Parts of Bill 101 will not apply to English school boards, court rules

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For now, English school boards can continue to communicate in English with other anglophone organizations, thanks to a Quebec appeals court ruling.

Judge Geneviève Marcotte on Friday dismissed the Quebec government’s challenge of an April Superior Court judgment that ruled some parts of the Charter of the French Language should not apply to English school boards until a legal challenge of the provisions winds its way through the courts.

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The sections in question would have required English boards to communicate exclusively in French with, among others, the Quebec English School Boards Association and the English Parents’ Committee Association of Quebec.

“The fact that the Charter of the French Language requires English school boards to communicate exclusively in French when interacting with other English-speaking community organizations never made any sense,” said English Montreal School Board chair Joe Ortona.

However, Ortona said the EMSB “continues to embrace the French language, having pioneered the French immersion program.”

In a nine-page decision, Marcotte rejected an appeal application from Quebec’s attorney general and the Office québécois de la langue française, the province’s language watchdog.

“The (Superior Court) judgment does not appear to me to contain any obvious weakness and does not cause serious or disproportionate harm to the (attorney general) and OQLF applicants in such a way as to justify the granting of the permission sought,” Marcotte wrote.

That means that, for now, six articles of the charter, commonly known as Bill 101, will not apply to English boards, “with the exception of situations where the partner or contractor of the (board) requires the use of the official language.”

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The articles in question refer to communication, contracts and the provision of services.

The suspension of these parts of Bill 101 will stand until the courts decide on the merits of the EMSB’s challenge of Bill 96, the Legault government’s toughening of Bill 101.

The EMSB and several other parties are contesting Bill 96, arguing it’s unconstitutional. The legal battle could take years, with observers expecting it to reach the Supreme Court of Canada.

Enacted in 2022, Bill 96 is the CAQ government’s wide-ranging overhaul of Quebec French-language rules. Among other things, it touches on CEGEP enrolment, how businesses operate, the workings of the court system, and who can receive government services in English.

Another portion of Marcotte’s ruling focused on the EMSB’s challenge of a different part of the Superior Court decision.

The board objected to that court’s decision that English school boards should be considered “school service centres.”

Marcotte granted the EMSB’s request to challenge that part of the decision.

The questions raised by the EMSB “merit the (appeals) court’s attention,” she wrote, noting Quebec’s attorney general and the OQLF confirmed the Superior Court decision “contained certain inaccuracies” on this point.

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Since Quebec abolished French school boards, French schools are operated by service centres overseen by the provincial government.

English school boards remain in place after the Quebec Superior Court ruled the Legault government’s law abolishing boards should not apply to English ones. An appeal is expected to be heard next year.

“We are English school boards, not school service posts like the French sector,” Ortona said. “It was important to once again make this abundantly clear.”

The Quebec Community Groups Network welcomed the news.

Eva Ludvig, president of the coalition of anglophone groups, said it’s nonsensical to require English boards to communicate solely in French with other anglophone organizations.

“Neither is it right that the EMSB, which still holds elections to elect school commissioners, should be considered as simply a ‘school service centre,’ as the Quebec government would have it,” she said.

ariga@postmedia.com

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