Bilingual Quebec communities lose bid to suspend application of language law rules

MONTREAL — Bilingual Quebec municipalities have lost their bid to have several parts of the government’s French-language reform suspended while their case makes its way through the courts.

The communities asked the Quebec Superior Court last month to suspend the application of parts of Bill 96 — as the language reform is known — arguing it would cause them serious and irreparable harm.

A lawyer for the cities argued the law could block federal subsidies to cities that don’t comply with it, and would give the language watchdog vast powers of search and seizure that exceed those of police.

The Quebec government argued there was no evidence the law has caused any harm, adding that concern alone should not be enough to warrant a stay.

In a decision dated Tuesday, Justice Silvana Conte refused the request for a stay, noting that one should be granted only in exceptional cases and that the municipalities had not proven serious or irreparable damage.

Communities that have bilingual status have the right to serve their citizens in both English and French; municipalities without that status are prohibited from communicating with residents in English.

The bilingual municipalities had asked the court to suspend several parts of the language reform.

During the court hearing in late September, lawyer Julius Grey, who represented the bilingual municipalities, said some of them are overwhelmingly composed of English-speakers, and suggested it would be hard under the law for them to finalize contracts in English or continue to have unilingual anglophone employees.

He said the law gives the language watchdog — Office québécois de la langue française — the right to seize materials that could include employees’ personal information, budget documents and even legal advice that should be protected under attorney-client privilege. It would also require municipalities to discipline employees who don’t conform, he said.

Charles Gravel, who represented the province, told Conte during the hearing there’s no proof any seizures have happened or that subsidies have been cut, adding that the cities’ concern shouldn’t be enough to suspend the law without evidence it’s caused any harm. “You can’t mix up apprehensions and facts,” he said.

Gravel said many of the towns’ concerns — including their contention that they wouldn’t be able to have unilingual English employees — were overblown and not supported by the text of law.

Quebec adopted the law in 2022 and proactively invoked the notwithstanding clause to shield it from some court challenges. Bill 96 reinforces the province’s French-language charter first adopted in 1977 by the Parti Québécois government of René Lévesque.

The 23 municipalities involved in the challenge include several Montreal suburbs such as Westmount and Côte-St-Luc, as well as smaller communities located mostly near the borders with the United States or the boundaries with other provinces.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2024.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press