Mayor Scot Pearce

By Dan Laxer
The Suburban

Over the past few years many municipalities — on the West Island, in the West End and in the Laurentians — have voted to retain their bilingual status. Many of those municipalities scrambled to do so in the face of Bill 96, which states that bilingual status could be retained only in those communities where the population is more than half Anglophone mother tongue unless council votes to retain it. Recent census statistics show, however, that in some of those municipalities the number of households where English is the mother tongue is in decline.

This is the case in places like Beaconsfield and Pointe-Claire on the West Island, and even the Anglo bastion of Westmount.

Mayor Scot Pearce of the city of Gore in the Laurentians, a town that once had more than 50% Anglo households, says that in his municipality the number of English-speaking households is down to around 20%.

As reported in The Suburban in February 2023, the 48 municipalities in Quebec that needed to pass a resolution had all done so. That brought to 99 the number of municipalities that now have bilingual status, which means they can communicate with residents, and offer services, in both official languages.

The provincial government has been saying for some time, now, that French is also on the decline in many of the same places where English is said to be in decline. In both cases the explanation could be the rise in the number of immigrants whose mother tongue is neither English nor French.

But some municipal mayors also point out that the population is more bilingual than it has even been. Municipalities that currently have bilingual status want to retain that status, but it is unclear how often or when they would need to renew their bilingualism resolutions. n