So here we are. Having previously passed Bill 21, effectively barring members of certain religious minorities from employment across much of the public sector, the government of Quebec has lately passed Bill 96. Amongst other charms, the law prohibits the use of any language but French in the province’s workplaces, large or small, public or private, provincially regulated or federal, in the enforcement of which the language police are now authorized to compel the production of any document, in whatever form, on whatever device, without a warrant.
That both these bills offend violently against the Charter of Rights and the Constitution of Canada (Bill 96 also purports to amend the Constitution, unilaterally, to declare Quebec a “nation” whose “common language” is French) is not even contested: The Legault government conceded as much when it inserted a provision in each bill invoking the notwithstanding clause, insulating it from the protection of not only the federal Charter but also Quebec’s own Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
