What modification to the bill 101 was made in 1993

Fact file: What is Bill 101?

MONTREAL – Quebec is the only province in Canada where French is the sole official language.

Bill 101, or the Charter of the French Language as it’s also known, was introduced by the first-ever Parti Quebecois government, led by then-Premier René Lévesque. It was passed into law on August 26, 1977.

The charter was brought into being to address the thorny issue of language in the province, an issue that many historians have suggested began with the Conquest of 1760, when Britain acquired parts of New France at the end of the Seven Years War.

“English-speaking merchants, who formed a minority in New France, soon took control of the economy and would seek to impose their will on the French-speaking majority for the next 200 years,” noted Université du Québec à Montréal historian Mathieu Noël in his article on language conflict in Quebec for the McCord Museum of Canadian History.

It was after the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s that the issue of language in the province took centre stage.

“The situation became potentially explosive, and a conflict over language in the northeast Montreal neighbourhood of Saint Léonard provided the spark that set off the Quebec language crisis of the 1970s,” said Noël.

In 1974, under the leadership of Premier Robert Bourassa, the Quebec Liberal Party brought in Bill 22, which made French the official language of the province.

In the 1976, the Parti Quebecois was elected for the first time. The next year, the party introduced the Charter of the French Language.

The purpose of Bill 101 was to make French the commonly used language of Quebec. It was hoped that this would allow for more francophones to take up management roles in the province. Despite the fact that 85 per cent of Quebecers spoke French at the time, senior positions were mainly held by English-speakers, as the language of management was English in most medium and large businesses.

The language charter made French the official language of government, courts and workplaces. It required that all signs be in French and that all all children attend French school, with the exception of those whose parents attended English school in Canada. The bill also established the Office québécois de la langue française (known colloquially as “the language police”).

“The bill was welcomed by Québec nationalists, but sparked anger among anglophones, allophones and even some francophone parents who lost the right to enrol their children in English school,” Noël noted.

While Bill 101 has fundamentally altered the linguistic landscape of Quebec, language continues to be a controversial and emotional issue in the province.

The preamble to the Charter of the French Language reads:

WHEREAS the French language, the distinctive language of a people that is in the majority French-speaking, is the instrument by which that people has articulated its identity;

Whereas the National Assembly of Québec recognizes that Quebecers wish to see the quality and influence of the French language assured, and is resolved therefore to make of French the language of Government and the Law, as well as the normal and everyday language of work, instruction, communication, commerce and business;

Whereas the National Assembly intends to pursue this objective in a spirit of fairness and open-mindedness, respectful of the institutions of the English-speaking community of Québec, and respectful of the ethnic minorities, whose valuable contribution to the development of Québec it readily acknowledges;

Whereas the National Assembly of Québec recognizes the right of the Amerinds and the Inuit of Québec, the first inhabitants of this land, to preserve and develop their original language and culture;

Whereas these observations and intentions are in keeping with a new perception of the worth of national cultures in all parts of the earth, and of the obligation of every people to contribute in its special way to the international community.

All cartoons used with permission of the McCord Museum. A full online exhibition of some 50 cartoons on language conflict in Quebec from the 1950s to today can be viewed here.

What modification to the bill 101 was made in 1993

This article was written by a law student for the general public.

The Charter of the French Language (S.Q. 1977, c. 5), an important statute adopted by the Quebec National Assembly in 1977, is popularly known as ‘Bill 101’ from its designation on the order paper when it was first introduced by the Parti Québécois government.

Concern for the future of the French language began to be expressed in Quebec during the 1960s after the birth rate declined abruptly during the Quiet Revolution. Immigrants tended to adopt English rather than French and to send their children to English schools, and some demographers predicted that Montreal would again become a mainly English-speaking city, as it briefly had been in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1973, the Gendron Commission recommended measures to encourage the use of French, especially in the economy, and the Liberal government introduced an Official Language Act (‘Bill 22’) in 1974. The Parti Québécois, deeming the latter measure inadequate, replaced it with ‘Bill 101’, which makes French the “normal” language of municipal, public and para-public administration, imposes stringent French language tests for admission to the professions, requires most businesses with more than fifty employees to operate mainly in French, and requires collective agreements to be drafted in French. Originally it restricted the use of English in the National Assembly and the courts, but these provisions were contrary to section 133 of theConstitution Act, 1867 and were struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1979 (see Quebec (A.G.)v. Blaikie, [1979] 2 S.C.R. 1016).

