The format of a My Take is 150 words – no more, no less – to express an opinion on a different topic each week. This week’s topic was the Bill 96 protest.
The Bill 96 protest is proof that a huge collective of people in Quebec opposes the aggressive enforcement of monolingual practice. This province has a rich, storied, history of bilingualism and if something like a complete dominance of one language or another was appropriate it wouldn’t have to be enforced by law. People exercising their right to protest against an extension of legislation that’s already been a nightmare for non-francophones is therefore entirely justified. While those in favour of the bill may feel the French language is in danger based on vague ideas of English overpopulation, the anglophones of Quebec are facing a very real danger of being excluded from a place they’ve called their home for generations. A shame it would be to lose a huge part of our history based on the idea that one’s identity is tied near solely to their language.
