Charter of the French Language

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The Charter of the French Language (so called Bill 101) is a framework law in the province of Quebec, Canada, defining the linguistic rights of all Quebecers and making French, the language of the majority, the sole official language of Quebec. It is a fundamental law and is part of Quebec's statutes along with other quasi-constitutional laws such as the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

Proposed by the minister of Cultural Development, Camille Laurin, it was enacted by the National Assembly on August 26, 1977 by the first Parti QuÃÂÃÂ©bÃÂÃÂ©cois government of RenÃÂÃÂ© LÃÂÃÂ©vesque. Many of the Charter's articles greatly expanded on the more timid attempt to promote francisation found in Bill 22, enacted by the Liberals in 1974.

Table of contents

1 Dispositions
2 Anglophone minority and Aboriginals
3 Legal discussion
4 See also
5 External links

Dispositions

The preamble of the Charter states that the Charter's goal is to promote the use of French as the main public language of all residents of Quebec. In order to achieve this goal, the Charter contains a number of key dispositions and various regulations. The Office quÃÂÃÂ©bÃÂÃÂ©cois de la langue franÃÂÃÂ§aise (Quebec Office of the French language) is the government branch responsible to oversee the application of the Charter.

The Charter makes French the sole official language of communication of the State. This means that the government of Quebec and all its branches communicate primarily in French with its citizens.

One of the Charter's objectives is to increase the francization of immigrants so that they integrate the mainstream society. To do so, a disposition stipulates that children who attend the public school network must do so in French until the post-secondary level. But they can attend private school in any language if they so choose. An exception allows for children to attend English language public schools if either one of the parents received his/her education in English in Canada. With this exception to the rule, the constitutional right of the English-speaking minority of Quebec is respected.

Another disposition provides for State-funded French courses for immigrants who choose to reside in Quebec. This measure is quite popular with newcomers, however it has been inadequately funded by all Quebec governments.

The Charter makes French the official language in the workplace. Thus, current and prospective employees cannot be subject to discrimination if they are unable to or do not wish to use a language other than French. A regulation states that internal written communications for all corporations in Quebec must be in French, but a translation in any other language can be included if the employer deems it necessary.

Anglophone minority and Aboriginals

When the Charter was drafted, the National Assembly had to consider the historical and constitutional rights of the English-speaking minority and that of the aboriginal peoples. The Charter includes several guarantees for the uses of languages other than French in Quebec. It provides, for example, that:

Quebec laws shall be published in English as well as in French;
Persons may address courts of law in either French or English;
Judgments by courts will be made available in either the official language or in English upon request by one of the parties;
The Charter shall not apply on Indian reserves (At the current, instruction in Cree and Inuit school boards are respectively in the Cree and Inuktitut languages);

A number of exceptions are also made to the general rules for commercial production, signing and advertizing:

Products destined exclusively for export;
Educational products for the teaching of a language other than French;
Cultural and ideological companies, groups, signs, and literature (including non-French broadcasters, newspapers, etc.);
Companies (usually multinational corporations) that sign an agreement with the OQLF permitting an exemption from the francization requirement. (However, the rules regarding the right of a worker to work in French still applies.)

Legal discussion

Although language is an undefined jurisdiction under the Canadian Constitution, the federal government of Canada and the Supreme Court of Canada have made interventions in regards to the Charter. Because of this, some of the Charter's articles have been changed since its introduction in 1977. The most well-known and controversial change affected the regulation of exterior commercial signs. In its first enactment the Charter banned English-only signs claiming they violated the linguistic rights of the French-speaking majority, making French the only language on exterior signs.

Following a challenge, this section of the law was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1988, (see: Ford v. Quebec (A.G.)). The Liberal government invoked the notwithstanding clause of the Constitution to overrule the Supreme court ruling, however the Charter was nevertheless subsequently amended by the Liberals in 1993 with Bill 86. The current law specifies that commercial outdoor signs can be multilingual so long as French is predominant, but businesses now voluntarily choose to put up French signs, and at times, even change their registered trademarks following market forces.