The most controversial sections of ‘Bill 101’ were those restricting access to English schools and prohibiting the use of English on commercial signs. Both became vulnerable after the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms took effect in 1982. Soon afterwards the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that ‘Bill 101’ must be brought into conformity with section 23(1)(b) of the Charter, which guarantees Canadian citizens who received an English education in Canada the right to educate their children in English (see Quebec (A.G.) v. Quebec Protestant School Boards, [1984] 2 S.C.R. 66). In 1988 the provision relating to signs was struck down as a violation of freedom of expression (see Ford v. Quebec A.G., [1988] 2 S.C.R. 712), but the Bourassa government promptly used the notwithstanding clause to re-enact it in a modified form, a measure that caused three anglophone cabinet ministers to resign. In 1993 a further modification allowed English to appear on signs posted outdoors provided the French words were more prominent.

Although it has been amended several times and is resented or ridiculed by many Quebec Anglophones, ‘Bill 101’ remains an important symbol of Quebec’s determination to maintain French as a viable language in a continent that speaks mainly English.

How Quebec’s Bill 101 still shapes immigrant and anglo students 40 years later

Social Sharing

Language charter puts limits on which students are permitted to attend English-language school

Nick Backovic spoke a mix of English and Serbo-Croatian when he started his first year in a French-language elementary school in Montreal in the 1980s. He says he barely understood what was going on.

«I basically went over into a French school overnight,» said Backovic, whose parents are Serbian. «And I didn’t know a single word of French, so it was pretty confusing to say the least.»

​It has been 40 years since Quebec adopted its landmark Charter of the French Language — Bill 101 — on Aug. 26, 1977, in a bid to bolster and protect the French language while freeing the province from the dominance of English. It was a decision that would forever change the linguistic makeup of Quebec.

Backovic was among the first wave of thousands of young students who were permitted to study only in French for both elementary and high school.

The contentious piece of legislation would pave the way for the francization of the province’s government, businesses, workplaces and education system.

While it has been hailed as a watershed moment for Quebec francophones and their place in society, it has also prompted criticism and protests from English-language rights groups that felt silenced.

At the time, many English-speaking Quebecers felt unwelcome in their own province, leading to a mass exodus of anglophones. Many allophones (people whose first language is neither French nor English) also left.

«Without Bill 101, Montreal would be an English-speaking city predominantly right now,» said Jean Dorion, the former Bloc Québécois MP who, as political attaché for the cabinet of Gérald Godin, was the minister in charge of implementing the charter.

One of the most controversial parts of the bill that remains intact today specifies that the only students permitted to enrol in English-language schools are those with at least one parent who was educated in English in Quebec or elsewhere in Canada.

With a few rare exceptions, francophone and allophone students must attend school in French.

That means in Quebec, the number of allophone students who study in French elementary and high schools has risen dramatically since the implementation of Bill 101.

As of 2015, about 85 per cent of young allophones attend French schools. In 1971, it was only 14.6 per cent, according to the Quebec Office of the French Language (OQLF).

Students of Bill 101 today

While Bill 101 was adopted at a time when the French language and culture was struggling to flourish, some political leaders say the legislation’s greatest achievement is that it gives young allophones the ability to integrate into Quebec’s predominantly French-speaking society.

«Bill 101 was especially effective in directing immigrants to the French school system. That was the main merit of the law,» said Dorion, who is also the former president of the Societé Saint-Jean-Baptiste, which promotes and protects French language and culture.

Former Quebec premier and PQ leader Pauline Marois put it another way: «It perfectly reached its goal of integrating, welcoming and educating young kids of immigrants.»

That was the case for Laura Silva, a student at Dawson College who moved to Quebec at age three from Colombia. She studied in French for both elementary and high school before opting to pursue post-secondary studies in English.

«I remember my parents being really amazed by how fast I learned the language because they were always afraid of how it was going to be for us, going to school, if the adaptation was going to be difficult,» said Silva, who is trilingual.

«But it turns out it was pretty easy,» she said. «It took me so little to actually learn French.»

While many students whose mother tongue is neither of Canada’s official languages seem grateful to have benefited from their French-language education, some also wish they had the opportunity to study in English before adulthood.

«What I find that doesn’t make sense is that it’s like ‘Go in French, go in French, go in French,'» said Dawson College student Félicia Cà, daughter of a francophone Québecois mother and a French and Creole-speaking father from Guinea-Bissau.

