Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette speaks during a news conference in Montreal, in August.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
The Quebec government has decided that citizens won’t receive English-language information about voting in the upcoming provincial election. The unnecessary move does nothing to strengthen French, yet it undermines democracy by making it harder for citizens to vote in the Oct. 5 election.
The French language is important in Quebec and across the country, and governments have a role to play in ensuring it remains vibrant. But promoting French doesn’t need to come at the expense of fundamental voting rights. Information sent to citizens’ homes about how and where they can vote isn’t the same as a commercial sign or a menu – it’s essential information that should be sent out in both English and French.
The problem stems from Bill 96, which greatly expanded Quebec’s language laws in 2022, and made French the sole language of communication between provincial government institutions and Quebeckers. The premier at the time, François Legault, positioned the bill as a way to stem the decline of French.
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Earlier this month, Élections Québec announced it would send out voter information in French only for the first time in order to comply with the new law. A spokesperson for the agency said it had asked the government for an exemption to send out information in English, but that attempt was unsuccessful.
Élections Québec expressed concern about the change, yet the current premier, Christine Fréchette, has refused to reverse course. She pointed to the fact that the French-language voting documents include a QR code for voters to get information online in English. However, many older voters, in particular, could have trouble with the technology.
In contrast with her predecessor, who wasn’t shy to target English-speaking universities and institutions, Ms. Fréchette has said she wants to have a positive relationship with the anglophone community. Yet her move to deny anglophones voter information, which comes as her Coalition Avenir Québec party bumps up against the sovereigntist Parti Québécois in a tight electoral race, undercuts the move.
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A lawyer has launched legal action against the unilingual mail-outs, asking for English-language voting material to be sent out urgently. Legal action was no surprise, given that the Constitution protects the right to vote (unlike some other constitutional rights, democratic rights are even shielded from the reach of the notwithstanding clause). In order to vote, citizens need access to information on how to do that.
If the information isn’t sent out in time, it could reduce confidence in the results of this important election. Making it harder for anglophones and allophones to vote is hardly neutral, given they have traditionally gravitated to the Quebec Liberal Party. Ms. Fréchette is opening herself up to accusations that she is tipping the scales in her favour. A lower anglophone vote turnout could also help the Parti Québécois.
Quebec politicians are constantly raising the spectre of the decline of French, citing a drop in the proportion of people in Quebec with French as their mother tongue. Yet the language is spoken widely in almost every corner of the province, with 85.5 per cent of the population speaking it at home at least on a regular basis. Just five per cent of the population only speaks English, and most anglophones are bilingual, with 71 per cent speaking both English and French, and most others saying they have a basic understanding of the language.
However, many bilingual anglophones still prefer to receive important information, such as voting instructions, in their first language. Some immigrants and people who have moved recently to the province may also prefer having this information in English.
Bill 96, along with the constant talk of French being under threat, has cemented the belief across much of Quebec that other languages need to be eliminated for French to thrive, says Western University history professor Jeffery Vacante. Unfortunately, this belief is likely to persist, regardless of which party wins the election. In order to thrive, the dominant linguistic group doesn’t need to repress the rights of other linguistic groups.
French does need continued attention to ensure it is healthy, but restricting voter information does nothing to help. It only deepens the fractures between communities that were exploited by Mr. Legault for political gain. Ms. Fréchette should break the pattern and immediately instruct Élections Québec to distribute voter information in English.