Quebec politicians say new census data released Wednesday shows French is at risk, but an Anglophone rights group fears the data could be used to portray Anglophones as a threat ahead of Quebec’s provincial election. ‘fall.
Census data proves “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the French language is under threat in the province, said Simon Jolin-Barrette, Quebec’s French language minister.
Quebec is at a linguistic crossroads, and it is time to “reverse the trend” and slow “the decline of French” in the province, he added.
In its latest census, Statistics Canada reported that the percentage of Quebec residents who speak primarily French at home increased from 79% in 2016 to 77.5% in 2021. The percentage of Quebec residents whose first official language is English has increased to 13%. in 2021 compared to 12% in 2016, reaching more than one million people for the first time.
Eva Ludvig, interim president of the Quebec Community Groups Network, an English-speaking rights group, said the growth of Quebec’s English-speaking community should be celebrated.
“We don’t see ourselves as a threat to Quebec, we see ourselves as an ally of the French language – we support it, we learn it, we use it,” she said. “But just because we want our identity and our rights protected doesn’t mean we’re a threat.”
However, she said she fears the next Quebec government will use the data as an excuse to impose new restrictions on languages other than French. Bill 96, which was passed by the legislature in May, does little to protect French but punishes people who speak English, Ludvig said.
Jolin-Barrette, the architect of Bill 96, which aims to make French the common language in all areas of Quebec life, including at home and at work, said his party, the Coalition Avenir Québec , did not plan to introduce new language legislation if re-elected in October. The law, he added, gives the government all the tools it needs to protect French.
The Parti Québécois has seized on these new figures to reinforce its argument that it is the only party that will go further than the CAQ to promote French in the province. PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said the government had taken “half measures” to protect French and that a “stronger and more comprehensive plan” was needed.
“Year after year, we see that the decline of French is accelerating without governments having the courage to put in place measures up to the challenge of reversing this trend,” he said in a statement.
The Liberal Party of Quebec, meanwhile, has said protecting the French language is a priority, but it will not try to change the language people speak with friends and family.
“What is important to us is to ensure that French is the common language in Quebec. It is not up to the government to dictate the language spoken at home,” the party said in a statement.
Quebec Premier François Legault has said that if French is not spoken at home, the language will eventually die out.
Daniel Beland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, says the timing of the release of census data puts language issues on the agenda ahead of the Oct. 3 election in Quebec.
Beland said the data could put the government on the defensive, but he added that it will be easy for the CAQ to say it has already acted on Bill 96. The party could also use the new figures from the census to bolster his calls for Ottawa to give Quebec more control over immigration.
“I don’t think language will be the dominant theme during the campaign, but with these new numbers, certainly (the parties) won’t be able to avoid it,” Beland said.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published in French on August 17, 2022.