Bill 96 poses ‘serious risk’ for 23 bilingual municipalities, court hears

Article content

Twenty-three municipalities with bilingual status argue they would face significant harm if certain provisions of Bill 96 remain in effect while their lawsuit against the Quebec government proceeds through the courts.

On Monday, they asked Quebec Superior Court Justice Silvana Conte to suspend some rules added to the Charter of the French Language, commonly known as Bill 101, when Bill 96 was adopted.

Article content

The rules focus on the language of contracts, the disciplining of employees, the suspension of government subsidies, and powers of search and seizure by the Office québécois de la langue français (OQLF).

The municipalities launched a lawsuit against Bill 96 in June 2023.

Their lawyer, Julius Grey, told Conte the lawsuit raises important legal questions but that it will take years to conclude. The issues could eventually reach the Supreme Court of Canada, further delaying a final ruling.

Grey said some rules are imprecise and have caused uncertainty in municipalities.

Dale Roberts-Keats, mayor of Bonne-Espérance on Quebec’s Lower North Shore, last week said Bill 96 has generated considerable confusion regarding the language of contracts.

“It’s absurd that for our municipality, where 99 per cent of the population has English as their preferred language, we can’t produce contracts with suppliers in our community in English,” he said. His municipality has a population of 692.

Grey said under the new rules, the Quebec government could suspend subsidies to municipalities for allegedly contravening language laws. That would include subsidies provided by the federal government but distributed by Quebec, raising jurisdictional issues, he said.

Article content

Article content

The 23 municipalities in question collectively receive $109 million in subsidies from money raised by fuel taxes, about 70 per cent of it from Ottawa.

“We’re arguing (the issues) should await a final decision on what the rules are,” Grey told reporters outside the courtroom.

“It would be a serious prejudice that people can’t have (English-only) contracts, that seizures take place without warrants where they get very confidential information, that people are disciplined without being able to determine before what it is that they might be disciplined for,” he added.

“It’s not a life-and-death prejudice, but there is serious prejudice.”

Enacted in 2022, Bill 96 was part of an effort by Premier François Legault’s government to further limit the use of English in Quebec in order to elevate French.

Among other things, Bill 96 touched on CEGEP enrolment, how businesses operate, the workings of the court system, and who can receive government services in English.

The Legault government pre-emptively invoked the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause to shield Bill 96. The clause allows governments to override some fundamental rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Article content

“One of the most important things we wanted to argue,” Grey said, “is that when the notwithstanding clause is invoked, it doesn’t prevent the courts from applying the spirit” of the Charter of Rights.

“In other words, if it’s a matter of interpretation … you still presume that the answer that is consistent with the Charter is the right one.”

Côte St-Luc Mayor Mitchell Brownstein said in an interview that Bill 96 left bilingual cities and towns in a precarious situation.

“There’s always a risk of the (OQLF) coming in without a warrant, seizing materials and stating that they believe we’re not following the law and then suspending our grants,” he said in an interview.

“That’s a serious risk. How do you build your roads and your infrastructure and manage your budget? Municipalities need to be able to plan for the future without the threat of withheld funding.”

Charles Gravel, a lawyer representing Quebec’s attorney general, argued in court that there’s no reason to suspend Bill 96 provisions.

He told Conte that the municipalities’ request has no basis in law.

Gravel said they raised concerns about the law’s possible effects and claim that the law is ambiguous but have provided no evidence that the provisions are vague or have had any negative effects.

Article content

He said the government has the right to impose new language rules, noting municipalities are creatures of the Quebec government and have no constitutional standing.

Gravel declined a request for an interview after the court hearing.

The 23 municipalities, which collectively have a population of 214,000, object to several sections of Bill 96.

They say the law compromises their bilingual status, “which is intrinsically part of their cultural identity, but the proposed provisions also extend far beyond language rights and undermine constitutionally protected and inalienable rights that belong to all Quebec citizens.”

The 23 municipalities are: Baie d’Urfé, Beaconsfield, Blanc-Sablon, Bonne-Espérance, Chichester, Côte Saint-Luc, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Dorval, Havelock, Hope Town, Kazabazua, Kirkland, L’Isle-aux-Allumettes, Montréal-Ouest, Mulgrave-et-Derry, New Carlisle, Pointe-Claire, Senneville, Sheenboro, Shigawake, Stanbridge East, Wentworth and Westmount.

The municipalities’ lawsuit against Bill 96 is one of several legal challenges winding their way through the courts.

Article content

Among the groups fighting the law are English school boards.

In April, a Superior Court judge ruled some parts of the charter should not apply to English boards until the courts consider their legal challenge of Bill 96.

That ruling was upheld in June by a Quebec appeals court judge.

“The (Superior Court) judgment does not appear to me to contain any obvious weakness and does not cause serious or disproportionate harm to the (attorney general) and (OQLF),” Judge Geneviève Marcotte wrote.

The Charter of the French Language sections in question would have required English boards to communicate exclusively in French with, among others, the Quebec English School Boards Association and the English Parents’ Committee Association of Quebec.

For now, six articles of the Charter of the French Language will not apply to English boards. The articles in question refer to communication, contracts and the provision of services.

ariga@postmedia.com

Article content

Article content