Quebec English sign ban

Identification Legislation prohibiting the use of English on commercial signs in Quebec

Place Quebec

In the late 1970’s, Quebec made French the official language of the province and limited the legal use of other languages. During the 1980’s, in the midst of a national constitutional crisis focused on the francophone province, that province’s ban on English-language commercial signs faced legal and constitutional challenges from its anglophone minority.

In 1977, the National Assembly of Quebec passed the historic Charter of the French Language , which, among other provisions, banned the use of languages other than French on commercial signs. The charter, also known as Bill 101, recognized French as the province’s official language for use in government, judicial proceedings, education, commerce, and the workplace. Section 58, the so-called English sign ban, and section 69, a requirement that all commercial firms adopt French names only, were intended to promote the public use of French in Québécois society. The Charter also designated the Office Québécois de la Langue Française (Québécois Office of the French Language) as an appropriate agency to monitor compliance with the province’s language laws and to assess fines for businesses that contravened those laws.

Reactions to the province’s language laws were to a large extent divided along cultural lines. While Quebec’s francophone population generally supported the new laws governing commerce and education, many anglophones viewed them as a violation of their freedom of expression. In February of 1984, the owners of several Montreal business firms successfully argued before the Superior Court of Quebec that sections 58 and 69 of the provincial language charter were contrary to provisions contained in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms , which had been passed as part of the new constitution in 1982. The charter contained specific provisions protecting the rights of English and French speakers within the provinces where they constituted linguistic minorities. Agreeing with the defendants, the court ruled that the Quebec government could not reasonably impose its unilingual policy on local businesses.

In 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada took up the case, Valerie Ford v. Attorney General of Quebec, on appeal; it upheld the lower court’s decision. In their ruling, the justices reasoned that the National Assembly of Quebec had no right to prohibit the use of English on commercial signs, but they felt that it could require a “marked predominance of the French language.” In response to the Supreme Court’s decision, Quebec’s National Assembly, which had never ratified the new constitution or its Charter of Rights and Freedoms, introduced Bill 178 and invoked the notwithstanding clause of the constitution to shelter it from judicial review. Bill 178, which contained amendments to the province’s language laws, maintained the French-only policy on outdoor signs but allowed for the use of other languages including English inside commercial establishments, as long as French remained predominant.

Impact

Quebec’s language laws had a deeply polarizing effect on public opinion in Canada. Observers cite Quebec’s use of the notwithstanding clause to circumvent the Supreme Court ruling as a major reason for the failure of the Meech Lake Accord. Beyond the controversy it sparked, the English sign ban played an important role in Quebec’s history by reinforcing the public expression of French culture throughout the province and by boosting the self-esteem of the francophone population. It also stimulated awareness of language issues that previous generations of Canadians had ignored, and it contributed to a progressive refinement of the nation’s federal language policies.

Bibliography

Coulombe, Pierre A. Language Rights in French Canada. New York: Peter Lang, 1995.

Larrivée, Pierre, ed. Linguistic Conflict and Language Laws: Understanding the Quebec Question. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.