Court to Decide on Bill 101 Challenge Today

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Quebec business owners who challenged Bill 101 are anxious to hear a possibly historic ruling on Wednesday morning. The case involves 24 small businesses in Quebec, which were prosecuted between 1998 and 2001 for breaking language laws because their signs or websites were not predominantly French. The defendants are trying to prove in court that French is not endangered in Quebec.

According to the Anglophone rights lawyer defending the companies, Brent Tyler, “my clients didn’t pick this fight,” adding that “they’re defending themselves and they’re raising the Charter of Rights, two basic arguments; freedom of expression and the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of language.” Tyler alleged that the judge’s decision would mean “if we’re successful, that those provisions of the Charter of French language would be declared invalid,” adding that “the government would either have to invoke the notwithstanding clause, or re-legislate to be in conformity with the charter, so the consequences of a win are quite considerable.” Whereas on the other hand, the lawyers for the provincial government say the French language needs to be protected.

Tyler has pointed out that his clients could have easily paid the fines and conformed to the law but it was about more than that. He said that “if it was a question of cost-benefit, than they were better off complying, you pay the fine, spend the money to comply and life goes on, but for the clients it was a principal issue. They wanted to have their day in court.”