English Montreal School Board to launch legal challenge against Quebec French-language law
Another group has announced it will launch a legal challenge against Quebec's controversial language reform law.
Bill 96 was passed in the provincial legislature earlier this week.
The English Montreal School Board (EMSB) announced late Thursday evening it has hired a legal firm to help it contest the validity of Bill 96, An Act Respecting French, the official and common language of Quebec.
"This bill affects us directly," said EMSB chairman Joe Ortona. "There are many provisions in this bill that violate our right to manage and control as a school board guaranteed by Section 23 of the charter... Any time that section 23 of the charter is threatened, I feel an obligation to defend those constitutional rights."
Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms says that Canadian citizens have "the right to have their children receive primary and secondary school instruction in that language (English or French) in that province."
Not all members of the council of commissioners were on board with the idea, however, as some voiced their opposition during a meeting Thursday night, citing the costs associated with the legal fight.
The EMSB said in a news release that Bill 96 violates the constitutional rights of Quebecers.
"I wish to invite other anglophone institutions and any organization interested in basic human rights to join or support this legal proceeding," said board chair Joe Ortona in the release.
The office of the Minister Responsible for the French Language, Simon Jolin-Barette, who is also the minister of justice, said it has known about the EMSB's position for "a long time," adding a jab at the school board for denying the existence of the Quebec nation last year.
The board later revoked the statement.
Jolin-Barette's office repeated its opinion that the law does not adversely affect any Quebecers' rights.
"Protecting and promoting French in Quebec is not discriminatory," said Jolin-Barette's press secretary Elisabeth Gosselin. "We are committed to defending Quebec's Common Official Language Act, French, a fundamental law for Quebecers."
As the Quebec government passed the bill in a 78-29 vote Tuesday, a committee of high-profile Quebec lawyers also revealed it is preparing to launch a legal challenge that could land all the way at the United Nations.
In an interview with CTV News this week, constitutional lawyer Julius Grey called the new law "the most gratuitous use of power I've ever seen."
For Grey, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms "becomes a mere suggestion" with the ruling CAQ government's repeated use of the notwithstanding clause to shield Bill 96 — as well as Bill 21 — from constitutional challenges.
The federal justice minister, David Lametti, also said this week his government is prepared to get involved in challenging the bill. "We will be there to deliver our arguments," if the bill reaches the Supreme Court of Canada, Lametti said.
The Legault government has said the legislation is needed to protect and promote French, which he says is declining in Quebec.
The law has come under fire for, among other things, granting new powers for the province's language watchdog to conduct searches and seizures without a warrant, requiring new immigrants to communicate with the government only in French after living in Quebec for six months, and capping enrolment at English-language CEGEPs. There are also concerns, even among the legal community, surrounding access to health care in English under the provisions of the legislation.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.