Why Quebec’s proposed constitution has legal experts, civil rights groups sounding the alarm

Quebec Premier François Legault took many by surprise when, last month, his government introduced a proposed constitution for the province without consulting the population first.

The constitution, he said, would protect the common values of the province, including the French language, secularism, the right to an abortion and equality between men and women. 

In the weeks since, the legislation has been the subject of growing consternation among legal experts and civil liberties groups, who warn it would centralize power, weaken judicial oversight and infringe on individual freedoms.

“We have a government that wants to enshrine the so-called Quebec values at the expense of rights and freedom of all Quebecers, but especially the minorities,” said Laurence Guénette, a co-ordinator with the Ligue des droits et libertés, a Quebec human rights group. 

“The word ‘constitution’ itself is very appealing to many people in Quebec, but in reality the bill just weakens the Quebec Charter of Human Rights.”

The legislation — Bill 1 — includes more than just the draft constitution. It modifies more than a dozen laws, including the Quebec Charter, to better balance the “collective rights of the Quebec nation” with individual rights, according to the bill’s preamble.

It also seeks to defend Quebec's use of the notwithstanding clause "without any requirement to contextualize or justify the provision."

And it would prohibit publicly funded organizations from using those funds to pay for court challenges of laws that protect "the fundamental characteristics of Quebec."

The English Montreal School Board, which receives public funds, challenged the province’s secularism law, known as Bill 21, which bans public employees in positions of authority, including teachers, from wearing religious symbols. That challenge has made its way to the Supreme Court.

Sylvia Martin-Laforge, director general of TALQ, an anglophone rights group, said the legislation would hurt the ability of English-language institutions to protect themselves.

"The core constitutional principles, including the rule of law, responsible government and democratic governance — that must be maintained, and hopefully strengthened, not weakened with a bill like this,” Martin-Laforge said.

Faced with criticism over the legislation, the Quebec government committed to a round of consultations, but legal experts say that won’t be sufficient. 

“It must be very open and public and inclusive,” said Karine Millaire, a professor of constitutional law at l’Université de Montréal.  

"We're talking about a constitution, not something that we should talk about in secret.”