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From Bill 22 to Bill 101: The Politics of Language under the Parti Québécois*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

William D. Coleman
William D. Coleman
Affiliation:
McMaster University
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Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , September 1981 , pp. 459 - 485
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 1981

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References

1 Angers, François-Albert, “La montée vers un Québec maître de sa destinée,” L'Action nationale 68 (1978), 28Google Scholar.

2 See for example McRoberts, Kenneth and Posgate, Dale, Quebec: Social Change and Political Crisis (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1980)Google Scholar and Coleman, William D., “The Class Bases of Language Policy in Quebec, 1949–1975,” Studies in Political Economy 3 (1980), 93–117CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 Evidence for the emergence of this “second” new middle class is found in recent studies. The first MBAs were awarded in Quebec in 1966. Whereas between 1936 and 1955, nearly 68 per cent of engineering degrees were awarded by anglophone universities, in the last decade this figure has declined to 33.6 per cent. Among those under 40 years of age, francophones now obtain close to 80 per cent of all engineering degrees. See Girard, Guy, Otis, Jean-Claude and Proulx, Normand, Le Stock de Ressources humaines hautement qualifiées du Québec et la production des universités québécoises. Etude No. 2, La production des universités québécoises et la formation universitaire au Québec: 1975 (Montréal: Office de la langue française, 1978), 43–44Google Scholar.

4 The notion of “French priority” was first used in an unpublished White Paper on culture prepared by Pierre Laporte in 1965 who at that time was minister of cultural affairs in the Lesage government. For the subsequent history of the concept, see Coleman, “The Class Bases,” 97–98.

5 See Hamilton, Richard and Pinard, Maurice, “The Bases of Parti Québécois Support in Recent Quebec Elections,” this Journal 9 (1976)Google Scholar, 16ff. and Murray, Věra, Le Parti québécois: de la fondation à la prise du pouvoir, Cahiers du Québec (Montréal: Hurtubise HMH, 1976), 33–34Google Scholar.

6 Hamilton and Pinard, “The Bases,” 16.

7 Gusfield, Joseph R., Symbolic Crusade: Status Politics and the American Temperance Movement (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1963)Google Scholar. An “enemy” refers to an individual or group who challenges a particular norm directly. In contrast, a “deviant” is an individual or group who is perceived as deviating from a norm but not as rejecting that norm outright.

8 DrLaurin, Camille, La politique québécoise de la langue française (Québec: Editeur officiel du Québec, 1977)Google Scholar. It was released on April 1, 1977.

9 Those briefs presented publicly were chosen by the government. In a personal letter to the author, Pauline Veronneau of Dr. Laurin's office wrote that the government sought to choose those which were most representative. The order of presentation was decided upon by the minister, an order that usually counterbalanced a positive response with a critical one. No association refused to appear before the committee and no group protested about not being able to present its position publicly.

10 We are setting aside here the articles of the two laws dealing with the language to be used in the National Assembly and the provincial courts. Under section 133 of the BNA Act, these were made bilingual. The PLQ did not challenge this practice. The PQ, on the other hand, challenged it directly by seeking to make these same institutions unilingual. The PQ's policy was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court of Canada. The text of the court's decision was reprinted in Le Devoir under the byline “Le jugement sur la Charte de la langue française” on December 14, 1979. For a comment on the PQ's probable strategy in this matter see Michel Roy, “La langue de la justice,” ibid.

11 References to the final versions of the two laws are Quebec, The Official Language Act, Statutes of Quebec, 1974, chap. 6; Quebec, La Charte de la langue française, Lois du Quebec, 1977, chap. 5.

12 Both also required that the government communicate with moral persons in French. (Bill 22, article 10; Bill 101, article 16.)

13 The question of what was an “appropriate knowledge” was to be decided by the Office de la langue française and promulgated in a regulation.

14 This latter position on “internal communications” for school boards and social service agencies was a softening of the original provision in Bill 1. Article 21 of Bill 1 had stated that such institutions whatever their clientele were to communicate internally in French only.

15 In Bill 22, 17 of the 123 article sor 13.8 percent mentioned the English language atleast once. In Bill 1, English is mentioned in 9 of the 177 articles or 5.1 per cent and in Bill 101, 13/232 or 5.6 per cent of the cases. These practices removed a major objection of the Mouvement Québec français to Bill 22. It had seen the many references to the English language in Bill 22 as the creation of legal rights for that language in place of the unwritten “privileges” that already existed.

