Charter of the French Language in time

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Robert Richardson

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MOMENT IN TIME: AUG. 26, 1977

Quebec adopts Bill 101, the Charter of the French Language
NW-MIT-FRENCH-LANGUAGE-BILL-0825
ONE-TIME USE ONLY WITH STORY SLUGGED NW-MIT-FRENCH-LANGUAGE-BILL-0825 — Two schoolgirls run past some political graffitti in a schoolyard in Montreal calling for a “French Quebec”, December 1989. Bill 101 became the controversial french language law that outlawed any language but french on public signs. (Photo by Christopher Morris/Corbis via Getty Images) CHRISTOPHER MORRIS/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES
The Parti Québécois was new in power and full of revolutionary fire when it introduced its Charter of the French Language, or Bill 101. It was designed to achieve nothing less than making French the dominant language in virtually every area of Quebec society. Immigrants would now be educated in French, professionals would have to speak French, and most large businesses would have to operate mainly in French. Commercial signs would need to be written in French, too. The “father” of Bill 101, the psychiatrist and politician Camille Laurin, saw it as a form of “group therapy” that would help instill self-esteem in francophones. It would also help storm the heights of the Quebec economy, long dominated by the English language. No surprise: Many anglophones felt attacked, and tens of thousands left the province. This wasn’t the first language law (French was already the official language of Quebec) and it wouldn’t be the last (current Premier François Legault is seeking to bolster the status of French even further with his proposed Bill 96). But perhaps no single act better symbolizes the rise of francophone nationalism that has defined Quebec for the last half-century. – Eric Andrew-Gee

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