B’nai Brith believes ‘Bill 101 Reform’ Can Drive Out Jews

B’nai Brith CEO Michael Mostyn said his community shared many of the concerns already raised by other cultural bodies and city politicians – including the initial use of the legislature despite the provision, to protect the new language law from possible legal challenges based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

But beyond these general concerns, he said, the law will have a particular impact on Quebec’s Jewish community, many of whom speak English as their first or second language.

Mr. worried. Mostyn that older immigrants from Ukraine and the former Soviet Union will no longer be able to access services in English, and young Jews are leaving the province because they are no longer welcome.

At a press conference in Montreal on Monday, he felt that this reform of the French Charter the gun usually points at the heads of Quebecers by forcing them to use French in contexts where accommodation is possible for non -French speakers..

According to Mr. Mostyn, this law violates the rights of minorities to fully participate in Quebec society and will lead to a reduction in health services and social programs for Quebecers who do not speak French.

It will be difficult to get rabbis, the organization says

Prime Minister François Legault has repeatedly sought to reassure Anglophones that this reform will not prevent people from seeking treatment in English, and he has accused critics of the law of inciting fear unnecessarily. .

But Marvin Rotrand, director of the human rights league at B’nai Brith, said he believes the law is quite clear : English health care cannot be protected in non-emergency situations, such as doctor appointments.

According to him, the law will also make it difficult to recruit rabbis from outside Quebec, as this reform restricts an exemption that allows religious leaders to send their children to Jewish-speaking schools. of English.

He argued that former children of rabbis could attend English schools for three years – and this exemption could be renewed. However, under the new law, he said, this extension has been shortened and can no longer be changed.

They are scared second exodus

The former Montreal city councilor believes that’s the combination law reform 101 and the State’s Secularism Act, which prohibits certain public servants from wearing religious symbols at work, could push many young members of the Jewish community to leave Quebec.

MM. Rotrand and Mostyn are afraid a second exodussimilar to what happened in the 1970s and 1980s, when many Jews left for Toronto because of the sovereignty movement in Quebec and the ratification of the Charter of the French language, commonly known as law 101.

According to Mr. Rotrand, the Jewish community in Quebec is made up of approximately 53% Anglophones, many of whom are elderly and 20% of them live below the poverty line. There is a certain fragility there, he said. If the community [juive] wants to thrive, it needs the support of the Government of Quebec and our countrymen.

The Law relating to the official and common language of Quebec, French, was adopted on May 25 in the National Assembly by 78 votes to 29. It extends the francization process to small and medium -sized businesses with 25 to 49 votes. employees, restricting access to English CEGEPs and limiting access to some government communications and services in languages ​​other than French.

Although there are exceptions for members of historical English -speaking community in health, public safety and education, Rotrand said many members of the Jewish community would not qualify because they were born or educated outside of Canada.

Pending

Meir Edery, who recently earned a law degree from a French -speaking university, said Monday that the law made him feel like he didn’t want to be in Quebec, even though he spoke French. This law creates a climate of fear, a climate of apprehension against English speakers – and against me, even if I am fully bilingualhe said.

While several groups, including the English Montreal School Board, have filed or plan to file legal challenges against the law, Rotrand said he is premature to say if B’nai Brith would do the same.

He said the body first wants to review the final text of the law and see if the Quebec government is willing to make small changes – or work with the community on its implementation.