Indigenous community looking at next steps after Bill 96 talks break down
Posted May 25, 2022 5:36 pm.
Last Updated May 25, 2022 7:34 pm.
Leaders in Quebec’s Indigenous community are planning their next course of action now that the province passed Bill 96 Tuesday, reforming its French-language law.
Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer, the Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake, had been lobbying for the government to exclude First Nations communities from the Bill.
That attempt was unsuccessful.
“Disappointed, but not surprised,” said Sky-Deer. “Because I felt that they were going to pass it regardless, that our voices went unheard, regardless of all of the protest, demonstration attempts at getting some kind of a carve-out or exemption for our people from this.
“It fell on deaf ears.”
Up until May 21, before the bill passed on May 24, community members in Kahnawake were protesting Bill 96, which would force CEGEP students to take three French language courses.
“For our community, ‘kill the bill’ was the hashtag going around,” added the Grand Chief. “They didn’t want it at all because not only looking out for our interests but, you know, our neighbours and the people that we’ve created relationships with now.
“And then the second… alternative was this exemption or carve-out for our people. So to not get any concession to this point or even extending the passage of the bill just to have further dialogue just for us reinforced that there wasn’t a willingness.”
Grand Chief Sky-Deer met with the minister responsible for the French language, Simon Jolin-Barrette, a couple of weeks ago. He says he assured them their concerns are rooted in misunderstandings of the law, and that it’s about protecting the French language and everything else will remain status quo. But Sky-Deer believes otherwise.
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“We feel that it completely dismisses us, our history here as being the first people that our language isn’t important,” she said. “You know, we already speak of foreign languages, English being our second language, some as being their first language, even. And that now to put the onus and burden on having to be forced to learn a third language.”
The federal justice minister said Wednesday it’s possible the Justin Trudeau government intervenes in a legal challenge against Bill 96, depending on how the law is implemented.
“We won’t eliminate the possibility of joining court challenges where we feel that it’s necessary to protect the constitutional rights of Canadians,” explained David Lametti, minister of justice and attorney general of Canada.
“As a minister of justice, I’m also concerned about the potential impact on the rights of Indigenous peoples that are articulated and protected under Section 35 of the Constitution.
“There are ways to implement the bill that would safeguard the rights of Quebecers’ constitutional rights which would fall under federal jurisdiction, but also other rights that fall under provincial jurisdiction, which might be the subject of a challenge that Quebecers would take on themselves.”
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake is also possibly looking into political or legal challenges.
“I think our community has a lot of ideas in terms of next steps and where we go from here,” said Sky-Deer. “And if anything, it forces us to band together again.”
