doctor told me to buy Voltaren. I still have a large toe. One can develop gout as a result of pericarditis. I had at least five attacks a week for four months of what felt like a heart attack before my doctor prescribed medication. Had it not been for doctors at the Magog hospital emergency room, I would not have been medicated. That happy period lasted two weeks. So, give me a competent doctor. I’ll struggle with the terminology.

Québec remains a bilingual province in a bilingual country, as per the Official Languages Acts. Ironically, this francization occurs because “[a]ll workers in Quebec have the right to work in French.” (See Language Laws and Doing Business in Quebec.) Certain professions demand knowledge of English.

I am told that if a business, or other entity, needs a translator, it must be at the cost of this business. Where will this business find a translator? My father worked as a translator for the Canadian Poultryman, which has a new name. He dutifully learned everything about chicken and eggs in French and English, but he could not retire. His employer could not find a replacement for him. So, the magazine is no longer published in French and English. There are steps. First, one learns the language. The article will not otherwise make any sense.

Moreover, businesses must have enough employees to manage the francization task. (See Language Laws and Doing Business in Quebec.)

Language Laws and Doing Business in Quebec lead to other areas, such as education. You may explore.

—ooo—

Small localities in the Eastern Townships may have services in English, but if the population drops below the “acceptable” number, they will lose these benefits. If Bill 101/96 is respected, the anglophone population will fall below the good number. Moreover, people are receiving government documents in French only. These used to be issued in French and English. Canada remains an officially bilingual country.

It is a Sword of Damocles scenario.

—ooo—

As you know, I oppose language laws. Languages are learned at home and in schools. French-speaking Quebecers, Québécois have been enrolling in English-language cégeps (Collège d’enseignement général et professionnel). Cégeps are a two-year pre-university programme, and they are public schools. Students are protesting Bill 96 because they know English is the current lingua franca and wish to learn it. It turns out that Champlain College-Lennoxville, in Sherbrooke, offers an Advantage programme. Students who require special assistance may avail themselves of the “Advantage” and “Advantage +” services. I do not know whether French-language cégeps welcome English-speaking students who wish to learn French. My work is not over.

Advantage

Le parcours Avantage s’adresse aux nouveaux étudiants qui auraient besoin de temps et de soutien à la réussite pour faciliter leur transition aux études collégiales. Dans ce cheminement, les étudiants suivent plusieurs cours conçus à la fois pour améliorer leurs méthodes de travail et de recherche et pour mieux comprendre leur rôle en tant qu’apprenants. Bien qu’un tel parcours soit d’abord fait pour les étudiants qui ont besoin d’un soutien scolaire additionnel pour réussir au collégial, le cheminement pourrait aussi profiter grandement à ceux qui ont toujours étudié en français en leur permettant d’améliorer leurs compétences en anglais parlé et écrit ainsi qu’en lecture par des cours spécifiquement conçus à cet effet.

This approach could also benefit those who have always studied in French by allowing them to improve their knowledge of spoken and written English and reading skills in English by taking courses designed for this purpose.

Conclusion

John A. Macdonald created “uniform” schools where the language of instruction was English. I have not invented the term “uniform” schools. I have seen it somewhere. As immigrants settled in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, or elsewhere in Canada, they had to attend English-language schools. Quebec was the only province where children could be educated in French. It created an imbalance, and French Canadians viewed Quebec as their home. This drama unfolded in the “schools” question. In Manitoba, Catholicism clouded the issue. Did Manitobans want French schools or French and Catholic schools? But the Ontario “schools” was unambiguous.

The Ontario schools question was the first major schools issue to focus on language rather than religion. In Ontario, French or French-language education remained a contentious issue for nearly a century, from 1890 to 1980, with English-speaking Catholics and Protestants aligned against French-speaking Catholics.
(See Ontario Schools Question, The Canadian Encyclopedia)

The “Quebec” and “Canada” questions are rooted in the “schools” question. John A. Macdonald lived when the British Empire was at its apex, and he adopted Macaulayism. Thomas Babington Macauley believed that the British had an empire because they spoke English. In Residential Schools, indigenous children were punished if they spoke a native language. French-speaking children were spared that ignominy, but John A. Macdonald’s programme of anglicisation led to the growth of a primarily English-language country and Québécois were minoritized and could not leave Quebec.

Therefore, the French language must be promoted, but this sort of process usually occurs at home and in schools. I wonder if French-language cégeps would welcome English-speaking students. Cégeps are public schools. One does not pay a fee. The process could encourage French-speaking students to polish their French. Terminologies are learned after one has acquired some fluency in a second language, and terminologies are not always extremely complex. If our businessman or woman has been thoroughly frenchified, he or she will not be able to work outside Quebec or French-language countries. What will Quebec have gained?

The age of imperialism and colonialism is over. The French and English nations are Canada’s founding nations. Nations are not easily quantifiable. We, therefore, provide citizens with bilingual documents. L’École acadienne de Pomquet is a model. Pomquet is “home” to 900 inhabitants. But it is very near Antigonish and may attract anglophone students.

