Quebec is the only province in Canada
where francophones make
up the majority population. For almost two centuries, many have maintained that
preserving the French
language was the only possible safeguard for the survival of the
Quebec nation (see Francophone
Nationalism in Quebec). However, it wasn’t until the Quiet
Revolution in the 1960s that governments in Quebec began
to actively legislate on the issue. Since 1974, French has been the only official
language in the province, although some government services remain accessible
in English.
Quebec has the distinction of being bilingual on
constitutional and federal levels, while officially allowing only French in its
provincial institutions.

Creation of the Office de la langue française (1961)
After the creation of the Office de la langue française (French Language Office) in 1961 by the Liberal government of Jean Lesage, who believed that "bien parler, c’est se respecter" (to speak well is to respect oneself), action in support of the quality of the French language increased. The first exchange projects between France and Quebec began in 1965. From 1966 to 1968, the Daniel Johnson, Sr government made every effort to position French as the dominant language in Quebec. French became mandatory on food-product labels, and the foundation was laid for an immigration department that required newcomers to have a working knowledge of the language (see Quebec Immigration Policy). This government was founded in 1968, a few weeks after Daniel Johnson’s death.
The first legislative bills related to language
appeared under the Jean-Jacques
Bertrand government. These were implemented following the 1968
education crisis, during which a large number of Italian immigrants
living in Saint-Léonard demanded
the right to bilingual
education (in English
and in French).
The initial legislation (Bill 85), which allowed parents to choose their
children’s language of instruction, was withdrawn and the Gendron
Commission (1968–73) was formed to analyze the situation of the French
language in the province.
In 1969, the Act to promote the French language in Quebec (Bill 63) was enacted. It guaranteed parents the right to choose the language of instruction for their children, with the Ministry of Education simply ensuring that children taught in English acquire "a working knowledge of French." Consequently, allophones were anglicized, and francophones united to form le Front du Québec français, which demanded that French become the only official language in Quebec.
Official Language Act (1974)
The report of the Gendron
Commission, presented in February 1973 under the Robert
Bourassa government, officially proposed that French
become the only official language in Quebec,
while French and English would both remain the national languages. As to the
language of education, the decision was left to the government. Faced with
increasing social unrest, it drafted Bill 22
(the Official Language Act) in 1974 to compensate for the
shortcomings of Bill 63.
Bill 22 made French the language of provincial government administration, services and labour, but its application remained vague: the Liberals, wishing to preserve biculturalism, had left room for ambiguity. The wording stated that French must be the language of education, and that anglophones wanting schooling in English would have to prove through testing that it was indeed their mother tongue. This caused widespread dissatisfaction: francophones judged the program too moderate; anglophones and cultural communities felt unjustified in submitting to an examination in order to study in English. The issue of commercial signs in French was also broached, but no clear formal requirement was drawn up. The disfavour of the two camps had direct repercussions on the 1976 provincial election, which brought the Parti Québécois to power for the first time.
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Charte de la langue française
(1977)
The René
Lévesque government made the language issue its priority and
enacted Bill 101,
the Charte de la langue française (Charter of the French Language),
in 1977. The objective behind the charter was to allow francophone Quebecers to
live and assert themselves in French. This bill followed the publication of a
controversial white
paper (Bill 1) the same year. Camille
Laurin, the “father of Bill 101,” made it a very specific law endowing
Quebec with institutions like the Conseil de la langue française and
the Commission de surveillance (which became the Commission
de protection de la langue française in 1984). Bill 101
stipulates that French must be the language of legislation and the courts,
administration, work, and business as well as education.
Challenges to Bill 101
Although a significant number of Quebecers
were very pleased with the clarity and resolve of these new measures, there was
no general agreement, and the law was considered in part unconstitutional by
the federal
government. The Supreme
Court of Canada dealt the legislation a hard blow in the case of Attorney
General of Québec v. Blaikie (13 December 1979) by confirming a
judgment of the Quebec Superior Court that struck down Sections 7 to 13 of
the Charter of
the French Language — provisions that declared French
the language of legislation and the courts. As a result, Quebec adopted “remedial
legislation” in the form of the Act respecting a judgment rendered in the
Supreme Court of Canada on 13 December 1979 on the language of the legislature
and the courts in Québec to accommodate this court decision.
Quebec also amended a clause in Chapter VIII
of Bill 101 on the language of teaching. The “Quebec” clause was deemed
too restrictive because it stipulated that immigrants had to study in French.
This included Canadians from other provinces, unless there was an agreement
between Quebec and the province of origin. This clause was replaced by the
“Canada” clause, allowing children who had attended an English-speaking school in
another province to continue their studies in English (see Bill 101
Case).
