Advocates for English-speaking communities have harshly criticised the new federal legislation that will amend the Canada’s Official Languages Act in Quebec.
As stated in Section 54, Bill C-13 aims to “foster and protect the use of French in federally regulated private businesses in Quebec.”
But some fear that the promotion and protection of French comes at the expense of English.
“Very worrisome for the English-speaking community,” Eva Ludvig, the president of the Quebec Community Groups Network, told Global News.
The legislation affects companies in federally regulated industries like banks and insurance companies as well as the shipping and transportation industries.
Employees will be entitled to “receive all communications and documents from the federally regulated private business in French, including offers of employment or promotion, notices of termination, collective agreements and grievances; and use regularly and frequently used work instruments and computer systems in French.”
What about staff who speak English? Are they now required to communicate in French? Do meetings take place in French? “You know, a lot of different things are up in the air,” said Ludvig.
The bill also acknowledges Quebec’s French Language Charter and community groups are upset that neither the Quebec nor the federal government is making an effort to protect English rights.
The way to do this, according to Ludvig, is not by granting new rights to one group while taking away those of another.
The bill does not prevent anglophones from receiving services in English from privately owned, federally regulated businesses, writes Marianne Blondin, the press secretary for the minister of official languages, in an email to Global News, but it is not guaranteed.
This has anglophone groups concerned.
We don’t want to see that happen, said Matthew Farfan, executive director of the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network, “that our protections will be eroded in a revised official languages act.”
The Standing Committee on Official Languages is currently considering the bill. It could be adopted into law before the end of the year..
criticism of Bill C-13 from Quebec’s anglophone communities
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