| The Language Debate
Bill 178
In 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada declared that unilingual French
signs, as stipulated in Bill 101, were unconstitutional.
To counter this, Premier Bourassa
uses the notwithstanding clause, found in the 1982 Constitution,
allowing him to
ignore the ruling and introduce Bill 178. The law maintained
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French-only exterior signs and
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provided for bilingual indoor signs so long as French predominated.
Five years later, in 1993, the provincial government replaces Bill 178
with Bill 86.
Bill 86
The Bill amended Section 58 of Bill 101 to allow for
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bilingual exterior signs so long as French predominated.
In October 1999, a Quebec court ruling struck down Section 58 of the
French Language Charter, Bill 101, that says French must be predominant
on commercial signs. The Court stated that the Quebec government must now
re-prove in a court of law the continuing fragility of French in order
to justify continuing restrictions on the use of languages other than French
on signs.The provincial government has said it will appeal the ruling. |
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