It was hard for Anglo-Quebecers to celebrate Fête nationale this year

KAMOURASKA, QUE.—And so, it begins. The implementation of the spiteful Bill 96 has varied from chaotic to hilarious to downright mean. When the second tranche of the changes to Quebec’s Charter of the French Language came into being on June 1, it began as fodder for comedians. For example, the City of Montreal provided a telephone message that had people in stitches. A voice tells the listener in English that they must “attest in good faith that you have acquired rights as an English speaker in the province to be served in English,” which means “a person who is declared eligible to receive education in English, an Indigenous person, a recently arrived immigrant residing in Quebec for under six months or if you’re calling outside of Quebec, or if you corresponded solely in English with the City of Montreal prior to May 31, 2023.” The message was soon changed. In the meantime, the suburban City of Côte Saint-Luc parodied the message by saying they would serve anyone in English and they “did not have to show us your Grade 3 report card or your family tree going back 10 years.” Then things turned ugly. A Montreal school bus driver was videoed chastising a young girl for not speaking French. And the City of Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot, west of Montreal, cancelled screenings of English films as part of their regular summer activity. Its mayor admitted “it doesn’t make sense,” but so far no changes have been made. The implementation of the law has been worse than even the most severe critics offered. Premier François Legault suggested things might need to be changed, but he was willing to wait a year to see the impact of the law. This is not unlike letting a house burn for an hour before intervening. The law, as you may recall, allows illegal search and seizure of computers, anonymous snitching of businesses who work in English, and reporting on the French proficiency of employees. And these assaults on personal freedoms are protected by the notwithstanding clause. But on the afternoon of June 26, friends arrived here to stay overnight. As they got out of their car, my wife was chatting in English with them, one of whom is a prominent Canadian and a francophone. A road crew was working nearby, and one of the men called out in French, “Hey! This is Quebec! You should be speaking French!” At first, they couldn’t hear what he was saying, so he repeated himself. They replied in French that they were bilingual and chose to speak to each other in English. Both Quebecers, neither had experienced this sort of confrontation before. This is disgraceful. I am an elected councillor in the village, I live, work, and play in French. Only a few days ago, I was celebrating Fête nationale in Kamouraska. The holiday used to officially be called St-Jean-Baptiste Day; it was changed in the 1970s by then-premier René Lévesque to “encourage Quebecers of all backgrounds to celebrate.” Today, that promise seems hollow. As I have pointed out before, when a government encourages an act, the public sees it as a cue for acceptable behaviour. So, when Bill 21 banned hijabs and turbans for teachers, prison guards, and judges, it was disappointing, but not surprising to overhear someone say a man wearing a turban “wouldn’t be tolerated anymore.” I predicted once Bill 96 became law, people would be told not to speak English in public. Now it has happened, literally, in my backyard. Last weekend, Quebec was awash with the Fleur-de-lis, the flag of the Quebec “nation,” depicting religious and monarchical symbols of 17th century France. As someone who can trace his ancestry in Quebec back to 1640, that is part of my heritage, as is my Kamouraska home, in my family since 1884. But the egregious Bill 96 and the recent changes to the federal Official Languages Act, Bill C-13, fail to recognize my membership in Quebec’s English-speaking community. That community has built bridges with francophone Quebecers for generations, and has helped open it to the world. This year, it was hard for Anglo-Quebecers to celebrate Fête nationale, given the cold shoulder coming from Ottawa and Quebec City. 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 town councillor in Kamouraska, Que. He can be reached at pipson52@hotmail.com. The Hill Times

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It was hard for Anglo-Quebecers to celebrate Fête nationale this year

The English-speaking community has built bridges with francophone Quebecers for generations, but are being given the cold shoulder by Ottawa and Quebec City.

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