16 For this argument, see Coleman, “The Class Bases,” 106–07.

17 These figures are calculated based on Tables 2 and 8 in St-Germain, Claude, La situation linguistique dans les écoles primaires et secondaires du Québec de 1971–72 à 1978–79 (Montréal: Conseil de la langue française, 1979), 12, 27Google Scholar.

18 These reasons are outlined in Coleman, “The Class Bases,” 107.

19 St-Germain, La situation linguistique, 24.

20 The percentage of francophones receiving instruction in English dropped from 2.5 per cent in 1974–1975 to 2.2 per cent in 1976–1977 (ibid).

21 Regulation respecting the language of instruction of persons staying in Quebec temporarily, OC. 2851–77, August 24, 1977, Gazette officielle du Quebec, 7 septembre 1977, 4615–616.

22 Brief to the parliamentary committee studying Bill 1, 23. (Hereafter, we shall refer to this body simply as “the parliamentary committee.”).

23 Mouvement Québec français, brief to the parliamentary committee, 15ff. The argument about new arrivals was based on the notion that whatever their language, by definition, they could not be part of the anglophone community in Quebec. The Fils du Quebec wrote: “En effet, ces derniers [anglophones from other provinces], s'ils ont le plus souvent l'anglais comme langue, n'appartiennent pas pour autant à la communauté culturelle anglo-québécoise qui se définit, non seulement par la langue anglaise, mais par un enracinement dans le territoire québécois” (brief to the parliamentary committee, 13).

24 Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal, brief to the parliamentary committee, 20.

25 The groups representing the various cultural minorities in Quebec hinged their support of the Charte on this issue. The Congrés national des Italo-Canadiens wrote: “Garantissez-nous un bon enseignement de l'anglais dans les écoles françaises, une bonne qualité de l'enseignement, une attitude accueillante tel que suggéré par le Rapport Parent et la Commission Gendron et nous vous garantissons une intégration harmonieuse avec la majorité francophone” (brief to the parliamentary committee, 15).

26 One small change was that, in the final version of Bill 101, a provision was added extending access to English language instruction to citizens moving to Quebec from other provinces if these same provinces had reached a reciprocal agreement with Quebec to provide French language schools in their territory (Bill 101, 86).

27 At least, this is what has been reported by several large companies in Quebec. See Nadeau, Michel, “Des chefs d'entreprise projettent d'ouvrir à Montréal une Ecole internationale trilinque,” Le Devoir, January 29, 1980Google Scholar.

28 St-Germain, La situation linguistique, 24. In 1976–1977, 20.5 per cent received instruction in French; in 1977–1978, the figure rose to 26.9 per cent.

29 Ibid., 93.

30 Ibid., 38. Between 1977–78 and 1978–79, the deline in the French sector was only 2.9 percentage points, the smallest decline since the early seventies.

31 Preliminary investigation indicates that the students in French-language classes in English schools tend to be from Quebec's smaller cultural communities. Recently, the Conseil de la langue française completed a preliminary study of this phenomenon. For a report on its findings, see Lise Bissonnette, “Les beaux principes d'hier,” Le Devoir, March 5, 1980. Also see La cohabitation linguistique en milieu scolaire au Québec, Edith Bedard and Claude St-Germain (eds.), Conseil de la langue française, February 1980.

32 See Murray, Le Parti québécois, 44ff.

33 These ideas are derived from what Poulantzas calls the “power-fetishism” of the new petite bourgeoisie. This class sees the state as a neutral force that can arbitrate between social classes. Once “reformed,” the state can be strengthened and made to serve the general interest. Poulantzas, N., Classes in Contemporary Capitalism, trans, by Fernbach, David (London: New Left Books, 1975)Google Scholar, 289ff.

34 This coalition was institutionalized with the formation of the Front du Québec français in 1969. The FQF subsequently became the Mouvement Québec français and has been a major actor on the language stage since 1969. For a discussion of the origins of this coalition, see Coleman, “The Class Bases,” 109.

35 A typical statement of this sort was made by the radical nationalist group, Les Fils du Québec: “La Charte de la langue française au Québec est la suprême affirmation du Fait français en Amerique, la victoire de la nation québécoise sur l'occupant anglophone, l'annulation de la défaite des plaines d'Abraham, et la MAGNA CARTA culturelle des Québécois” (brief presented to the parliamentary committee, 1).

