Controversial anti-English Bill 96 passes in Quebec

The government of Quebec has moved forward with a new controversial piece of legislation that claims to protect the French language.

Bill 96 was voted through by members of the province's National Assembly at 78-29, with the Liberal Party and Parti Quebecois voting against it.

The bill is already being called the "most gratuitous use of power" seen by one Montreal lawyer, who says he plans to challenge the bill in court.

The law, titled An Act Respecting French, the official and common language of Quebec, reforms the Charter of the French Language and makes sweeping changes to everything from immigrants' rights to education and language services.

The law puts a hard cap on how many students can enter English-language colleges in the province, with English-language CEGEPs now requiring that students take three 45-hour French courses.

In healthcare, the new law says that government entities must "in an exemplary manner, use the French language, promote its quality, ensure its development in Quebec and protect it." Health officials may use another language "where health, public safety or the principles of natural justice so require," but that government agencies cannot "make systematic use of that other language."

Quebec's Minister of the French language Simon Jolin-Barrette ensured the province's anglophone minority that nothing would change for them in healthcare. "Everybody who wants to receive health services in English, can receive it," he said to CBC News. "If you are an English-speaking Quebecer, or a recent immigrant, or a tourist, you can receive it in English. It was like that before. It's like that now. And it will be like that in the future, after Bill 96."

Bill 96 will also change the amount of English that a judge requires before presiding over a case. In Quebec, residents have the right to seek justice in both English and French, but just how easy it is to find an English-speaking judge now becomes an issue.

Judges will no longer have "a specific level of knowledge of a language other than" French.

Quebec's Bill 96 will also have a direct impact on workplaces and gives new powers to the province's language police, who will now be able to investigate businesses who may not be conducting their business in French. Bill 96 ensures that any business with as few as 25 employees most have a plan to ensure that French is the primary language used in the workplace.

Employers will also not be able to require that any other language is known by employees during hiring and promotion.

The laws also have an impact on immigrants and refugees moving to Quebec, who will now only be able to receive services in English or another language for six months after they arrive. All government services will then be solely in French, unless it is a health or public safety matter.