In its reform of the Official Languages Act, the federal government should have completely different approaches towards the English -speaking minority in Quebec and the French -speaking minorities elsewhere in the country, according to the opinion of Minister of Canadian Relations of Quebec.
Sonia LeBel chose a somewhat unusual way to convey her message to federally elected officials. He sent a list of 14 amendments this week to MPs currently studying the bill in Ottawa.
Initially, he demanded that the preamble of the law be amended so that the federal government would specify that […] the English -speaking minority in Quebec and the French -speaking minorities in other provinces and territories have different needscan we read the document sent to the members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, of which Radio-Canada obtained a copy.
Those around Minister LeBel justify this change by diverting the struggles of Francophones outside Quebec to get their schools into the well-established network of educational establishments in English language in Quebec.
Promote French and not English
The Quebec minister did more by proposing to completely change the title of a chapter of the law aimed at promoting both languages. As the federal Minister of Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, titled it: Development of minorities and advancement of French and EnglishSonia LeBel reversed the priorities and removed the word “English” in the title, suggesting to include in the law: French advancement and development of minorities.
He considers this change necessary because of the minority situation of the French which, according to him, needs to be advanced more than the English.
Among other proposals, Sonia LeBel does not want the government to limit itself to taking steps to ensure that communications and the provision of services to its institutions are offered in the same official language.
Instead, he demands that in Quebec, the French come first. This means that in bilingual government communications, for example in terms of signage, French must occupy a larger area than English.
Procurement criteria
On the subject of the use of French within private companies whose activities are under federal jurisdiction, it is not surprising that the Minister of Canadian Relations proposes to completely remove from the federal bill the article authorizing a companies to choose between Canadian law and the Quebec Charter of the French language. Quebec claims the right to impose its reform of Bill 101 on all businesses under federal jurisdiction in its territory.
Finally, such as the Commissioner of Official Languages who, after receiving more than 4,000 complaints about high -ranking officials who do not speak French, recommends that knowledge of both languages become a standard in hiring, he hopes the bill would require senior officials of federal institutions and corporations subject to the law to speak and clearly understand French.
On this topic, Sonia LeBel mentioned that a list of positions subject to this requirement should be established to avoid situations such as the absence of Francophones on the CN Board of Directors.
” There is only one language threatened in Quebec, and that is French. “
The list of these amendments was sent to elected federal officials before they even had a chance to present and debate themselves. It’s pretty unusual, it’s the first time I’ve seen itsaid Mario Beaulieu, a veteran of the Bloc Québécois who sits on the official languages committee.
However, Mr. was quite comfortable. Beaulieu to support Minister LeBel’s amendments, because he also believes it is important to have a different approach to language minorities in Canada. The next meeting of the Standing Committee on Official Languages will take place next Monday.
Martin Leclerc
Source: Radio-Canada
