Quebec commissions four experts to save the French language

On the sidelines of the Senate's adoption of Bill C-11, which will force digital giants to fund and promote Canadian content, Quebec's Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, announced that he would be surrounding himself with a group of experts who will advise him on the best ways to improve the place of the French language in the digital environment.

The minister was speaking early Friday afternoon to several hundred guests gathered by the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations (MCFR).

Lacombe said he had asked former PQ culture minister Louise Beaudoin; former delegate general of Quebec in Paris and administrator of the International Organization of La Francophonie, Clément Duhaime; Véronique Guèvremont, a full professor in the Faculty of Law at Université Laval and holder of the UNESCO Research Chair on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions; and Patrick Taillon, co-director of the Centre d'études en droit administratif et constitutionnel at Université Laval, where he is also a full professor in the Faculty of Law.

The four experts will be asked to advise the minister on the various tools and possible avenues to be used, whether legislative or not, to ensure the continuity of the French language and culture in Quebec.

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- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 28, 2023. It was written with the financial assistance of the Meta Grant and The Canadian Press for news.