May 6, 1993 - French-Only Signs

Human Rights a Day

Quebec government introduces bill that would ease up on French-language-only stance.The use of English in Quebec has been a contentious issue for decades. Governments of all stripes have worked to preserve the French language, to make French Quebec a sustainable island in a North American sea of English. To this end, they’d legislated French as the province’s official language, and restricted the use of English on everything from packages to outdoor business signs. They’d also restricted access to English public schools to ensure that French continued to be most children’s language of learning. In 1988, when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that restricting commercial signs exclusively to French infringed on equality rights, Quebec used the Canadian Charter of Rights override provision to continue its long-time restrictions. Over time, however, businesses, English-language politicians and even the UN Human Rights Commission applied increasing pressure on the Quebec government to relax its rules. In response, on May 6, 1993, Liberal Premier Robert Bourassa introduced Bill 86, which allowed for bilingual signs as long as French was “markedly predominant.” The Bill would also give the government the right to restrict languages to French only when it was deemed important. Immigrant children, however, would be required to attend French schools. While the Bill passed court cases and heated debates over the politics of language continued.