«But then when you go to get a job» — she says with hands on hips — «it’s like ‘You don’t have your English?’ and it’s like you don’t even allow me to have my English.»

Backovic, now 36 and living in the U.K., believes that linguistic identity in Quebec remains complex and he says he understands the desire to protect the French language.

As the child of immigrants from the former Yugoslavia, it took him years to adapt and learn French.

And he said he isn’t sure he benefited more from attending French-language school than those who attended school in English.

«I’m trying to think about my anglophone friends who don’t speak French and, I mean, there’s very few of them. So I don’t know if there’s an extra benefit,» he said.

What’s the future of Bill 101?

While Bill 101 remains a thorn in the side of many English-speaking Quebecers, some argue that more needs to be done to ensure that the French language survives.

The PQ, the left-leaning sovereignist party that first brought in Bill 101, has been long committed to extending the law beyond elementary and high school, to cover post-secondary CEGEPs.

But Dorion says that would be hard to enforce, given that many students of this generation want to learn English.

As of 2015, nearly one-third of students enroled in English-language CEGEPs are francophones, according to the OQLF.

«It probably is one of the most contentious issues right now, but we must not forget the progresses that French made in many other respects,» Dorion said.

Forty years later, the debate continues.

Following the release of incorrect data by Statistics Canada, a number of Quebec politicians recently called for even stricter French-language protections, citing the dramatic increase in English-mother-tongue residents.

PQ Leader Jean-François Lisée went so far as to propose another French-language charter, promising to pass a Bill 202 within the first 101 days of a PQ government.

With files from CBC’s Ainslie MacLellan, Radio-Canada, The Canadian Press

Bill 101 (Charte de la langue française)

Introduced by Camille Laurin, Bill 101, the Charter of the French Language (1977), made French the official language of the Government and the courts of Quebec. French became the ″normal, everyday language of work, instruction, communication, commerce and business.»

Historical Context

With the advent of Confederation in 1867, the French Canadian leaders in Quebec realized that the rights of the francophone minorities were threatened. This was the case in New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba, most notably in the education systems (see New Brunswick Schools Question; Ontario Schools Question; Manitoba Schools Question). (See also North-West Schools Question; Section 23 and Francophone Education outside of Quebec.)

These realities paved the way for the forceful nationalism of Lionel Groulx. (See French Canadian Nationalism.) He viewed the Conquest as the worst catastrophe that could have befallen the French Canadian people. This nationalistic view later led to the separatist movement, including the Rassemblement pour l’indépendance nationale (see Parti Québécois).

The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (1963-1971) revealed that the political and economic weight of francophone Canadians was not proportionate to their numbers. In 1965, Quebec francophones were earning, on average, 35 per cent less than anglophones. More than 80 per cent of employers were anglophones. Francophone representation in the federal government and the provision of services in French outside Quebec had also been concerns for quite some time.

The Quebec nationalist movement felt that the vulnerability of the French language required it to be protected from the North American majority. Protecting the French language would also be a means of promoting it nationwide and would enable francophones to acquire economic and political control of the province.

Legislation in Quebec

The language laws in Quebec evolved gradually. (See Quebec Language Policy.) Bill 63 came into force in November 1969. It required children receiving their education in English to acquire a working knowledge of French. Bill 63 also required that measures be taken to ensure that immigrants had or acquired a working knowledge of French upon their arrival in Quebec. (See also Quebec Immigration Policy.) In 1974, the Liberal government of Robert Bourassa implemented Bill 22, which made French the official language of Quebec. The new law compelled all immigrants to Quebec to enrol in a French-language school.

A new language law was among the highest priorities of the Parti Québécois, which came to power in 1976 under the leadership of René Lévesque. In 1977, it introduced Bill 1. This bill was strongly supported by the nationalist groups and the unions, whose francophone members wished to have greater access to jobs. The PQ initiative was opposed by both the province’s business leaders and its anglophone population. This initial bill was withdrawn following pressure from the Liberal opposition, but was reintroduced as Bill 101.

Introduced by Camille Laurin, Bill 101 made French the official language of the government of Quebec and Quebec society. Instruction in French became mandatory for immigrants. This was even the case for those from other Canadian provinces. An exception was possible in the event that a ″reciprocal agreement» existed between Quebec and the province of origin.

The anglophone advocacy group Alliance Quebec was born of the ensuing conflict.

