In the spring of his senior year of high school, Joshua Farmer was bewildered by the lengthy French documents he faced to get a study permit. The forms, required to obtain a Quebec Certificate of Acceptance for Studies (CAQ), are only offered in French. Farmer, a U1 student from Massachusetts who is studying Economics and French, said in an interview with the Daily that he “spent days on days using a translator app to translate everything from French to English.” For Farmer, “it shows that they don’t want us.”
Quebec has a unique identity as the only province in Canada whose sole official language is French. The province has long committed itself to protecting its French culture, and its efforts have only redoubled in recent years.
In 2017, one year before becoming premier, François Legault told young Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) supporters that it was “time to push for a new Quiet Revolution.” In making this comment, Legault referenced the period of rapid social and political change in the 1960s, in which the Quebec separatist movement gained traction and questions of nationality as a French province were brought to the forefront.
Since becoming Premier of Quebec in 2018, Legault’s CAQ party has introduced numerous policies to counter what they consider the French language’s decline in the province. In May 2022, the Quebec government implemented Bill 96, “An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec.” The Bill includes restrictions like requiring civil servants to speak and write only in French at work with minimal exceptions, and a mandate that six months after arriving in Quebec, new immigrants must receive government services exclusively in French.
Dr. Jennifer Elrick, Associate Professor of Sociology and Chair in Multiculturalism at McGill University, spoke to the Daily about Bill 96. She said that the Bill is not “fit for purpose,” adding that “I don’t think Bill 96 is what one would craft if one’s aim was really to improve French in the province.”
Dr. Elrick also stressed the consequences of policies like Bill 96. “These policies send a message that non-French speakers are not citizens worth caring for or fostering,” Dr. Elrick said. She is also concerned about the barriers new immigrants or refugees will face, particularly in the healthcare sector, where non-French speakers may struggle to communicate in a medical setting or high-stress situation. For Dr. Elrick, these restrictive policies “represent a deep lack of empathy for large segments of the population. You’re really hitting people where they are hurting.”
This year, Legault’s CAQ ramped up pro-French policies. On April 28, Jean-François Roberge, Quebec’s language minister, announced a $603-million plan to counter what he considered French’s decline. The strategy has 21 policies, such as increased monitoring of language trends, tuition-hikes for non-Quebec students, and a requirement that Quebec’s three English-language universities – McGill, Concordia and Bishop’s – ensure 80% of their out-of-province and international students learn French at a level 5 oral proficiency by graduation. “We’re going on the offensive,” Roberge said in a news conference.
Dr. Elrick explained to the Daily that Quebec’s policies will not just affect Anglophones, but Allophones – those whose first language is neither French nor English – and Francophones alike. For example, Dr. Elrick explained that a reduction in English education opportunities will delay young people’s abilities to learn the English they will need for “competitive jobs in the global economy.”
At McGill, students are feeling the impact of Quebec’s pro-French policies. The Daily spoke with Cassie, a U1 student in the Faculty of Management from Ohio. Like Farmer, she was taken aback at the minimal accommodations for Anglophones in applying for a study permit. “It’s kind of crazy,” she said.
For Hannah Chong, a U1 student in Anatomy and Cell Biology from Toronto, Ontario, Quebec’s strong French culture meant her family had to relocate. She said in an interview with the Daily, “My grandparents came to Montreal from Hong Kong, but they couldn’t make it work here, because learning English and French was too much for them. There are definitely barriers that cause people to relocate.”
Nevertheless, Anglophone students continue to flood to Montreal to study, where they do their best to embrace the city’s French culture.
Cassie said that Montreal’s culture has been an “eye-opening and unique experience.” She added that, “I was able to fully immerse myself in a different culture than where I grew up.”
Chong agreed, noting that “there is so much charm to Quebec and having pride in it being a French speaking province.” Chong tries her best to interact with service workers in French, saying, “it’s a courtesy thing, because that’s their native language. I hate making [employees] adapt to speak English to me.”
Cassie Scarpa, a U1 student in Environmental Studies from Vermont, feels similarly. She said that she hopes to take a French class at McGill. “I feel like I owe it to the city to learn how to speak French,” she said in an interview with the Daily.
Likewise, Logan Hamele, a U3 graduating student from the United States, told the Daily in an email: “For those that do have the resources and ability, there should be a level of responsibility for those that want to live and work in [Quebec] to learn French.”
As much as these McGill students are adapting to Montreal’s French culture, they find it challenging to envision a long-term future in the city due to language barriers and subsequent limited work opportunities.
Eden, a graduating student from Ontario, wrote in an email to the Daily, “I love Montreal and I would like to live here after graduation.” However, due to her limited French, she worries about finding permanent work. At a B2 level of French, Eden said that in Montreal, her post-grad plans are limited.
Scarpa has a similar outlook. As an Anglophone, she said that “learning French to the extent that I can work here…I don’t think that’s in my playing cards.”
Hamele hopes to stay in Montreal for at least one year after he graduates in the spring, but acknowledges the need to include French education in his plan. He said, “naturally, upward mobility in the Montreal job market is extremely difficult without a very strong command of French.” He aims to continue taking French classes to improve his language proficiency.
Cassie, despite her desire to improve her French while at McGill, does not see herself remaining in Montreal after graduation. “I’m not sure I’d ever be confident enough to use [French] in a workplace setting,” she said. Cassie added, “In our world, we should always be growing and changing and accepting of new cultures.” However, she points to Quebec’s stringent pro-French policies as a “turn off” for those who are moving to the province as non-French speakers. She concluded, “It’s not necessarily a culture that wants everyone.”