Thursday’s Supreme Court decision against Bill 104 is the latest legal judgment involving Canada’s contentious language issue, a controversy that lawmakers have been wrangling with for almost a century.
It began with the Lavergne Law in 1910, which made it mandatory for bus and train tickets to be printed in both languages.
Anglophones in Quebec were thrown into an uproar in 1937, after the provincial government passed a law deeming the French text of laws should dominate the English version, as it better reflected the intent of the lawmakers.
The law only stood for a year before being repealed.
Controversy erupted again in 1969 with the passing of Bill 63. The law was an attempt to promote and preserve the French language in Quebec.
It required English-speaking children to learn French, and that all measures be taken to ensure that immigrants learn French after their arrival in Quebec. Many in the francophone community in Quebec believed these measures were too weak.
The measure was repealed and replaced by Bill 22 in 1974. More comprehensive than the previous legislation, Bill 22 ignited fierce debate from both the French and English communities.
The law made French the official language in Quebec. It required children to take tests in English before they could be admitted to an English school, and businesses in Quebec had to acquire a certificate ensuring they could conduct business and communicate internally in French.
Robert Bourassa’s Liberals were defeated in the election two years later, largely because of the rising social unrest in the province fuelled by the English-French controversy.
The province instead elected the first separatist government in the 1976 election: the Parti Quebecois under Ren̩ L̩vesque. Within its first year, the new government would pass Bill 101 Рthe Charter of the French Language.
The Bill essentially banned the use of English on commercial signs. Access to English education was drastically restricted: available only to families already in the English system, and to those living in Quebec temporarily.
Official Languages Act
On the federal scene, bilingualism was officially enshrined in law in 1969 with the Official Languages Act, under Pierre Trudeau’s Liberals. The legislation, which received support by all parties, required that all federal agencies provide services in both languages.
While it had widespread support in parliament, it did not share the same level of support among the Canadian public. Many Canadians outside of Quebec objected to public funds being used to subsidize the provision of French services.
Many French Quebecers felt marginalized, and worried that they would be excluded from government jobs deemed “bilingual positions.”
The legislation also did little to stifle separatist sentiment within Quebec. The Parti Québécois continued to make gains before finally taking power in the 1976 election.
The Official Languages Act was substantially amended in 1988, to require, among other things, that each provincial government offer services to the French minority, and that the Quebec government provide services to the English minority.
The law also reaffirmed official bilingualism, to encourage breakthroughs within federal agencies that still had yet to materialize.
Thursday’s decision
Bill 101, while comprehensive, left a legal loophole that enabled families to send their child to private English schools for as little as a year before gaining entry to English public schools.
The loophole then enabled the siblings of that child to also attend English schools, in accordance with the law.
In order to close the loophole, Quebec passed Bill 104 in 2002. A series of cases were brought before the courts in the next several years, contesting the law.
A group of 26 families challenged Bill 104, and in 2007, the Quebec Court of Appeal struck it down. The Quebec government then announced that it would appeal to the Supreme Court, suspending action on the judgment.
The SCOC began hearing arguments in 2008, and on Thursday ruled Bill 104 unconstitutional. The Quebec government will now go back to the drawing board in dealing with those using private schools to gain admission to English schools in Quebec.
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