On Bill 101 anniversary, Jolin-Barrette pledges to strengthen role of French (original) (raw)
Simon Jolin-Barrette writes that Bill 101 carries “our history, our culture, our hopes, our traditions, our institutions, our ambitions, our successes and, above all, our future.”The Canadian Press files
In an open letter published Wednesday, the 43rd anniversary of the adoption of Bill 101, Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette pledged that the Legault government would act to strengthen the role of French in the province.
Arguing that the “fervour which, in 1977, fuelled our gains has quietly ceded to a tepidness and hesitation, particularly (in Montreal),” Jolin-Barrette, who is also the minister responsible for the French language, wrote that the time had come for the government to act.
However, he stopped short of saying what, exactly, would be done, noting only that he was “concerned” by new statistics on the use of French in Quebec. The minister cited various social, economic and technological changes that, according to him, threatened French, particularly in the workplace.
Jolin-Barrette wrote that the defence and promotion of the French language was “a historic responsibility for Quebec” and that French “is not a problem, but a solution.”
The minister argued that Bill 101 carried within it “our history, our culture, our hopes, our traditions, our institutions, our ambitions, our successes and, above all, our future.”
Jolin-Barrette also cited the words of former premier René Lévesque and Camille Laurin, the Parti Québécois minister who wrote Bill 101, who felt Quebec had regained “at once possession of its language and its country.”
“Quebec was and must be francophone,” wrote Jolin-Barrette. “It is a non-negotiable principle.”
The minister described Bill 101 as having allowed Quebec to be “inscribed in history” and ensuring “social cohesion.”
“To speak of Quebec is to speak of its language, of our language,” he wrote. “Of this French language that has allowed us to say who we are — everywhere on Earth — and, above all, to say who we want to be.”