Charter of the French Language

The Charter of the French Language (French Charte de la langue française ), also known as Act 101 ( Loi 101 ), is an Act of the Canadian province of Quebec, which defined French as the only official language of the province. It was designed by Camille Laurin, the Minister of Culture of the first government of the separatist Parti Québécois led by Prime Minister René Lévesque, proposed and adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec. On April 26, 1977, received by Lieutenant Governor Hugues Lapointe Royal Assent and became law by force. The provisions of the Charter were adopted in 1974 by the Robert Bourassas government of the Parti du Québec libéral elaborated Official Languages ​​Act. Prior to 1974, Québec was officially been bilingual ( French and English).

Purpose

The preamble of the Charter states that French is the official language of Québec and its government and jurisdiction is as well as the "usual and everyday language of work, learning, communication, trade and the economy." She also notes that the National Assembly shall enforce this goal " in a spirit of fairness and open-mindedness " while " the institutions of the English-speaking community of Quebec " respected and " the valuable contribution of ethnic minorities to the development of Québec " recognizes. In addition, it notes that the National Assembly 's rights Premieres Nations of Québec recognizes "to get their original language and culture and to develop ".

Provisions

Section I defines the status of the French language in the legislation, the courts, the state administration, the semi-public authorities, in employment, in trade and commerce as well as in education. He also explains the use of French as a fundamental right of every person in Québec:

Section II deals with the linguistic measures, the toponyms and the " Frenchification " by authorities and state enterprises.

Section III provides an authority for the French language (Office québécois de la langue française ) and defines its objectives, powers and organization.

Section IV provides the Supreme Council of the French Language ( Conseil supérieur de la langue française ), which advises the authorities on the implementation of the law.

Sections V and VI define criminal law provisions, sanctions and transitional provisions.

Minority rights

In drawing up the Charter, the legislature of Quebec were anxious to secure the rights guaranteed by the Canadian Constitution or granted in previous laws rights of linguistic minorities, be they those of Anglophones or the natives. In accordance with the Constitution, the Charter contains several safeguards concerning the use of languages ​​other than French. For example, the law states

• That the laws are published in addition to the French in an English version, both texts being officially recognized;
• That persons may be heard by the Court in English;
• That spoken by the courts in the official language and if one of the parties so requires, be in English;
• That the Charter of the French language does not enter the Indian reservations to the application.

Follow

1984 declared the Supreme Court of Québec those provisions of the Charter invalid, which only allowed the French language in commercial labels, as it violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The sentence was confirmed in 1988 by the Supreme Court of Canada. Robert Bourassas government felt obliged to draw up the law 178, with the Charter of the French Constitution is amended. This law contains a clause stating that both languages ​​can be used on commercial labels, the French but much more clearly needs to come into play. Later, the courts further judgments precipitated concerning the application of the Charter on the internet. So comes to commercial Web sites of companies that are active in Québec or sell goods there, the Charter also apply.

The provision requiring the attendance of English-language schools is limited to children whose parents were also taught in Quebec, led to further complaints. The opposition is usually identify with the allophones, ie with immigrant people whose mother tongue is neither French nor English and who wish to better integrate into the English-speaking community as to adapt to the French-speaking majority. A small minority of French-speaking Quebecers that sees English as an economic necessity, the Act also combats, because it is not allowed their children to attend classes in English and it was a form of discrimination against French-speaking population.

Although the Charter of the French language is among the majority of Francophones consent, but not many Anglophones and allophones. The responsible for the enforcement officials, referred to by the English media as the " language police " have the ability to impose for each violation fines of up to $ 7,000 against those who do not abide by the law. Opponents of the Charter claim the language law have since moved the 1970s up to 244,000 people to leave Quebec and move to other provinces. Many companies, including the Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal, moved their headquarters to Toronto, as their main business language is English.

Despite all the criticism of the political opposition to the Charter and previous language laws has remained low since a large majority of francophone Quebecers support these laws. Therefore, both the Parti Québécois and the Parti du Québec libéral saw no need to change the law substantially or even abolish. After Bourassas government passed the law, the critics turned in the provincial election in 1976 of the previously ruling Union national, but despite the growing support in the meantime lost the election and then disappeared into oblivion.