I am so sorry I left Antigonish. It was home, and it will always be.

I was tired the day I published this post. I had to rewrite it. I also discovered that it is not possible to tell the exact population of Quebec. I am still a little confused, but the relevant information is available

RELATED ARTICLES

Pages:

Canadiana.1
Canadiana.2

  • A Unilingual Province in a Bilingual Country (29 October 2022)
  • Language Laws in Quebec: la Patrie littéraire, the Literary Homeland (2 Octobre 2022)
  • Language Laws in Quebec, a Preface (29 September 2022)
  • Le Patriote (16 August 2022)
  • From Cats to l’École acadienne de Pomquet (25 July 2022) 
  • On Quebec’s Language Laws: Bill 96 (21 June 2022)
  • On Quebec’s Language Laws (18 November 2021)

Sources and Ressources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEGEP
https://www.cegepsquebec.ca/en/
https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/document/cs/C-11
CTV News.
l’Office québécois de la langue française
Language Demographics of Quebec Wikipedia
Language Laws and Doing Business in Quebec
The Charter in the Classroom (Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms)
Micheline Bourbeau-Walker, Le Poids de l’histoire : à la recherche d’une pédagogie, Canadian Modern Language Review (Vol. 40, No 2, 1984) pp. 218-227.
Micheline Bourbeau-Walker, ed. Tendances et pratiques actuelles en didactique du français langue seconde. Mosaïque, Apfucc, 1988. (Apfucc : Association des professeurs de français des universités et collèges canadiens)

© Micheline Walker
29 October – 1st November 2022
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Winter Landscape with Pink House by Lawren Harris, 1918

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Quebec’s Language Laws

26 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by michelinewalker in Quebec

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Bill 101, Bill 22, Bombardier, Language Laws, SNC Lavalin

640px-Outside_Union_Station

Monument to Multiculturalism by Francesco Pirelli in Toronto; four identical sculptures are located in Buffalo City, Changchun, Sarajevo, and Sydney (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Canada is an officially multicultural society, but its official languages are English and French, with the exception of Quebec.

An Overview

Immigrants to Canada enter an officially bilingual country, by virtue of the Official Languages Act (Canada) of 1969 and the Official Languages Act of 1988.

The Official Languages Act of 1969

Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism

Canada became an officially bilingual country under the terms of the Official Languages Act (Canada), signed on 9 September 1969. Passage of the Official Languages Act (Canada) was the culmination of an inquiry conducted by the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, established by Prime Minister and Nobel laureate Lester B. Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE on 19 July 1963. The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism is sometimes called the Laurendeau-Dunton Commission. André Laurendeau, the editor-in-chief of Le Devoir, Quebec’s leading newspaper, and Davidson Dunton, the President of Carleton University, co-chaired the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. The findings of the Commission indicated that French-speaking Canadians were at a disadvantage and lived on a lower income than English-speaking Canadians and Italian immigrants. (See Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, Wikipedia.)

Laurendeau & Dunton
Laurendeau & Dunton
Dunton & Laurendeau
Dunton & Laurendeau

The Official Language Act (Quebec) 1974

Canada’s two official languages are French and English. However, since 1974, by virtue of the Official Language Act (Quebec) (Bill 22) the children of immigrants who choose to live in Quebec must attend a French-language school. Bill 22 was replaced by (Bill 101) or Charter of the French Language, a stiffer language law passed in 1977 by the Parti québécois (Parti Quécébois in English). Under Bill 22 and Bill 101, only children born to a Quebec English-Canadian parent and a French-speaking Canadian could attend an English-language school. This law was amended to include an English-Canadian parent born outside Quebec.

Bill 22 was a Law to promote the French language in Quebec (Loi pour promouvoir la langue française au Québec). It superseded Bill 63 passed in 1969, when l’Union Nationale leader Jean-Jacques Bertrand was premier of Quebec. Premier Bertrand was in office from 1968 to 1970. Bill 63, presented by Jean-Guy Cardinal, Quebec’s Minister of Education, in 1969, allowed parents to enrol their children in either French-language or English-language schools.

In 1970, the Parti libéral du Québec, led by Robert Bourassa, was voted into office. Four years later, under the leadership of Robert Bourassa, Quebec’s Official Language Act (Quebec), or Bill 22, was passed. It made French the only official language of Quebec. For Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Bill 22 was a “slap in the face.” (See Charter of the French Language, Wikipedia.) It had been a mere five years since Canada had become an officially bilingual country.

Robert Bourassa lost the 1976 provincial election to Parti Quécébois founder and leader René Lévesque, whose government passed Bill 101, or the Charter of the French Language, a stricter enactment of Bill 22.

