Has Official Bilingualism in Canada Finally Hit a Brick Wall (Part 1)?

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Narration: Rahul Majumdar

Adapted from text originally published: June 30, 2023

Up to now, the Government of Canada’s quasi-constitutional Official Languages Act (OLA) has for the most part given words to some of Canada’s most cherished principles and values, including:

1. A commitment to symmetrical official bilingualism, i.e., the equal status and treatment of the English and French languages within the national government, and in federally-regulated private businesses and workplaces;

2. A guarantee of federal services in either official language throughout Canada;

3. Recognition and equal treatment of Canada’s two official language minority groups: The English-speaking community of Quebec (ESCQ); Provincial and territorial French-speaking communities outside Quebec

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However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s outrageous Bill C-13 - An Act to amend the Official Languages Act, to enact the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act and to make related amendments to other Acts - which received Royal Assent on June 20, 2023 – deliberately, egregiously, and connivingly thwarts the lofty goals stated above.

Shockwaves from the federal government’s revamped language doctrine – apparently written in lockstep with the Quebec government’s Bill 96, An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec – will be felt throughout Canada.  However, as has been the case whenever language rises to the top of the political agenda, Quebec’s English-speakers will bear the brunt of C-13’s fallout.

Seven Top Reasons C-13 is Wrong for Canada

C-13 has effectively codified English-speaking Quebec’s second-class status within Canada by: 

1. Legitimizing Bill 96, which itself seeks to diminish the English language and resident English speakers in Quebec civil society and public administration via pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause.  The Official Languages Act now contains no less than three direct references to Quebec’s Charter of the French Language (CFL) – Bill 101, as modified by Bill 96 – in the body of its text;

2. Rendering laughable former Minister of Official Languages Ginette Petitpas-Taylor’s mandated goals of protecting the institutions of Quebec’s English-speaking community and supporting new education and community spaces.  Wording within C-13 itself that binds Quebec’s French Language Charter to the federal Official Languages Act makes these laudable goals literally impossible to achieve. Nothing will change under the new Official Languages Minister, the Honourable Randy Boissonnault;

3. Codifying asymmetrical bilingualism, with grave implications for the interpretation of language rights federally.  Specifically, the prioritization of French protection and promotion in the rest of Canada (ROC), but the continued delegitimization of English language use in Quebec;

4. Inserting the concept of territoriality, a.k.a. “Deux nations”, into federal language legislation, i.e., acquiescing to Quebec’s French Language Charter which confirms French as the province’s sole official and common language, even though section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867 effectively declares English to be official in Quebec’s legislature and courts, and requires equivalent English versions of all provincial laws;

5. Effectively acquiescing to the French Charter in both letter and spirit re. federally-regulated private businesses in Quebec, even though the French language isn’t threatened in Quebec.  Also, the future implementation of minority French language requirements in regions across Canada without reciprocal consideration for the English-speaking minority of Quebec;

6. Eschewing symmetrical official bilingualism, the cornerstone of Government of Canada language policy for over five decades, and a key to maintaining Canada’s national unity.  Substantial parts of C-13 fail to apply equally to Quebec’s English-speaking community. For example, the establishment of French-preferential labour markets in Quebec and other provinces aren’t being reciprocated to support English-speaking Quebecers;

7. Employing Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) tactics at the federal level (Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada) via the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act to pursue and administer investigations and complaints against federally-regulated private businesses in Quebec, and in the future throughout Canada.  Such a coercive scheme may lead to convictions for alleged language offenses, up to a maximum of $25,000.

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Voices in the Political Wilderness

Shockingly, in spite of the glaring flaws described above, C-13 sailed through final readings in both the House of Commons (301 votes FOR, one vote AGAINST, 14 MPs paired) and the Senate (60 YEAS, 5 NAYS,  5 abstentions) to obtain speedy adoption just before the start of the 2023 summer recess. 

Of note during the proceedings were requests by Anthony Housefather, Liberal MP for Mount Royal, and three senators representing Quebec (Independent Senators Group Tony Loffreda, Canadian Senators Group Larry W. Smith, Conservative Senator Judith Seidman) to at the very least remove Charter of the French Language references from Bill C-13.  Senators Loffreda and Seidman had also requested that C-13 be referred to the Senate’s Constitutional Committee for further study. A request that was rejected by a majority of their Senate colleagues.

These four parliamentarians – along with Conservative Senator Victor Oh of Ontario and Canadian Senators Group David Richards of New Brunswick – all voted against C-13 and should be commended for doing so.

That being said, what of Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Patricia Lattanzio, the Honourable Marc Miller, the Honourable David Lametti, and all the other Quebec MPs from the Liberal Party of Canada who have significant percentages of English-speaking constituents? 

Apparently, career advancement and party loyalty come before principles and service to your constituents.  Justin Trudeau’s father - the late Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau - once compared backbenchers to trained seals.  The C-13 third reading votes across party lines perfectly illustrated this behaviour – when it comes to blind conformity, the Communist Party of China and the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea ruling class have nothing on the Government of Canada.

Prior to his March 2023 resignation from the House of Commons, former Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Westmount MP Marc Garneau provided solid arguments in defence of the English-speaking community of Quebec and the inherent contradiction of Bill 101 appearing in federal legislation.  Mr. Garneau also spoke of anglophone minority rights as “A hill to die on”.

Unfortunately, Garneau chose to leave Parliament before C-13’s third reading.  At worst, he should have joined Housefather in voting NAY before resigning to close out his political career with a meaningful act.

In Parts 2 through 4 of this podcast series, let’s delve deeper into C-13’s implications for Quebec’s English-speaking community and Canada as a whole.  What does C-13 really mean for the Supreme Court of Canada, and were there indications from Justin Trudeau’s past that C-13-type legislation was on its way?