By Jack Wilson
Local Journalism Initiative
The Task Force on Linguistic Policy filed an application Jan. 17 asking a judge to stop the province from further restricting the English language or penalizing its use under Bill 96. A judge will hear the case Feb. 6.
“Every week that goes by, there’s another measure that’s being either promised or brought out by this government,” with the intention of protecting the French language, said Task Force president and lead plaintiff Andrew Caddell. “They’re using the anglophone community as a scapegoat for what they see as the decline in French.”
Caddell said he’s looking to “send a shot across the bow to the government that they cannot bring forth these other measures.” Anglophone Quebecers “are full citizens no matter what the government says,” he added.
“We’ve received stories from people who’ve received really egregious treatment from the government,” Caddell said. Indeed, the application lists 30 examples of people it says were discriminated against for speaking English.
