Quebec's Controversial Language Bill 96 Passes

By Kaniehtonkie

First Nations across Quebec declared to fight Quebec’s newly passed language legislation Bill 96 on Tuesday. They promised to take this fight to the courts, saying it’s Bill 96 enforcement will result in weakening of our languages, the exile of our youth and a “cultural genocide” for First Nation communities.

Across Canada, media reports Quebec will not change Bill 96 to exempt Indigenous youth from having to take extra French courses in CEGEP - despite mounting calls from First Nations leaders who say their efforts to rebuild First Nation languages and cultures are in jeopardy.

Kahnawake Grand Chief Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer — who held a news conference at the National Assembly Tuesday alongside Chief Ghislain Picard of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador — said her community would hold protest actions until it felt heard.

“Any gesture of goodwill right now on behalf of the government will go a long way,” Sky-Deer told reporters, to put another burden, of a third language for us to have to learn and be proficient in, when we’re trying to revitalize our Indigenous language — after all these Indian Day Schools, Indian Residential Schools, and all the things that happened to our people — it’s a challenge.”

“What the government should be doing is recognizing and respecting Indigenous languages and cultures that have been here longer than Quebec,” Sky-Deer said.

Ghislain Picard, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador told CBC, “It’s a sad day for the National Assembly and obviously a sad day for the First Nations. We‘ve pushed our good faith to its fullest extent — in the sense that we knew the bill, we did our homework, we analyzed it, we proposed amendments to it and none of that is reflected in the final product. So, we are very disappointed, and angered.”

Picard said the fear is that students will leave their communities and go where they have the choice to be educated in English, “and in most cases it will be outside of Quebec. I am hearing that from Cree communities, as well as others.”

“They will be forced to exile.”

Simon Jolin-Barrette, Minister Responsible for the French Language and President of the National Assembly tabled the bill said Tuesday, there was no plan to make any exemptions.

Mohawk Council of Kahnawake chief Mike Delisle, Jr. said council and community members were meeting to discuss next steps, “We haven’t said our last word, this is not the end of it. … We have the right to challenge this provincial bill and that’s something we are really looking into.”

“We will continue to push against some of these oppressive violations of human rights, never mind just against the rights of Indigenous, francophones, anglophones and anyone else in between,” Delisle said.

Earlier in May, the Haudenosaunee Longhouse, in Kahnawake, added its voice to growing First Nations opposition, saying the legislation “will never apply” in their community.

Ka’nahsohon Kevin Deer, respected elder from Kahnawake, was part of the group holding the news conference. He held a Two Row Wampum Belt, saying it was important to remind Quebecers of its meaning.

Deer said, “Your ancestors and our ancestors agreed that we would follow three principles of peace, friendship and respect. We are still here today. Our ceremonies, our languages, our creation stories — everything that makes us unique in the world, just like Quebec. They talk about their distinctness. Well, we are too.”

Robin Delaronde, the director of education for the Kahnawake Education Center, told the Montreal Gazette earlier the new requirements will put up barriers to success for Indigenous youth.

“What this bill is doing is that it’s trying to assimilate First Nations people, assimilate us into Quebec culture, society and language,” Delaronde said. “Parents want their children to have their traditional language first and foremost, because for us, we’re definitely in danger of losing our language. This puts extra challenges on our community and our children to now strengthen and bring back what was lost through colonization.”

Denis Gros-Louis head of the First Nations Education Council of Quebec told CBC, “I see it as cultural genocide because it says to our students: ‘If you want to graduate, if you want to go to university … well, force yourself to become a good French-speaking Québécois and forget your roots.”

Gros-Louis said the council had counted 209 students graduating next year, who would be penalized by the bill.

Those students, Gros-Louis added, “they’re not Québécois, they are Kanien’kehá:ka, Anishinaabe, they are Mi’kmaq. They don’t need to be as fluent in French as they would in downtown Quebec City, for instance.”

Gros-Louis noted that 2022 has been designated the first year of the United Nations Decade of Indigenous Languages.

Quebec’s Bill 96 secures the largest expansion of its language laws in more than 40 years, imposing new rules to reinforce the use of French in the public service, education and business despite bitter opposition from First Nations and the Quebec’s English-speaking minority.

Many anglophones, immigrants and Indigenous people in the province, meanwhile, say they feel targeted by a law that undermines their rights.

In Vancouver on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t say whether his government would intervene against Bill 96 in court.

“The job of the federal government under my watch is to always be there to protect minorities across this country, particularly official languages minorities,” Mr. Trudeau told a news conference.