EMSB officially deposes legal challenge to Bill 96
Posted June 6, 2022 3:55 pm.
Last Updated June 6, 2022 5:05 pm.
The English Montreal School Board (EMSB) officially deposed its legal challenge against Bill 96 in superior court.
This is the first legal challenge to the French language law – just under two weeks after it was adopted.
In the lawsuit, the EMSB says Bill 96 “impermissibly infringes the right to management and control of minority language education exercised by the English Montreal School Board under s. 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
It states: “Section 23 of the Charter guarantees the exclusive right to management and control by the representatives chosen by the minority language community over aspects of minority language education pertaining matters of language and culture.”
Under Bill 96, English language school boards are required to use French, or both French and English together, in a wide range of internal written communications and documents and also on signs and posters within schools.
“Minority language school boards have the exclusive authority to make such decisions, including the right to create and maintain an environment in which staff, students, families and community members can interact and thrive in the language of the minority,” reads the lawsuit.
Bill 96 also grants the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF), the power to investigate the language situation within English school boards to analyze if they are following the rules.
Chair Joe Ortona had said that if the board doesn’t fight, the Quebec government will continue to erode the rights of the English speaking community.
Last week, the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board voted to join the EMSB’s legal fight.
The EMSB deposed their challenge officially on June 1.
Premier Legault invoked the notwithstanding clause to protect the bill from charter challenges he said.
