The imminent passage of Bill C-13 signals a significant change in the federal government’s language policy. Through the federal recognition of Quebec’s Charter of the French Language, which includes changes made by Bill 96, it appears the Canadian government is moving in the direction of abandoning official nationwide bilingualism.
By effectively allowing an unconstitutional Quebec law to supersede English language guarantees for anglophone-Quebecers outlined in the Canadian Constitution, the country is entering into a new era.
While Canada being a bilingual society may have always been more of an aspiration rather than a reality, at least the pretense existed. Now it appears the federal government has abandoned even this and is caving to Quebecois nationalism.
This isn’t to say that Bill C-13 doesn’t have positive aspects. Francophone communities outside of Quebec are in many ways in the same boat as anglophone-Quebecers and therefore deserve support and protection. Federal employees who speak French as their first language should be able to be communicated to in French, regardless of whether they are in Montreal, Sudbury or Edmonton, as keeping with the bilingual nature of Canada’s founding. But the opposite should also be true of anglophones in Quebec.
Regardless of the English language’s dominance on the rest of the continent, there is no compelling ethical or rational reason English Quebecers should be punished for being born on the wrong side of a border, which is effectively happening by way of the soon-to-be federally enshrined language regulations.
While Quebec anglophone organizations will receive funding from Bill C-13 in recognition of their minority situation in the province, this isn’t sufficient compensation for effectively having the federal government recognize the defacto loss of constitutionally guaranteed language rights of anglophone Quebecers.
The federal government’s recognition of the punitive nature of Quebec’s Charter of the French Language is also problematic. Despite the French’s status as a language of great literature, poetry, philosophy, science and music, the only way the government of Quebec, and now effectively the Canadian government as well, can think of protecting it is essentially forcing non-francophones out of the province and making life harder for those who remain through surveillance and denial of services.
There has always been a dark undercurrent of Quebec’s language policies connected to the historical antagonism between the English and French within the province. While those antagonisms may be intractable given Quebec’s history, they certainly shouldn’t be the basis for public policies, let alone inflamed by them like they are now.
MPs supporting Bill C-13 need to seriously consider the implications of looking towards the increasingly xenophobic ideology of Quebecois nationalism as the only way to protect the French language.
In the short term, there may be more parliamentary seats in playing into Quebecois nationalism, the long-term implications on Canada as a country are grim.
Alternatively, the federal government could take a firm stand against punitive language laws by offering a positive vision in line with Canada’s history of bilingualism.
As of now, without even the federal government standing up for them, it seems that English Quebecers are their own.
Brett Thoms
