The Quebec government wants the proposed federal language law reform to take a different approach toward the province’s English-speaking minority and francophone minorities in other parts of the country.
The province has sent 14 suggested amendments to members of a parliamentary committee currently studying the bill.
Those amendments would remove language from the bill calling for the promotion of English and add recognition that French is Quebec’s common language.
The amendments would also require senior managers of federal institutions and federally regulated companies to speak French and subject them to the province’s language law.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who is also Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Quebec lieutenant, told reporters Friday French is the only language in North America that is threatened, but the federal government will support both minority language communities.
The Quebec Community Groups Network, a Quebec anglophone rights group, described the 14 proposed amendments as part of the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s “war” on the province’s English-speaking community.