Quebec and Estonia
At the time of the drafting of the Estonian language Law of 1989, local know-how in this field was insufficient. It was thus necessary to resort to external help. One of my colleagues, Tiiu Erelt, pleasantly offered me documentation coming from Quebec, the text of Bill 101 and the comments relative to this law, which were analyzed attentively. It is on this basis that Arvo Eek, Väino Villik, Kaido Pihlakas, Aare Tark, Mart Meri and Mart Rannut wrote a preliminary version, which was then sent in Finland to Liisa Huovinen-Nyberg and Mikael Reuter, researchers of the KOTUS, the research center on national languages, whose observations and recommendations were very invaluable.
In spite of the very many changes, the basic ideas drawn from Bill 101 were still recognizable in the final version which was adopted. The law had an enormous influence. Some of its elements were retaken by other Baltic States and countries which had gained independence from the former Soviet Union. In addition, the experience gained by writing this law enabled us to advise Moldova in 1989 and Yakutia, to make our regulation on the language known to a delegation of Kazakhstan and to hold several meetings with specialists in the Ukraine. Thus Bill 101 indirectly touched one sixth of the planet.