Indigenous leaders are concerned about Bill 96 recently passed in Quebec's National Assembly. The bill puts limitations on languages besides French being used in the province.
QUEBEC CITY-In late May, legislators in Quebec passed Bill 96 after the Charter of the French language was overhauled after a year of contentious debate.
Indigenous leaders are among those who are concerned about the bill, joining the English-speaking communities in the province. Bill 96 limits the use of English in the court system and throughout other public services. It also puts more restrictive language requirements on small businesses and towns. Businesses with 25 or more employees will be required to maintain a French-speaking workplace and new immigrants will have six months before their public services will be offered exclusively in French.
The bill also limits the number of students able to attend the English-language public colleges and requires students to take five French language courses to graduate.
Cree Nation leaders are concerned about how the law will affect the Nation's ability to hire its own people and fill human resource needs in the territory, as well as the bill's effect on students.
Inuit leaders have also expressed concern that without an exemption, Indigenous students will be more likely to fail in the public colleges, since many Inuit and Cree schools in the province prioritize Inuktitut and Cree-language instruction, in keeping with the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.
When students are allowed, many in Grade 3, to choose a second language to learn, many choose Engish, so those students will arrive at college with no knowledge of French. So the students will not be able to effectively study and learn in a French-language-based university. Rather than meet the French language requirements, Inuit leaders say many of their students will go to other provinces without the language requirements to complete their education in locations that provide a higher education in the English language.
Canadian News Service reports that currently, according to the Quebec Ministry of Education, the average graduation rate for high school students in Nunavik is 23 percent, with only 3.5 percent of the Inuit population receiving a college diploma. At the university level, 1.2 per cent of the population has a certificate and 0.8 per cent a bachelor's degree.
The bill is expected to affect other provinces within Canada, with some legal scholars saying the bill amends the Canadian Constitution in a way that can be contested. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hasn't said whether or not his government will 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. "I was a French teacher here in B.C. I know how important it is to support francophone communities outside Quebec, but it's also extremely important to make sure we're protecting the anglophone communities inside Quebec."