The Charter of the French Language

Education
Unilingual posting

The main purpose of Quebec’s Bill 22 and Bill 101 was to ensure that the children of immigrants to Quebec enrolled in French-language schools. Given its rapidly decreasing birthrate, Quebec began transforming immigrants into Québécois. This movement started in Saint-Léonard with the closure of an English-language school attended primarily by the children of Italian immigrants. People protested, at times violently. Bill 63 gave citizens the freedom of choice, causing indignation on the part of a sizable group of French-speaking Québécois.

http://www.panoramitalia.com/en/arts-culture/history/saint-leonard-conflict-language-legislation-quebec/2325/

http://larevolutiontranquille.ca/en/the-bill-63.php

However, the Charter of the French Language also required that Quebecers live in visibly French communities, hence unilingual posting and penalties for “offenders.” Its chief agency was and remains the Office québécois de la langue française, established in 1961 by Quebec Premier Jean Lesage, PC, CC, CD. Related agencies are the Conseil supérieur de la langue française, the office regulating toponymie, the naming of places, and other groups. The Charter of the French Language, la Chartre de la langue française, was introduced by Camille Laurin. 

The Referendums: 1980 & 1995

Quebec held two referendums on a renegotiation of Quebec’s ties with the government of Canada, or souveraineté-association (sovereignty-association). The first took place in 1980, two years before Quebec failed to sign Constitution Act of 1982. The second was held in 1995 but the result was too close to represent a clear “yes” or “no.”  More than 49% of the population of Quebec voted “yes.” The response of the Federal government (Ottawa) was the Clarity Act. The Clarity Act “was passed by the House on March 15, 2000, and by the Senate, in its final version, on June 29, 2000.”  (Wikipedia). The Quebec Government’s response to Ottawa’s response was the Act respecting the exercise of the fundamental rights and prerogatives of the Québec people and the Québec State, passed two days after the Clarity Act.

Remedial Measures

  • The Official Languages Act (Canada) of 1988
  • The Clarity Act of 15 March 2000
  • The Québécois nation motion of November 27, 2006

The Québécois nation motion, a  parliamentary motion tabled by Prime Minister  Stephen Harper, Canada’s current prime minister, was approved by the House of Commons of Canada on Monday, 27 November 2006. The English motion read: “That this House recognize that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada.” I am quoting Wikipedia.

In French, the motion read: “Que cette Chambre reconnaisse que les Québécoises et les Québécois forment une nation au sein d’un Canada uni.” (See Québécois nation motion, Wikipedia). This does not differ much from the souveraineté-association concept put forward by the Parti Québécois.

Bill 101 has been deemed unconstitutional and an infringement of Human Rights, but it has not been rescinded and schools are filled up with French-speaking Quebecers originating from various countries.

Chronology of the Language Laws

  1. Constitution Act, 1867: Section 133, but no official languages
  2. Laurendeau-Dunton Commission (1963 – 1969)
  3. Official Languages Act of 1969
  4. 1969: Act to promote the French Language in Quebec (Bill 63) http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/charte/reperes/Loi_63.pdf
  5. 1974: Official Language Act of 1974 (Bill 22)FR & EN http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/charte/reperes/Loi_22.pdf
  6. 1977: Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) EN http://www.canlii.org/en/qc/laws/stat/rsq-c-c-11/latest/rsq-c-c-11.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Commission_on_Bilingualism_and_Biculturalism
  7. 1988: Official Languages Act of 1988
    http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/O-3.01/FullText.html

—ooo—

Temporary Conclusion

Bill 115

http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/after-24-hours-of-debate-english-education-bill-becomes-law-1.564054

Bills allowing education in English in Quebec have been passed. One such bill is Bill 115, passed in 2010. However, I am excluding discussion of Bills making access to English-language schools easier from this post because I need to close it. All I will write is that Bill 101 has been amended six times and that Bill 115 facilitates an English-language education.

Bill 101 is problematical in that it is at cross-purposes with the Official Languages Act of 1969 and the Official Languages Act of 1988. It is also at cross-purposes with a finding and appropriate recommendation of the Laurendeau-Dunton commission: greater prosperity for French-speaking Canadians.

We live in a world where business is often conducted in the English language, which does not mean that one has to unlearn French. I know people who spent a lifetime being impeccably French in an English-language milieu.

Immigrants to Quebec have to attend French-language schools, which seems perfectly acceptable. Quebec needs Québécois. But this does not and should not preclude learning English. English is taught in French-language schools. Why should Quebecers isolate themselves?

Learning other languages is not necessarily detrimental to mastery of one’s mother tongue. Québécois live in French-language milieu. No one has to leave that milieu. In fact Quebec offers two main milieu: a French-language milieu and an English-language milieu. In this regard, Montreal is la crème de la crème as an environment. It is home to thousands of immigrants from all over the world.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, Quebec built the Manicouagan Reservoir and there is further untapped wealth in Northern Quebec. Moreover Quebec has large enterprises, such as Bombardier and SNC Lavalin. These have offices abroad.

There’s nothing wrong with a little prosperity.

My kindest regards to all of you.♥

Félix Leclerc sings “L’Écharpe” (The Scarf)
photo14© Micheline Walker
26 April 2015
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