Guy Rex RodgersWhat We Choose To Remember

Let’s start with courage. Full marks to citizens who raised their voices against this summer’s bizarre 31-page health ‘directive’ that made it sound like it was necessary to hire a team of lawyers or win a bureaucratic lottery to qualify for healthcare in English. The brave citizens deserve full marks for courage because they were accused, as has been the typical response in the era of Bill-96 against anyone who questions the new language laws, of being part of an elitist, Quebec-bashing, Anglo cabal.

Our elected members of the National Assembly also demonstrated courage by unanimously affirming that English-speaking Quebecers don’t need a certificate to prove they’re entitled to English-language education in order to receive health care and social services in English. No conditions. Period.

Liberal MNAs exposed themselves to the serious political risk of reaffirming their public image as the party controlled by an elitist, Quebec-bashing Anglo cabal. CAQ and PQ MNAs exposed themselves to the serious political risk of being branded hypocrites who are easily manipulated to abandon Quebec’s official language and culture.

Prime Minister Trudeau and Premier Legault can also claim to have made courageous stands. Prime Minster Trudeau, after ignoring Bill 96 and its disturbing ramifications and after abandoning Quebec’s minority English-speaking community while rewriting the federal Official Languages Act, finally spoke out against Bill 96’s negative impact. The cynical could suspect his primary motivation in speaking up for minorities was to earn votes in an important by-election in LaSalle-Émard-Verdun. Prime Minister Trudeau’s ‘too-little-too-late’ courageous stand was rewarded with a by-election vote of no confidence.

“We have been told that Quebec must become entirely French, and that this work of purification must be implemented in an exemplary manner by all government departments and agencies.”

What can we say about Premier Legault’s response to Prime Minister Trudeau’s accusation? Did Premier Legault courageously set the record straight?  Or was he blowing smoke out of both sides of his mouth to create a distracting cloud of confusion?

Health Minister Dubé displayed courage in writing a succinct, relatively clear health directive on September 20.  So what was the purpose of the lengthy, convoluted and disturbing health directive issued by Language Minster Roberge two months earlier, which has now been repudiated?

Have these new statements ended the confusion?

Alas, no.

Forgive me for being cynical. But I have been watching and listening to the CAQ government justify Bill 96 for three years now. The right to work and live in French is primordial. The right to services in English is conditional. The CAQ have made it clear that their end game is to restrict English-language education to ‘historic Anglos’ who can obtain an eligibility certificate. The CAQ have also made it clear they want restrict all government services to ‘historic Anglos’ plus recent immigrants, but only during their first six months in Quebec. The plan behind Bill 96 has been perfectly clear and loudly trumpeted. But now Premier Legault and the National Assembly assure us that anybody and everybody will receive health services in English, without condition or qualification. How is this coherent with the rest of Bill 96? How are these ‘feel good’ affirmations credible?

During the past few years we have heard, from the highest levels of government, that Quebec is being turned into Louisiana north by too much English on public signs and spoken on the streets. The government is even spending millions to eradicate the monosyllable ‘hi’ that has offended shoppers. We have been told that Quebec must become entirely French, and that this work of purification must be implemented in an exemplary manner by all government departments and agencies.

“It is also easy to believe stories about healthcare workers taking an English-speaking patient into a private room and whispering to them in English because they are afraid of being reported by colleagues for breaking the language law.“

Where did this lead? In the realm of healthcare it led us – predictably – into a head-on collision of clashing-rights. It is quite possible for healthcare workers to believe they have the right to work only in French and to believe that by serving non-Francophones only in French they are actually helping them integrate into the new Quebec that Bill 96 is designed to create. It is also easy to believe stories about healthcare workers taking an English-speaking patient into a private room and whispering to them in English because they are afraid of being reported by colleagues for breaking the language law.

It was shocking for minorities that Bill 96 invoked the notwithstanding clause to circumvent their Charter rights. Now it is equally shocking for supporters of Bill 96 that Premier Legault and the National Assembly have declared that access to English-language health services will not be subjected to a single condition or qualification. Clashing rights – like the right to work in one language and the obligation to provide services in another – need a clear framework, not an improvised response to bad PR.

This isolated ‘clarification’ has only added to the confusion.

Guy Rex Rodgers was founding Executive Director of the English Language Arts Network (ELAN) and recently returned to filmmaking. You can reach Guy at: [email protected]