English-Language Minority Rights in Quebec

The frantic attempts to protect the French language in Quebec leading to an almost complete obliteration of English-language signage has certainly made that province what appears to be a unilingual province. In fact, although Canada is officially bilingual, it appears that this pertains to all provinces with the exception of Quebec. Where French is paramount, and any appearance of English in public view however minuscule, however subservient to the French version appearing above it and far more prominently as required by law, it is little wonder that English-speaking Quebecers feel ill done by.

The passing of Bill 101, Quebec's language law, and its associated policing of the forbidden appearance of English on signage, polluting the visual atmosphere, along with the persecution and deliberate neglect that English speakers felt they suffered in attempting to receive service in their mother language, in insisting on sending their children to English-language schools, in becoming suddenly unemployable if their French language skills were not perfect, persuaded quite a few Anglophones to leave the province.

Many corporation headquarters did likewise, but that did not stop the province and its succession of governments from cleaving to their flawed (questionable under the Constitution) language laws. Quebec feels so entitled to its single-language policy it stands in grudgingly belligerent contrast to Ontario, to the adjoining border states all of whom make an obligingly courteous effort to ensure that traffic signs present in both languages. Quebec feels no such counter-obligation, however.

Anglophones have had to form protest groups to attempt to persuade the Quebec government that they too have language rights. Yet those rights have been steadily eroded. While French remains sturdily protected and in fine shape throughout the country, with little indication that it is threatened, the same cannot be said for the English language in Quebec. And now a study, following hearings by the federal Senate, has been presented to the federal government on just that very topic.

No fewer than sixteen recommendations came out of that Senate committee. All of them geared toward the protection of the rights of Quebec's English-speaking minority. "Despite all the goodwill there may be on the ground, there are major disparities when it comes to access to schools, cultural products, heritage training or jobs in English." Where once the Eastern Townships were majority Anglophone with heritage farms handed down from generation to generation, those populations have slowly evaporated.

The City of Montreal remains now the stronghold of Quebec's Anglophones, along with the area close to the National Capital that was once called Aylmer. Diminishing language rights in the province remain in contravention of the Official Languages Act in protection of the rights of minority English-speaking communities. There was also an acknowledgement that a fair distribution of funding from federal programs has not been automatically recognized and respected.

"In reality, (the English-speaking community) is caught in a dynamic where it must constantly stand up for its rights, and yet is not necessarily able to promote them. The problem could stem from a number of sources: a lack of commitment to the English-speaking communities on the part of federal institutions in Quebec, a lack of consultation, the absence of communications about existing federal programs, a poor fit between the policies of the province and the federal government, or a lack of transparency in the use of funds transferred from one level of government to the other."

All of the above, with an especial emphasis on the last two hypotheses.