Legislations

From Independence of Québec
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Parliament of Québec

Québec laws are adopted in the National Assembly of Québec.

Human rights instruments

Did you know Québec adopted a Charter of Human Rights in 1975?

Linguistic rights and language policy

Did you read the Charter of the French language (Bill 101)?

Rights of the Amerindians and the Inuit

  • 1985: A resolution of the National Assembly recognizes the existence of distinct aboriginal nations on the territory of Quebec and defines 5 collective rights of those nations: right to autonomy inside Quebec, right to their own culture, language and traditions, right to own and control lands, right to hunt, fish and harvest natural ressources and participate to the management of wildlife, right to participate to the economic development of Quebec and to benefit from it.
  • Secrétariat aux affaires autochtones Secrétariat aux affaires autochtones

Political status

Historical laws

Parliament of Canada

Human rights instruments

Current constitution and language policy

Law to prevent a winning referendum

Historical legislation

Against ethnic minorities

Note: Most of these laws were inspired by similar American or British laws. They are no longer in force today.

  • 1952: Law specifying "White if possible"
  • 1942: Law confiscating goods of Japanese Immigrants
  • 1927: National Security Law
  • 1923: Empire Settlement Act/Chinese Immigration Act
  • 1911: Law blocking the entry of Blacks and Asians
  • 1885: Law restricting Chinese Immigration

Against French Canadians

Note: These discriminatory laws against French speakers and Catholics are no longer in force today. However, the result of their application is sound: Québec is an anglicized French-speaking province and Canada outside Québec is predominantly and irreversibly English-speaking. The adoption, in 1977, of the Charter of the French Language marked the beginning of efforts to redress the position of the French language inside Québec.

  • 1916: The Thornton Bill in Manitoba completely abolishes the teaching of French in the province
  • 1912: Province of Ontario: Circular of Instructions No. 17 and No. 18. Forbids the teaching of French above the first two grades of elementary school with the infamous Regulation 17.
  • 1890: Province of Manitoba: Official Language Act banning French, formerly an official language in the province. Premier Greenway diminishes the rights to French school, abolishes its use in the Parliament and in the Courts of the province. The act was declared anti-constitutional 90 years later!
  • 1877: The Public School Act puts an end to the teaching of French in Prince-Edward-Island schools.
  • 1871: The Common School Act imposes double taxation measures against French Catholic schools.
  • 1864: Nova Scotia adopts an act on public schools which suppresses all subsidies to Catholic and French language schools.
  • 1848: An act of parliament re-establishes the legal use of the French language in the Parliament and in the Courts of Canada.
  • 1841: The Parliament of Great Britain adopts An Act to reunite the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and for the Government of Canada which bans French in the Parliament, Courts and all other governmental bodies of the new united province of Canada. The French language is explicitly banned in a constitutional text of law for the first time in history.
  • 1791: The Constitutional Act installs a real Parliament with an elective House of Assembly. From 1792 through 1837, the Assembly will be denied its right to regulate the spendings of the government and have a say on the appointment of civil servants.
  • 1774: The Quebec Act restores part of the French civil laws and institutions and creates a crippled Parliament of Quebec.
  • 1763: Ignoring Treaty of Paris, the Royal Proclamation orders the implantation of English laws and institutions to supplant the French civil laws and institutions in the Province of Quebec.

International treaties

  • 1763: The Treaty of Paris confirms France's cession of Canada to Great Britain.
  • 1760: The government of New France capitulates in Montreal.

See also