Bill 96, one of the latest pieces of legislation to hit the floor of the Quebec National Assembly, centres itself on the most contentious political cleavage in the province: language. While it is still undergoing committee hearings and therefore has not yet passed into law, it has already stirred an abundance of debate within the population and media. The bill’s scope is wide as it addresses education, commerce,  civil administration and the judiciary system. The ultimate aim with this legislation is to protect the French language in order to counteract its decline within the province. Education in Quebec has become one of the main realms in which the fight to protect  the French language has been fought. Bill 96 moves to tackle new, contemporary issues that were not persistent in 1977 when the first language legislation was passed in Quebec. 

Legislative efforts to protect the French language largely began with La Charte de la langue française, more commonly known as Bill 101, in 1977. This bill established French as the official language of Quebec and secured language rights in the public, commercial, and educational spheres. Every Quebecer was guaranteed the right to communicate in French in hospitals, conduct business in French, and receive education in French. Moreover, the bill required that all primary and secondary education must be conducted in French unless the child met one of three requirements. These requirements depend on the education of the parents, siblings, and the status of their citizenship. For example, if a child’s parents received their education in English and they are Canadian citizens, then the child is granted the right to be educated in English. However, the charter does not apply to non-subsidized private institutions. These requirements limited access to English education, thus pivoting the provincial education system in Quebec to a focus on French.  

Bill 96’s proposed changes in education largely focus on CEGEPs, due to the increase in students pursuing post-secondary education. CEGEPs are first-level post-secondary schools that offer pre-university and technical programs that range from two or three years. Due to concerns about the increasing number of French-speaking students enrolling at English CEGEPS as opposed to French ones, Bill 96 seeks to cap the total number of students permitted in English CEGEPs at 17.5% of the total CEGEP population. If the bill passes, the number of students in English CEGEPs will remain at this threshold or lower. Any increases in admissions of English CEGEPs will correspond to enrolment increases in which these CEGEPs would be limited to 8.7% of the new spots. As a final measure limiting the enrolment of French students in English CEGEPS, the bill would ensure that priority is given to English language speakers and English-language programs in French CEGEPs would be reduced. 

The bill also introduces changes to the CEGEP curriculum. Currently, students in English CEGEPs must take two French courses and pass one English language exit exam in order to graduate, in addition to the rest of their courses. Similarly, students at French-language CEGEPs must pass a French exit exam in order to receive their diplomas. The bill proposes adding a third required French course and the same French-language exit exam for English CEGEPs. Changing the courses students are required to take will influence the nature of programs, as many programs have rigid curriculums that feature unmovable core classes. 

While the bill focuses on changes to CEGEPs, it also builds on other aspects established by Bill 101. Temporary authorizations to permit a child to study in English are allowed for special cases such as  foreign workers, foreign civil servants, diplomats, representatives of an international organization, or members of the Canadian Armed Forces temporarily stationed in Quebec. This authorization currently lasts for ten years and Bill 96 proposes a limitation to be set at three years.

Lastly, the bill acknowledges that certain members of the population have not been offered the opportunity to learn French. For example, people in Quebec primary and secondary schools before Bill 101 in 1977 were not required to learn French. This has left a number of people living in Quebec unfamiliar with the language. With the new measures for public and private institutions, familiarity with French will become increasingly important. As such, the bill seeks to expand its language rights in the form of the right to learn French. Courses and programs that teach French would be centralized to provide easier, more efficient access for anglophones and immigrants in order to promote French education. 

According to an Angus-Reid survey, 62 per cent of the Quebec respondents said they somewhat or strongly support Bill 96. Despite these approval ratings, the bill has been at the forefront of many debates with supporters and detractors largely split between two sides: those who believe the bill goes too far, and those who believe it does not go far enough. 

One of the largest debates centres on the changes proposed to CEGEPs. La Fédération des cégeps, which represents all French-language CEGEPs, argues that the bill does not tackle the root of the problem. While it does support the freeze on the number of admissions to English CEGEPs, the federation encourages further investigation as to why French students choose to attend English schools.Many, like politicians within Le Parti Québécois and l’Université de Montréal professor Guy Rocher, believe that Bill 101 should be extended to include post-secondary education. This would mean that the aforementioned stipulations would apply to students applying to CEGEPs where French-speaking students would be required to study in French. Another angle of debate comes from the anglophone community. Their concerns lie in the limitations of admissions to English CEGEPs, where students with notably high averages are still being rejected due to the highly competitive nature of application to schools with limited spots. They fear that this situation will worsen and that  unprepared English-speaking students will underperform when forced into French CEGEPs.

It is highly likely that Bill 96 will be accepted into law given that it is in committee hearings and  the CAQ majority in the National Assembly supports it. If so, the changes it will herald are set to transform the educational landscape of Quebec and usher in a new era of language debate within the province.