An obstacle course
With the surrender of Quebec City and Montreal to the British in 1759-60, New France was no more. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 declared English to be the language of power and justice. But in a desire to ally itself with the French-Canadian population of the Province of Quebec to prevent the unrest affecting all its North American colonies from spreading there, the British Crown - reluctantly - promulgated the Quebec Act of 1774, which officially recognized the French language and reinstated French civil laws. At the same time, however, French-speakers, feeling their identity in danger from the influx of British immigrants, unleashed the "Revanche des berceaux" (Revenge of the Cradles). For 200 years, the population grew at an accelerated rate, with up to 15 children per family. The start of the "Quiet Revolution" in the 1960s, however, brought this birth policy to a screeching halt.
In the 19th century, when a plan for union between Upper and Lower Canada aimed to make English the official language and reduce the number of Francophones in the House of Assembly, various initiatives were launched to defend their rights, particularly linguistic rights: the 1823 petition in favor of French, the 92 resolutions drafted in 1834 by Louis-Joseph Papineau, the founding of a mutual aid and relief society that would later become the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste, the Patriotes rebellion in 1837-38, the adoption of the Public Education Act guaranteeing a network of French-language schools, etc. However, this did not prevent Francophones from becoming a minority in 1851.
With the advent of Canadian Confederation in 1867, giving French and English the status of official languages, the struggle continued. These included the École littéraire de Montréal in 1895, the Société du parler français au Canada in 1902, Quebec's first language law in 1910 (1938 at federal level), the first French-language radio station in 1922 (CKAC) and the first French-language television station in 1952 (Radio-Canada), not to mention the creation of the Office de la langue française in 1961.
Birth of a Quebec identity
The language question arose in the 1960s, when Francophones became aware of the fragility of their language and culture in an English-speaking Canada. Indeed, two new factors had emerged: a surge in international immigration tending to join the English-speaking community, and a declining birth rate among Francophones. The linguistic question arose above all in terms of education, and the role of the school in transmitting culture. It should be noted that in 1967, the resolutions adopted at the Estates General of French Canada in Montreal confirmed that the French Canadians of Quebec had opted for the term "Québécois".
The cultural scene, too, took on a Québécois identity, with chanson, theater and the rise of French-language cinema. Joual became a tool for asserting identity, as in L'Osstidcho (1968), an iconoclastic, multidisciplinary show that "speaks Québécois", and playwright Michel Tremblay's Les Belles-sœurs, first presented at the Théâtre du Rideau Vert in 1968.
Bill 101
A number of factors led to the adoption of the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101). Already, in 1969, Bill 63(An Act to Promote the French Language in Quebec) targeted English-speaking schoolchildren and immigrants. That same year, Canada's Official Languages Act was enacted, requiring all federal institutions to offer services in both languages. Following the report of the Commission of Inquiry on the Situation of the French Language and Language Rights in Quebec, the Official Language Act (Bill 22) made French the official language of the province, notably by imposing the use of French in public signage and limiting access to English-language schools.
In 1977, the new PQ government (Parti Québécois) passed the famous Bill 101, a charter defining the status of the French language and its use in legislation, justice, administration, commerce and education. Since the 1980s, the application of Bill 101 and the agreements signed with the federal government, allowing Quebec to select the majority of its immigrants, among other things, have altered the trend in favor of the French language. However, as the Charter was repeatedly challenged in the courts, many of its initial provisions were relaxed, reducing its scope. Several laws followed, including a major reform that came into force on June1, 2022 under the name Loi sur la langue officielle et commune du Québec, le français, creating the new Ministère de la Langue française.
Language at the heart of immigration policy
Long perceived as serving the settlement interests of English Canada while contributing to the process of minorization of Francophones, immigration was not popular with the Quebec population. Although some immigrants integrated into Quebec's French-speaking society, most learned English and often adopted it in the second generation. So, in the 1980s, the government drew up its first action plan for cultural communities, Autant de façons d'être Québécois. Then, in 1990, the Quebec National Assembly unanimously adopted thePolicy Statement on Immigration and Integration . Since immigration is a factor in development, it must contribute to perpetuating the French character of Quebec, strongly reaffirming that French is the public language of Quebec society. Since then, consultations and public hearings have led to the creation of other action plans with a common focus on integration and mastery of the French language. In addition, francization programs are available to immigrants.
