New provisions of Bill 96 come into effect June 1: what you need to know

Several provisions of Quebec’s new language law – Bill 96 – come into effect Thursday, June 1.

CityNews spoke to Eva Ludvig, president of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), about what to expect.

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What are some of the most significant changes coming into place on June 1st that English-speaking Quebecers should know about?

Well, the most important thing, I think, is that all government departments have to be exemplary in following the requirements of Bill 96 and using the French language. Now that has all kinds of impacts in terms of services that individuals will be getting, and the eligibility to receive the services has an impact. Newly arrived immigrants, after six months, will no longer be eligible to receive services in English. And English speakers who were eligible to receive their education in English in Quebec will be eligible. That’s Bill 96.

Now what happens is that the implementation of these various parts of Bill 96 is done by regulation. We heard of two regulations yesterday, one affecting small businesses of five to 49 employees who will now have to register the ability of their employees to communicate in French. They’ll have to register that with the government and do it on an annual basis, which obviously has an impact on all mostly mom and pop businesses and other small businesses and is a question of great concern. The other part that we heard about yesterday as well is – and this is quite new, we weren’t expecting this – that international students attending CEGEPs for adult education or upgrading their skills will now have to pass the French language test before receiving their certification.

This has an impact on the institutions in terms of their ability to recruit. This comes into effect almost immediately and it has an impact on the students themselves and their interest in coming to Quebec, or to take this kind of courses, and an impact on the labour shortage that we are already experiencing. Many of these courses are things like in the daycare services or telemarketing services that are very much in demand and where there’s shortage in Quebec. So it has an impact for Quebec all around.

Now we’ve heard that ‘Historic Anglos’ are going to be able to maintain services in English. Who is considered a ‘Historic Anglo’?

‘Historic Anglo,’ by their definition, is anyone who was eligible for English language education in Quebec, and that is a description. What has changed is an announcement from the minister that rather than having to prove or demonstrate a piece of identification or whatever, they’re going to go and what he calls ‘good faith,’ which means that individuals will have to declare whether they are eligible or not.

Now, that puts into question: who knows whether they’re eligible? And also frontline employees, will they know that this is the way to do it? And will this lead to more conflict? So that too, in itself, is questionable in terms of the impact this will have.

Do you feel that will be effective – ‘good faith’?

Well, first of all, I think employees will have to be trained. I can see that there could be conflict: you have an overzealous employee, you have an unhappy customer. And then you can see problems in frontline services with that.