Is bilingualism supposed to work this way?

Most Canadians have been guilt-tripped into accepting Quebec's oppressive, often ridiculous language laws, so opponents have to take their victories where they can find them. Today's Supreme Court of Canada judgment on language restrictions in the education system does order the Quebec government to loosen the standard for immigrants to the province who - gasp! - want their children educated in English, so I guess it's better than nothing. But if you're a Quebec francophone who wants your children educated in Canada's other official language, well...you're outta luck, Frenchy:

The Supreme Court of Canada has rejected claims by francophone Quebecers to let their children attend English language schools.

In a unanimous decision, the country's top court has upheld the language legislation in Quebec known as Bill 101 -- which obliges French speaking parents to send their kids to a francophone school.

A group of eight francophone families have been fighting hard for their children's right to attend English language schools, claiming they're being discriminated against.

"The Supreme Court ruled that the anti-discrimination provisions of the Charter of Rights do not override the language provisions of the Charter of Rights," reports CTV's Mike Duffy from Ottawa. "They stand side by side."

He added that the court has ruled that, "to allow French speaking parents to send their kids to English language school would swamp the English language school system in Quebec."

Under Bill 101, parents must have received the majority of their schooling in English if they want their kids to be eligible for English education in Quebec.

The parents' lawyer, Brent Tyler (who handles a lot of these Quebec-language-law cases, and therefore must have the patience of Job) says the parents plan to bring their case before the UN Human Rights Tribunal. Good luck, Brent.

Update: Sari Stein, an anglophone Quebecker, notes that this legislation hurts the very francophones whose culture it's supposed to "protect".

Posted by damian at March 31, 2005 07:21 PM