Legislations

Québec

Québec laws are adopted in the National Assembly of Québec.

• Search all Quebec statutes, regulations, court cases
• Civil Code of Québec
• Ministry of Justice

Human rights: fundamental, political, social and economic

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

• 1990: Québec Human Rights Tribunal
• 1975: The Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms
• Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission

Linguistic rights and language policy

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

• 1977: The Charter of the French language
• Regulations adopted under the Charter of the French language
• Infoguides on French language requirements (business, commerce, workplace)
• Questions and answers about Québec's language policy
• Brochure entitled "Living in French in Québec"
• Documents on the Controversy Surrounding the Language of Commercial Signs in Québec (Bill 178)
• The principles and means of Québec's language policy
• Read various opinions on the Charter of the French Language
• Compare Quebec's language policy to that of other States (French)

Right 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

• 1999: Rights and Prerogatives of the people of Québec (Bill 99)
• 1995: The An Act Respecting the Future of Québec

Historical laws

• 1832: June 5, An Act to Grant Equal Rights and Privileges to Persons of the Jewish Religion in Lower Canada

Ottawa

Constitution

• 1982: Constitutional Act, 1982
• 1968: Official Languages Act

Laws against ethnic minorities passed by Ottawa

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 They are no longer in force.

• 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

Legislation against French in Canada

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 anglicized and Canada outside Québec is predominantly and irreversibly English-speaking. The adoption of the Charter of the French Language marked the beginning of efforts to redress the position of the French language in Quebec.

• 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. Premier Greenway diminishes the rights to French in school, abolishes its use in the Parliament and in the Courts. 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 a law on public schools which suppresses all subsidies to Catholic and French language school.
• 1848: A Law re-establishing the legal use of the French language in the Parliament and in the Courts in passed.
• 1841: The Parliament of Great Britain adopts the Union Act which bans French in the Parliament, Courts and all other governmental bodies. The French language is explicitly banned in a constitutional text of law for the first time in History.
• 1763: The Royal Proclamation bans French Civil Law in the Province of Quebec. The legal system is partly restored in 1774.

Law to prevent a winning referendum

• 1998: Clarity Act (Bill C-20)
• 1998: Opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada on the Reference re to the Secession of Québec

See also

• Constitution
• Jacques Leclerc, Législations linguistiques adoptées au Canada, in L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde, 22 septembre, 2006 (French)