Joel Goldenberg – The Suburban LJI Reporter
The Task Force on Linguistic Policy is seeking an injunction and judicial review from Quebec’s Superior Court against the province’s language law, Bill 96.
The injunction was filed last Wednesday by lawyer Michael Bergman, and says the language law could have an impact on all Quebecers.
“The issues raised in Bill 96 are all serious and justiciable as they constitute encroachment on constitutional and human rights with respect to rights to life, liberty, and security; equality; healthcare services; government services; education; employment; as well as freedoms of expression and mobility, and freedom from undue state interference,” the injunction says.
Task Force leader Andrew Caddell said in a news release that “our injunction contains evidence from 30 people who have been the victims of outright discrimination, and we know they are the tip of the iceberg. For this reason, we have to stop the application of the law before things become worse.”
Examples of discrimination cited in the injunction include a woman with a learning disability who says the Quebec Human Right Commission will not communicate with her in English; a person being asked for proof of entitlement to the English version of a traffic ticket; a RAMQ representative allegedly hanging up on a 64-year-old man who asked for service in English; a triage nurse at the Glen Hospital allegedly refusing to speak to a patient in English — the patient went to another hospital the next day and was found to have sepsis and ended up in the ICU; and catering staff being told they would be expelled if they spoke English.
Caddell adds that “the injunction outlines the serious implications of what it calls the Legault government’s zealotry in implementing the letter and spirit of the law,” and that “in doing so, the Government of Quebec has created and promoted a social climate where the use of the English language is restricted and disdained and is considered to be a threat to the survival of the French language and identity in Quebec.”