It's fascinating that Canada has such a reputation for being more progressive than their southern neighbors but I can't imagine any US state passing a law saying immigrants aren't allowed to access government services in Spanish. Cultural protection is brain cancer.
And I think the part you quoted is related to the immigration process, as in: when you immigrate to Canada, you either go through the regular program, in which you state that you don't wanna live in Quebec (at least it was like that a few years ago), or you go through Quebec's specific immigration process.
Of course, after you actually immigrate and are living here, there's nothing preventing you from moving from one province to another, so I guess that's why Quebec is doing this sh*t.
source: I immigrated 4 years ago and researched all options I had to come here.
Also from a social point of view, how someone who doesn't speak the language is supposed to integrate or blend into the host society? I've seen people with almost no or no Japanese skills for example living there for years, and while they seemed to be able to live their live, I wouldn't exchange our place for a second, as even basic proficiency is a total game changer.
Most road signs are accompanied by English, as with most of government documents. While people's reaction to non-Japanese speaking people may vary, many will try their best English to help you out.
To be honest it is difficult even with Japanese language skills for "foreigners" to fully integrate in Japanese society. It is not necessarily a bad thing as you can live without putting up with many of social expectations as Japanese.
Your argument does not even make sense, considering that Québec managed to translate and provide services in English to those who need it for decades now. That law has just been passed so it's actually going to require more effort to suddenly put in place a policy that actively discriminates against immigrants than to just do nothing. Remember, this is not going to apply for "native" English quebecers or anglo-canadians. How is that more efficient, and how isn't that blatantly xenophobic?
Also, the irony here is that the RoC has to basically keep providing (or at least pretend to keep) services in both languages, and I as a French speaker can request services in French even in a completely anglo region of say, ontario and I'd be legally entitled to do so. At a federal and provincial level. But Québec should be allowed to blatantly refuse government services because we don't feel like it anymore?
We are trying to get our cake and eat it too here.
And it's not like this policy is even going to do anything. The key to preserve the language is to make sure the children are taught French, not force some poor middle aged immigrant parents to avoid interacting with their government because they can't learn a foreign language in 6 month. Again, this entire thing is pure pandering
Ontario and the feds could just vote similar laws.
My understanding is that anyone among the feds trying that would just lose their next elections but at the province level it seems doable.
I wouldn't be surprised if legault went as far as to use the non withstanding clause if it came to that (Québec did that in the past, and there would be almost 0 backlash since he'd be "standing for our language/standing against the anglo feds"). Actually that would probably be the best thing that could happen to Legault,and would make the nationalist pandering extremely effective.
That "implicit" threat is the reason why the qc government has been able to basically ignore charter rights when it comes to language. That's why for example, children with non anglocanadian parents cannot get an English education until college. Any attempt to strike that down judicially, even if successful, will just lead to invoking the clause and a surge of nationalist sentiment. Though that policy in particular is probably what saved french and kept it relevant, so its hard to argue against the results.
I wouldn't say that the same power dynamic applies to Ontario at all. Even if they were to pull back on bilinguism, they'd certainly get slapped in court and not push further. Because there's no real political capital to gain in invoking the clause for an issue like bilinguism in anglocanada.
Why should someone have to struggle to understand a medical diagnosis in a foreign language when they can probably barely hold a basic conversation after six months?
Canada's officially bilingual, and in every province they have to offer services in both languages. All banks and major institutions will also offer services in both languages, at least when reaching for customer support online/phone.
Now think about it: most of Canada has to offer French because of Quebec. But Quebec don't want to offer English?
Also consider that there is a separatist movement in Quebec.
That would run afoul of a lot of state and federal laws that stipulates the government has an obligation to render services in an "accessible" way (including language-wise), and potentially the constitution itself.
I'm not sure Canada has precedents like that.
CANADA is....Quebec isn't. It's Canada's Florida, just with crappier weather, and more cheese curds.
A better example would be if Texas had preserved its Native/Hispanic culture and resisted Anglo intrusion, and maintained pressure for independence.
Quebecer here. That's not true. Lots of people here do not want Quebec to leave Canada, nor want these laws. Sure, french language protection is important, but the currently elected regional gov is responsible for those laws, not the whole of Quebec. Trust me, a signifiant portion of the population dislike those laws too.
The days of visionary superprojects, state building and grand leaders are long gone. So we circle back to panicking over store clerks saying bonjour/hi instead of... bonjour, and preserving french by refusing to provide important services to freshly arrived immigrants. That sure will help them integrate into the local culture!
Petit peuple indeed!