Bill C-13 is a Trojan Horse

KAMOURASKA, QUE.—There is an egregious piece of legislation working its way through Parliament, and very few Canadians have heard of it. Its title is anodyne enough: “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.” But despite its modest name, Bill C-13 is the Trojan Horse of Canadian politics. By seeking to restructure the official languages framework, it could change Canada radically in the years to come. It does this by introducing an “asymmetrical” approach to the protection and promotion of official languages. This is a complete reversal of historic federal policy on language, established in law in 1969 and based on the findings of the Bilingualism and Biculturalism Commission. This linguistic re-engineering is incompatible with the principle of Canada as a nation with two official languages, based on three founding peoples, and with minority official language communities equally deserving the right to protection and promotion from Ottawa. Bill C-13 has many flaws, but here are the three most significant: It uses the provincial Charter of the French Language as its standard for workplace language in federally regulated businesses in Quebec; It offers no assurances measures aimed at promoting French will not diminish the rights of anglophone Quebecers; While extending rights accorded to French-speakers in federally regulated private businesses, it offers no such guarantees to English speakers. At its base, Bill C-13 creates a legislated distinction between the rights and recourses afforded to French minority official language communities and individuals outside of Quebec, and those afforded to the English minority in Quebec. Why is this a problem? Well, combined with Quebec’s initiative to declare its status as an exclusively French-speaking “nation” in the Constitution, it marginalizes 1.25 million English-speaking Quebecers, limiting job opportunities and access to services. However, it also opens the door for other provinces to reduce the rights of minority francophones. Historically, minority language rights were accepted as part of the bargain of being Canadian. But if the federal government chooses to tilt the playing field against anglophones in Quebec, how long before English majority provinces and territories reduce services to francophone minorities? Although many Canadians believe in the outdated caricature of anglophone Quebecers as rich, “Westmount Rhodesians,” the reality is anything but: many English-speaking Quebecers are Black, Indigenous, rural poor, elderly, or Asian immigrants. And working-age anglophones have lower levels of income, education, and employment than their French-speaking counterparts. Despite the flow of students from across Canada to English universities in Quebec, few stay. The ability to work from anywhere during the pandemic led to a bump in interprovincial migration, but Quebec still loses thousands of young anglophones annually. The advent of the mean-spirited imposition of French unilingualism in Bill 96 may increase that tide. Meanwhile, the deck is stacked in favour of Bill C-13. In an unseemly quest for francophone votes, the Trudeau government is abandoning anglophone Quebecers. The minister responsible for the Official Languages Act, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, is forever reminding people she is an Acadian. She held audiences across Canada this summer with select groups in what was essentially a pre-cooked process, with little dissent about Bill C-13. Even worse, of both the House of Commons and Senate committees planning to study the legislation, there is no minority anglophone voice. Also involved in the file is Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, a Quebec nationalist who once told a friend of mine there was no such thing as an anglophone Quebecer (despite hundreds of years of history), as “they are just displaced people from English Canada.” This is a travesty. Bilingualism, both individual and institutional, is one of the great assets of modern Canada. As the late Queen Elizabeth said in 1982, “I have seen the vision of this country take shape in the lives of Canadians. There is now a greater confidence among Canadians that people of the two official language communities can live fuller and richer lives together than in mutual isolation.” As someone who has worked hard to become bilingual, has fought for francophone minority language rights across this country and now lives and works in French, those words have profound meaning. But they ring very hollow when I read Bill C-13. Andrew Caddell is retired from Global Affairs Canada, where he was a senior policy adviser. He previously worked as an adviser to Liberal governments. He is a fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and a town councillor in Kamouraska, Que. He can be reached at pipson52@hotmail.com. The Hill Times