Bill 96: Group seeking injunction against Quebec's French-language law
CTV
A group representing Quebec's English-speaking community is seeking an injunction with the court to challenge the province's controversial French-language law known as Bill 96, CTV News has learned.
A group representing Quebec's English-speaking community is seeking an injunction with the court to challenge the province's controversial French-language law known as Bill 96, CTV News has learned.
The injunction, which was filed Wednesday at the Superior Court in Montreal, says the bill constitutes an "encroachment on constitutional and human rights with respect to rights to life, liberty, and security; equality; healthcare services; government services; education; employment; as well as freedoms of expression and mobility, and freedom from undue state interference."
It also calls on the Quebec government to cease introducing new measures that restrict the use of English or penalize in the name of the Charter of the French Language.
The legal challenge was launched by lawyer Michael Bergman on behalf of the Task Force on Linguistic Policy, the same group that launched a lawsuit against Bill 96 last year.
The 21-page court filing states that Bill 96 has "completely disrupted Quebec's linguistic peace" in the province and that any new measures the government intends to introduce "have the effect of creating fear and insecurity amongst Quebec anglophones bringing them into disrepute, as a thorn, however unfounded, to the identity, culture and language of the francophone majority."
The bill, An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Quebec, became law on June 1, 2022. It brought in sweeping changes to Quebec's French-language charter, touching aspects of access to government services, how residents can communicate with 311 services, and caps on enrollment to English junior colleges, among others.
The task force's president, Andrew Caddell, said Wednesday that since the law was passed, it has had "egregious impacts" on the province's anglophone community.
