Élections Québec has told employees not to speak English. Does that violate Anglos' rights?
Élections Québec has implemented a policy requiring employees to verify a voter's eligibility for English-language services before providing them, citing compliance with Bill 96. This directive has sparked backlash from anglophone rights groups who argue it infringes on their rights.
Why it matters
The policy highlights the ongoing tension between language preservation laws and the rights of minority language speakers in Quebec.
The agency says the directive is to comply with Quebec’s newest language law, Bill 96, which restricts who can receive communications from the government in English.
Their policy — and government resistance to sending out some bilingual election documents — has drawn criticism and consternation from Quebec’s anglophone community.
"The direction to refuse to serve 'non-historic anglophones,' and to harass them at polling stations, is disgraceful," said Andrew Caddell, the president of the Task Force on Linguistic Policy, an anglophone rights group opposed to Bill 96.
An Élections Québec spokesperson told CBC in an email that the policy to question English-speaking voters to determine if they can be addressed in English was not their decision.
"We are applying what elected officials have decided and written into the charter [of the French language]," the spokesperson said in an email.
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