Court Challenges

A series of judgments changed the content and reduced the scope of Bill 101. In 1980, the Supreme Court of Canada nullified the section of the Charter making French the language of the National Assembly and the courts. (See Court System of Canada.) In 1984, it was ruled that Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms limited the power conferred by Bill 101 to regulate the language of instruction (see Bill 101 Case). Thus, children who had attended an English-language elementary school elsewhere in Canada had the right to enrol in the anglophone public system in Quebec. That year as well, the Supreme Court ruled that the mandatory use of French on public commercial signage was incompatible with the right to freedom of expression. While these judgments were a source of dissatisfaction for nationalist groups, they came as a relief to the anglophone population. As one might expect, such challenges to Bill 101 were a source of concern to members of both the Parti Québécois and the Liberal Party.

In December 1988, the government of Robert Bourassa introduced Bill 178. This bill allowed bilingual public signage, but only inside businesses. To avoid any other challenges, the government invoked Section 33, i.e., the notwithstanding clause, which allowed the law to circumvent certain clauses in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Other Language Provisions

In 1993, the government of Robert Bourassa introduced Bill 86. This bill allowed English on outdoor commercial signs. However, the French lettering had to be at least twice as large as the English.

During the years following the Quebec Referendum (1995), the Parti Québécois leaders were successful in containing the more radical positions regarding language policies. Despite this, in 2002, the Bernard Landry government passed Bill 104, closing a loophole providing access to English-language schools via ″bridging» schools. These schools enabled allophones and francophones to enter the anglophone public school system after studying in an English-language private school.

The Quebec Court of Appeal struck down this law in 2007, as did the Supreme Court of Canada in 2009. However, the Supreme Court of Canada gave Quebec one year to draft a new law that would comply with the Constitution of Canada. Thus, in 2010, the government of Quebec, under Liberal premier Jean Charest, introduced Bill 103. This law required at least three years of study in an English-language private school before allowing access to the anglophone public school system. Bill 115, which was subsequently passed by the Liberal government to provide a better framework for the bridging schools, was based on Bill 103.

In 2013, the Parti Québécois government introduced Bill 14, which some anglophone groups felt was worse than Bill 101. It extended the law to small businesses, in addition to revoking the bilingual status of any municipality whose anglophone population fell below 50 per cent. The bill was blocked by the opposition parties and the government eventually decided not to pursue this initiative.

Bill 96

In May 2021, the Coalition Avenir Québec government announced a major overhaul of Bill 101 via Bill 96, which became law on 1 June 2022. The Quebec government argued that it was necessary to preserve French in the province. Advocates from notably the Quebec anglophone and Indigenous communities criticized this initiative.

A series of measures were introduced. French was to become the government’s exclusive language of communication. Some exceptions were made for tourism, healthcare and for immigrants during their first six months in Quebec. Critics argued that the exception in healthcare is ambiguous while the six-month period for new immigrants is insufficient. An exception was also made for the court system; however, the law specified that judges should not be required to know any languages other than French.

Bill 96 limits the number of students able to attend English-language CEGEPs. Specifically, 17.5 per cent of students in Quebec. Moreover, students in anglophone CEGEPs would need to take more classes in French.

Companies with 25 to 49 employees also became subject to Bill 101’s policy of having French be the common language at work. Previously, this provision only applied to companies with 50 or more employees.

Controversially, Bill 96 invokes the notwithstanding clause. This allows the law to bypass certain rights guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Some criticized the law for providing the OQLF with too much power to investigate if companies are using French.

Preamble to the Bill of Rights

*Congress of the United States

begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution. RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz. ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.

Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg Speaker of the House of Representatives John Adams, Vice-President of the United States and President of the Senate.

Attest, John Beckley, Clerk of the House of Representatives. Sam. A. Otis Secretary of the Senate. *On September 25, 1789, Congress transmitted to the state legislatures twelve proposed amendments, two of which, having to do with Congressional representation and Congressional pay, were not adopted. The remaining ten amendments became the Bill of Rights.

Amendment 1
— Freedom of Religion, Speech, and the Press

Amendment 2
— The Right to Bear Arms

Amendment 3
— The Housing of Soldiers

Amendment 4
— Protection from Unreasonable Searches and Seizures

Amendment 5
— Protection of Rights to Life, Liberty, and Property

Amendment 7
— Rights in Civil Cases

Amendment 8
— Excessive Bail, Fines, and Punishments Forbidden

Amendment 9
— Other Rights Kept by the People

Amendment 10
— Undelegated Powers Kept by the States and the People