As I arrived at the RAMQ (Regie de l’assurance maladie du Quebec) office to apply for my healthcare card at the end of August last year, I was astonished at what I saw. Among the bland gray walls and never-ending hallways of cubicles hung posters reading “Au Quebec, ont parle Francais.” While waiting in line, I watched embarrassingly as a man desperately tried to explain his situation to the receptionist in English even though she only responded to him in French. He was a foreigner in his native province. Never before in my life had I been so grateful to know how to speak a language.
When the minority government of the Parti Quebecois (PQ) was elected in the 2012 Quebec general election in September, I got the feeling that a language war would spark up. Indeed the PQ, which believes in Quebec national sovereignty and the province secession from the Canadian federation, introduced Bill 14, an amendment to 1977’s Bill 101, otherwise known as the Charter of the French Language.
The five week long series of public consultations on Bill 14 ended on April 18, with nationalists concluding that it doesn’t go far enough in beefing up the use of French in Quebec. However, with the bill’s 155 proposals detailing further promotion of French, such as removing cities’ bilingual status if the Anglophone population drops below 50 percent or forcing businesses with 26 or more workers to make French their official everyday work language, the bill goes too far.
I was born in “La Belle Province” (Quebec’s unofficial nickname) and I always knew how proud Quebecers are of their French language and culture in a majority-Anglophone nation. Having grown up in the US though, I hardly learned about Canadian politics or history, let alone the Quebec side of the story, but after a few curiosity-driven Wiki searches, I read about the Quiet Revolution, Le Parti Quebecois, and the province’s “war with the English language.” However, I always had it in the back of my mind that Quebec’s language conflict was a thing of the past.
But the PQ is serious on this throwback, which comes off as alienating and somewhat discriminatory.
For example, part of Bill 14 is to give preference to Anglophones to enter an English-speaking CEGEP, clearly with the goal of preventing Francophone students to learn in English. So, instead of academic record, the bill would make native tongue a more prominent factor in admissions, which is discriminatory towards students to get into a CEGEP. Also regarding education, the government has the right to disregard credits a student receives at an English school if they wish to transfer to another school.
Not only does the bill negatively affect education, but it also goes too far in its amendments to the work force in Quebec, especially to employees who are hired knowing multiple languages including French. For instance, under the bill, an employer is required to “subsequently review such needs periodically.” This means that if a workplace does not necessarily require that its employees speak languages other than French, then multilingual employees’ jobs are in danger, even if they are fluent in French.
Bill 14 also alienates the business community, which can end up hurting Quebec’s economy in the future. In fact, according to Richard Yufe of Canadian Rights in Quebec, there has been “A massive extension and expansion going on just on the borders…of Quebec because people are afraid to set foot here in Quebec.”
These are just two examples of how the bill alienates the Anglophone community in Quebec. Other ways are the fact that all applications made to public services would have to be in French only, as well as health and social service document.
Even though the future of the bill is uncertain due to the PQ needing at least one other opposition party to vote for the bill, it has already caused Anglophones to consider leaving Quebec. For instance, in a January poll conducted by Research Company EKOS, 42 percent of the Anglophones surveyed are considering leaving Quebec since the PQ win in September.
The PQ needs to think about what’s best for Quebec as they pursue Bill 14. Many of its policies create divisions among Quebec society and it would be hurtful for Quebec businesses. The government needs to focus on bilingualism rather than eradicating the English language completely. Already, many employers ask for people who are bilingual, and having both French and English schools available to the public gives Quebecers the option to learn both languages. Bill 14 would not unify the province but divide it. If Quebec wants to remain “La Belle Province,” the government needs to rethink their actions towards language politics.
Images obtained from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2013/… and http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2013/03/12/the-story-so-far-bill-14…