The Bloc, Ballantyne, and the new Official Languages Act

KAMOURASKA, QUE.—Commissioner of Official Languages Raymond Théberge has a problem. In his latest report, A shared future: A closer look at our official language minority communities, he points out that a “misperception that persists among nearly half of Canada’s French-speaking population is that Quebec’s English-speaking communities are a privileged elite that is not well integrated into contemporary Quebec society.” However, he points out that while 71 per cent of anglophones speak French, their unemployment rates are about double that of francophones, and their median incomes are lower. Théberge recognizes that due to discriminatory legislation like Bill 96—the changes to Quebec’s Charter of the French Language—“or several years now, the English-speaking minority in Quebec has been facing challenges that are threatening its vitality.” Then comes the kicker about its legitimacy: “There seems to be confusion between the majority status of the English language in Canada and the minority status of the English-speaking communities in Quebec.” This “confusion” can be linked to the new Official Languages Act, Bill C-13, which incorporates Bill 96 and serves to strengthen French-language communities in the rest of the country through incentives, including greater francophone immigration outside Quebec. While I support this as a longtime advocate for francophone minorities, the new legislation deliberately avoids providing the same boost for English speakers in Quebec. The fundamental reason for this was the barrage of bigotry at the House Official Languages Committee from MPs from the Bloc Québécois and the Conservative Party. They refused to recognize English-speaking Quebecers as a minority, repeatedly citing the “Ballantyne” case at the United Nations back in 1993. Ballantyne involved three merchants in rural Sutton and Huntingdon, Que.: John Ballantyne, Elizabeth Davidson, and Gordon McIntyre. They challenged Bill 178, the 1988 law prohibiting the use of English on signs using the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause. As the Supreme Court had already ruled on the signs law, their last recourse was to go to the UN Human Rights Committee. In 1993, the case was declared a violation of the International Covenant on Human Rights, focusing on the law’s absolute ban on the use of English in signage. The embarrassment of losing at the UN prompted the government of then-premier Robert Bourassa to forego renewing the notwithstanding clause, and allow English on signage, albeit in smaller lettering. There were two other questions that didn’t attract as much attention at the time, including whether the anglophone community was a minority, according to the UN. The committee ruled French-speaking Canadians are a minority within Canada, as it is the UN member-state. Quebec is a “subnational state,” so Anglos don’t qualify. However, five members of the body dissented, saying this should not be the sole criteria for discrimination. Since 1993, we have seen discrimination turn to violence against minorities in Rwanda, Burundi, the former Republic of Yugoslavia, Indonesia, East Timor, and Fiji. At the World Conference Against Racism in 2001, the organizers wrote of these conflicts: “It is tragedies like these that compel the international community to encourage a dialogue between minorities and governments within all societies.” That means all minorities. Last year, Fernand de Varennes, the UN special rapporteur on minority issues, reported the international community has not focused on “ensuring equal protection of the human rights of marginalized minorities,” adding “most of these are internal conflicts, and involve ethnic, religious or linguistic grievances.” The Bloc Québécois’ official languages critic Mario Beaulieu failed to mention the evolution of international policy since Ballantyne, and no one on the committee contradicted him. This was the rationale for rejecting the symmetry of linguistic minorities, the hallmark of Canadian language policy since 1969. The Conservative Party—whose committee members include my Montmagny-L’Islet-Kamouraska–Riviere-du-Loup, Que., MP Bernard Généreux—echoed the Bloc. He told me it was in his party’s interest to support them. That aggravates anglophones who are currently questioning their loyalty to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Given the opportunity to steal some of the 20 anglophone ridings from the Liberals, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is foolhardy to side with the Bloc. Meanwhile, in his report, Théberge wrote: “I am aware of the communities’ concerns about certain elements of the modernized Act, and I will continue to closely monitor its implementation.” The chickens have now come home to roost. It is time the fabrications of the Bloc and the Conservatives were revealed, and made part of the broader debate on linguistic minorities. 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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The Bloc, Ballantyne, and the new Official Languages Act

The new legislation deliberately avoids providing the same boost for English speakers in Quebec as it does for francophones in the rest of Canada.

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