In the Ford
case in December 1988, the Supreme Court ruled on sections 58 and 69
of the Charter of the French Language, which required the exclusive use of
French on commercial signs and in firm names. The Supreme Court judged that
those sections violated freedom of expression as set out in the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Quebec
Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. On 22 December 1988, the newly
reinstated Bourassa Liberals
voted in Bill 178.
This law required signs to be in French, except for some cases, depending on
business size and number of employees, where both languages would be allowed on
condition that French predominate. The dissatisfaction was palpable: anglophones felt
betrayed and francophones feared
the return of bilingualism.
On 17 June 1993, Bill 178 was replaced by Bill 86,
which reaffirmed the principle of bilingual signage with precedence given to
French in public places.
In the spring of 2000, following various
demonstrations by antique dealers in the Eastern
Townships, the issue of signage was once again brought before the Supreme
Court. Advocates for both sides could not reach an agreement. The Parti
Québécois, which had been in power since 1994, called the Commission of the
Estates-General on the Situation and Future of the French Language in Quebec,
chaired by Gérald
Larose. In 2001, the Larose Commission tabled its report, French, a
language for everyone. On the heels of this report, the Bernard
Landry government put forward Bill 104 which changed the name of
the language office to the Office
québécois de la langue française. The Office was mandated to ensure
compliance with the Charter of the French Language, replacing the dissolved Commission
de la protection de la langue française. For its part, the Conseil
de la langue française became the Conseil supérieur de la
langue française and was tasked with advising the language minister. Bill 104
also contained a clause to prevent a francophone or allophone child enrolled at
an anglophone private school from continuing his or her studies at a publicly
funded anglophone school. This “bridging schools” clause was struck down by the
Supreme Court in 2009, as it violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Future and Challenges
In Quebec,
many still consider that keeping the French language strong and dynamic is a challenge.
Language debates continue, arousing passions and igniting controversies. Issues
surrounding language of instruction and signage remain topical. For instance,
in 2012, the Parti
Québécois proposed barring francophones
and allophones
from attending anglophone CEGEPs.
The proposal was met with strong opposition and the party was forced to
backtrack on the issue.
In 2015, the Court of Quebec confirmed the
lawfulness of Bill 101
after the Charter of the French Language was once again challenged by a group
of anglophone
merchants disputing fines incurred for failing to comply with sign laws. The
Court of Quebec underscored that while French is the language of the majority
in Quebec, it is a minority language in North America. It must therefore be
protected by the government.
The 2016 census figures
related to language in Canada sparked a debate on the future of the French
language and related policy. In 2017, Statistics
Canada released a study presenting language predictions for Canada
from 2011 to 2036. It predicted an increase in the number of French speakers in
the country, from 10.2 million in 2011 to 12.5 million in 2036. However, the
proportion of francophones within the Canadian population would decrease from
29.8 to 27.6 per cent.
In Quebec, the number of French speakers
would continue to increase, possibly from 7.5 million in 2011 to almost 9
million in 2036. The usage of French as first official language spoken would
decrease from 85.4 to 82 per cent. Despite the predicted increase in the size
of Quebec’s francophonie, the proportion of the population considering French
their mother tongue could decrease from 79 to 69–72 per cent.
Some of the study’s predictions prompted
many public commentators and analysts in Quebec to call for a stronger political
approach to language protection. For example, some advocated for the obligatory
francisation of all immigrants and the application of Bill 101 to CEGEPs. Large
businesses sought to include small to medium sized businesses in Bill 101
to make French the language of the workplace. Advocates demanded that university
funding better reflect the francophone majority and that a larger budget be given
to the Office
québecois de la langue française.
However, Quebec’s evolving linguistic landscape is
not necessarily a result of a weakness in the French language. French is the
dominant language in the province’s public institutions. The francophone
population is continuing to grow over time. Furthermore, most newcomers whose
mother tongue is neither English nor French learn to communicate in the latter.
In fact, Statistics Canada predicts that in Quebec, the percentage of people
who can communicate in French will remain stable until 2036. The
English-French bilingualism rate will also increase from 43 to approximately 52 per
cent.
In May 2021, the Coalition Avenir Québec government announced an important reform of Bill 101. Under this proposal, there would be a maximum number of students able to attend English language CEGEPs. Businesses with 25 to 49 employees will have to work in French. The Quebec government will use French as its sole language of communication — except in certain cases. The Canadian Constitution would also be amended to mention that “French shall be the only official language of Quebec. It is also the common language of the Quebec nation.”