Quebec’s language law causes confusion for English speakers, federal commissioner says

Changes to Quebec’s French-language law are creating confusion for English-speaking residents trying to access services, according to a midterm report from Canada’s commissioner of official languages.

Raymond Théberge said some health-care workers still struggle to know when they can offer services in English under Law 14, also known as Bill 96. He added that similar challenges are being felt in Quebec’s education and business sectors.

Théberge, speaking in Dieppe, N.B., where he tabled his findings on the 2023-2028 action plan, stressed that Ottawa must ensure federal spending cuts do not affect Canadians’ language rights. The plan includes $4.1 billion in funding for official languages programs.

In its fall budget, the federal Liberal government outlined a plan to reduce program spending and administrative costs by about $60 billion over five years and to cut 40,000 public service jobs by 2029. Théberge said past budget cuts have already impacted language programs, including training, research and service delivery.

“The commissioner has put in black and white what we see on the ground every day,” said Eva Ludvig, the president of Talking. Advocating. Living in Quebec (TALQ) — an advocacy group for the province’s English-speaking community — in a news release.

“Federal programs that function reasonably well elsewhere in Canada stall, get blocked, or vanish into a black box when they reach Quebec’s English-speaking communities.”

TALQ expressed concern over Quebec’s Bill M-30, which it says further blocks or delays federal funding to English-speaking community organizations.

The bill means any organization receiving  more than 50 per cent of its funding from the province falls under provincial jurisdiction and cannot sign federal agreements without approval from the Quebec minister responsible for Canadian relations. 

This bill “could undermine the vitality of the community. Nearly two years after it was announced, several key programs have yet to launch,” the commissioner’s report says.

TALQ is urging Ottawa to take concrete steps to improve services for English-speaking Quebecers before the current action plan ends and to build equity into the next plan.

Ultimately, Canada’s commissioner of official languages said he wants to ensure language rights don’t suffer as a result of federal spending cuts.