36 The list of unqualified opponents of the bill is drawn mainly from the anglophone school system, the institutions affected particularly strongly by the bill. The responses here were no more tempered than those of the supporters. The Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal wrote: “The fundamental premise of Bill One is that the existence of a healthy English-speaking minority is a menace; that this minority must be induced to immigrate or assimilate in the name of the survival of the majority; that English must be allowed as little public expression as possible, and the anglophone community must be reduced in numbers” (brief presented to the parliamentary committee, 1).

37 The Mouvement Québec français and the Mouvement national des Québécois both suggested further that the law be given a kind of constitutional status indicating directly that it supersedes article 133 of the BNA Act.

38 There are now two exceptions to this basic rule. Bill 101 exempted businesses employing four persons or less and certain cultural activities of ethnic groups. Secondly, after considerable pressure from the anglophone community in Quebec and from English Canadians prominent in the arts, new regulations were published in 1979 allowing all cultural and educational products to be advertised in French and another language (Règlement relatif à la langue du commerce et des affaires, A.C. 1847–79, Gazette officielle du Québec, 25 juillet 1979, 4990).

39 Article 25 of Bill 22 created no rights or obligations. It only made French the language of labour relations subject to conditions defined in the labour code. Consequently, neither collective agreements nor arbitration sentences were drawn up obligatorily in French. This interpretation of article 25 was given to the author by Me Claude Séguin. Chef du Service juridique of the Office de langue française in a personal letter.

40 For a brief description of the process involved, see Régie de la langue française, Rapport annuel 1976, Annexe 2.

41 Allaire, Yvan and Miller, Roger, Canadian Business Response to the Legislation on Francization in the Workplace, Accent Quebec series (Montréal: C.D. Howe Research Institute, 1980), 56Google Scholar.

42 This was not the government's intention it would appear. Permits were construed in a more limited sense. See the reply to the brief of the Canadian Manufacturers Association (Quebec Division) by Dr. Laurin, Assemblée nationale du Québec, Commission permanente de l'éducation, des affaires culturelles, et des communications. Auditions des mémoires sur le projet de loi no. 1: La Charte de la langue française au Québec, June 20, 1977.

43 Canadian Jewish Congress, brief to the parliamentary committee, 22.

44 For the modalities of this Commission, see “Règlement régissant la Commission d'appel de francisation des entreprises,” A.C. 465–79, 21 février 1979, Gazette officielle, 1915–16; and “Règlement fixant les modalités d'un appel interjeté auprès de la Commission d'appel de francisation des enterprises,” A.C. 466–79, 21 février 1979, ibid., 1917–19.

45 For head offices, the criteria of the “ententes” were outlined in “Règlement pour préciser la porte de termes et expressions utilisés à l'article 144 de la Charte de la langue française et pour faciliter la mise en oeuvre de ladite Charte,” A.C. 3645–78, 30 novembre 1978, Gazette officielle 1978, 7119–120. Head offices are defined in “Règlement de L'Office de la langue française relatif à la définition de siège sociale et à la reconnaissance des sièges sociaux pouvant faire l'objet d'ententes particulières avec l'Office,” A.C. 3646–78, 30 novembre 1978, ibid., 7124–126.

46 This point was recognized by the Conféderation des syndicats nationaux. See its brief to the parliamentary committee, 4.

47 Language of Work Group, Positive Action Committee, brief to the parliamentary committee, 38.

48 See Bourque, Gilles and Legaré, Anne, Le Québec: La question nationale (Paris: Maspero, 1979), 208–15Google Scholar.

49 Niosi, Jorge, “The New French Canadian Bourgeoisie,” Studies in Political Economy 1 (1979), 113–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

50 See in particular Bourque and Legaré, Le Québec: La Question nationale, 167–226; Fournier, Pierre, “Les nouveaux paramètres de la bourgeoisie québécoise,” in Fournier, (ed.), Le capitalisme an Québec (Montréal: Albert St.-Martin, 1978), 135–82Google Scholar.

51 Arnopoulos, Sheila and Clift, Dominique, The English Fact in Quebec (Montreal: McGill-Queen's, 1980)Google Scholar, Epilogue.

52 For the pluralist viewpoint on this school, see Durand, Joceylne, Durand, Guy, Proulx, Lucie and Proulx, Jean-Pierre, La Déconfessionalisation de l'Ecole ou le cas de Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (Montréal: Libre Expression, 1980)Google Scholar.