Élections Québec says it is too late to make changes to the unilingual French documents it is mailing to voters ahead of the election.
The provincial elections authority was reacting to comments made by Coalition Avenir Québec Leader Christine Fréchette, who said she is in discussions with Élections Québec to determine the next steps.
“We will see what our obligations are,” Fréchette said.
The unilingual documents have prompted an outcry from advocacy groups representing anglophones in Quebec who say the French-only documents are creating an unnecessary barrier for voters.
Élections Québec said on Tuesday it could not print the documents in both French and English, as it has done in the past, to comply with language legislation that makes French the sole language of communication for public institutions.
The printed documents include a QR code to the Élections Québec website, where information is available in English.
The legislation, adopted in 2022, allows some people to continue receiving services in English. Anglophones who qualify and Indigenous people can contact the agency to request English information, though it says the campaign period is too short to send physical documents.
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The agency added that it asked the commissioner of the French language to make an exception for the election, but to no avail.
A lobby group representing anglophones in the province has asked the government and Élections Québec to reverse the decision.
In an email, the commissioner said the law applies to Élections Québec as it is treated as a government organization. It said some exceptions can be made, though “these exceptions do not permit the systematic dissemination of communications in a language other than French.”
The government’s language policy specifies that “institutional bilingualism is incompatible with the Charter (of the French language),” and the commissioner “does not have the authority to create exceptions to the Charter,” it added.
The Canadian Press reached out to the ministry of the French language for comment but did not hear back at time of publication.
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Party leaders were also asked to comment on the issue on the campaign trail.
“It is what it is,” said Liberal Party Leader Charles Milliard, acknowledging Élection Québec is an independent agency.
Though he shares voter concerns about access to voting, he said there is “not much (he) can do right now.”
Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre-Plamondon maintained that he opposes institutional bilingualism, but compared voting information to the legal system where Quebecers can access justice in either official language.
“When it comes down to fundamental rights, like voting, there needs to be a mechanism through which anglophones can get information in English,” he said, adding that the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s legislation was “sometimes not planned adequately.”
Québec solidaire’s parliamentary leader, Ruba Ghazal, said she is especially worried for seniors who may not have internet access or understand digital platforms.
“We won’t protect the French language by penalizing citizens,” she said. “They have a right to clear information to participate in democracy.”
Voters should receive information cards by Sept. 18, ahead of the election on Oct. 5, according to Élections Québec.
Any legislation that promotes Uniingual French in Canada is against the Canadian Constitution, and thus illegal. The Courts should step in and shut it down.
Why does Canada have a language commissioner if not do do just that.
This is an insult to English speaking Canadians in Quebec. Canada is a bilingual country and it’s about time Quebec was made to stop treating English speaking Canadians as second class citizens. Try only printing election documents in only English and see how that goes over. It’s a disgrace and an embarrassment for Canada to be seen treating some of it’s citizens as second class and hindering them to vote in an election.
A slap in my face and about another 1,000,000 Quebecers whose main language is English.
Do we now live in Trump Land?