Quebec mayor says ‘one-size-fits-all’ language law isn’t right for his town where French is thriving

English is not Daniel Côté’s first language but he says it’s integral to the town he calls home.

The mayor of Gaspé, Que., nestled in an inlet along the St. Lawrence River, says part of the community’s greatest strength — cultural and linguistic diversity — is now disappearing due to French language laws.

With about 15,000 residents, he says the community was founded by French, Mi’kmaw and English individuals — the latter now representing about 11 per cent of the population.

But since the passing of Law 14, previously known as Bill 96 — the Act Respecting French, the Official and Common Language of Quebec — he says several towns which do not have bilingual status but house thousands of anglophones are seeing their right to receive information from the municipality in their first language slip away.

Both New Richmond and Gaspé, located on the Gaspé Peninsula, had to change their linguistic policies in November. Now, official communication from the municipalities must happen solely in French.

“During all our history, we always talk to our citizens in English,” said Côté.

“[Now] we must apply the law even though we don’t agree with that. If we don’t apply the law, the penalty is that the Quebec government will stop all subsidies.”

He says that could potentially mean millions of dollars in lost support from the province.

Lawyer argues 50% threshold a ‘heavy requirement’

Besides a few exceptions for emergencies, public safety, taxes or health, the law forces municipalities without bilingual status to communicate with their residents in French.

“If the municipalities were bilingual, there would be no problem,” said Julius Grey, a constitutional lawyer in Montreal.

Representing 23 bilingual municipalities who challenged the law in Quebec Superior Court, he says to have a bilingual status, at least half of residents must speak a language other than French.

“Which is of course a very heavy requirement,” said Grey.

About 83 municipalities in Quebec have bilingual status, says Scott Pearce, representative of bilingual municipalities at Quebec’s federation of municipalities.

Mayor of Gore, Que., about 90 kilometres northwest of Montreal, Pearce says his town was able to pass a resolution to hold on to its historic bilingual status, despite the percentage of English speakers dipping lower than 50 per cent.

“They all applauded that we’re keeping our bilingual status … English people have [the] exact access as French people do in the bilingual municipalities,” said Pearce.

“I think in smaller rural municipalities there is no language issue.”

‘We want to respect them’

In the regions, Côté says French does not feel under threat.

“It’s English that is declining here and the Mi’kmaw language struggles to [be] revived. So the one-size-fits-all laws are not made for us. We want to continue to correspond in English with our anglophone people,” Côte.

“We want to respect them. It’s important for us. It’s historic.”

Éric Dubé, mayor of New Richmond, agrees a blanket approach to language protection is not needed.

“Sometimes I find it unfortunate that we’re forced to try and solve a problem that we don’t have in our communities,” said Dubé.

“We will go as far as what the law allows us in our communications. But I want to reassure the English-speaking population, they will be well served.”

Some organizations like Vision Gaspé-Percé Now are stepping up to the plate.

“We can take posts, other important information communications and translate them and distribute it within the English-speaking community,” said Jessica Synnott, the group’s executive director.

“The frequency will probably pick up now.”

Documents which could be impacted by this new measure are notices of major road work, upcoming consultations or a change of zoning to a neighbourhood, for example, says Synnott.

She says it will be difficult for organizations to be able to catch everything that is mailed to residents.

“It’s not equitable,” said Synnott. “Because we will have to work harder to get the same information.”

‘There’s a lot of anxiety’

Allen Richards says “there’s a lot of anxiety” about what this means for vulnerable residents.

“People are worried that they’re not going to be able to participate. People are worried that they’re going to be discriminated against. And unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of answers,” said Richards, who is part of a group that represents the interests of anglophones on the Gaspé coast.

“I don’t really think this would really affect me that much, but it’s those vulnerable people that are already vulnerable, they’re older, they’re unilingual, maybe lower levels of literacy, those are the people that are going to be disproportionately affected. And it kind of makes them doubly vulnerable.”

Executive director of the Committee for Anglophone Social Action (CASA), Richards says recently, his organization has stepped up to help translate posts warning about fraud.

“We posted it so that English speakers can get it because who is going to be most affected by fraudsters?” said Richards.

“People that are vulnerable, older people, older individuals, people who might not speak French.”

A fully bilingual local, he says it’s about ensuring all residents have the opportunity to participate equally.

“It’s not like they’re taking away the obligation of these towns to do things bilingually. They’re forbidding them to,” said Richards.

“They’re trying to protect the French language. It feels like they’re doing it at my expense.”

The office of the minister for the French language did not respond to a CBC News request for comment on the impact of the law on these communities.