The most recent draft of Quebec’s Bill 96 is yet another in a long line of regulations whose promotion of the French language comes at the unnecessarily hostile suppression of English. This newest draft, published on Jan. 10 by the Quebec government’s Official Gazette, imposes a regulation whereby any storefront signage or document inscription must be accompanied by its French translation in a size at least twice as large as the English text. Thus, for the first time since the assent of Bill 96 in June of 2022, Quebec’s pro-francophone regulations have become unavoidably visible, making it clearer than ever that one population is welcome, while another is not. 

Quebec’s relationship with its coexisting anglophone and francophone communities, as well as its relationship with Canada as a whole, has been a point of contention for decades. The province made numerous attempts to separate in the latter half of the 20th century, culminating in the unsuccessful 1995 referendum that voters narrowly defeated. Since then, the Canadian federal government has acknowledged Quebec’s individuality as a province whose official language is French, but Quebec is still under the umbrella of the national government and included in the Canadian national identity. 

The primary aim of Bill 96, officially labeled the “Act respecting French,” is to “affirm that the only official language of Quebec is French.” Such regulation enforces stricter linguistic regulations on the workplace, higher education, public services, and commercial advertising, thus rendering social and economic participation in Quebec much less accessible to any citizen who does not speak French . 

This clash of motives and cultural values between Quebec and Canada as a whole is unproductive for both governments. The latest draft of Bill 96 solidifies Quebec’s exclusive stance, ensuring that Quebec––regardless of its success in official separation––will not conform to Canada’s explicit commitment to respectful and inclusive multiculturalism. Thus, Quebec stands in the way of a unified, multicultural Canadian identity, yet its connection to Canada instigates internal cultural conflicts that destabilize its provincial strength in both political and social realms. It is a political stalemate that harms Quebeckers. With such logic, a sovereign Quebec seems the only realistic sustainable path.  

Ideally, Quebec would find compromise for harmonious cultural coexistence between anglophone, francophone, and allophone communities. The vehement addenda to Bill 96, however, show that such harmony is unrealistic. While demonstrated dissent should be a fundamental catalyst for positive change, the protests against Bill 96 have yet to create space for cultural harmony in Quebec. 

The latest draft regarding commercial signage displays an illogical and costly desperation for a French Quebec; it represents a massive visual shift for cities like Montreal. The CBC published an article on Jan. 26 broadcasting the concerns of municipal governments (including Montreal) regarding the $7-15 million required provincewide to make these infrastructural changes. The article also highlighted the translation issues of store names such as Costco, Walmart, and Starbucks, whose names are not direct translations of French or English. This regulation is expeditious (demanding implementation by the summer of 2025) and proves Quebec’s determination, regardless of its Canadian ties or its large anglophone and allophone communities, to root the francophone agenda deeply in its physical infrastructure.

Quebec’s latest drafts to Bill 96 reaffirm its intensifying nationalist francophone agenda. In such an environment, conflict will persist both within the population and between citizens and the provincial government. These drafts also make it impossible to solidify a unified Canadian identity. While Quebec’s endorsements of Bill 96 trigger immediate, short-term changes, dismissing the protests of the substantial anglophone community in Quebec is not a sustainable strategy, and will inevitably delegitimize any progress being made toward a francophone Quebec. It is critical that Quebec radically rewrites Bill 96, understanding its implementation and motivation as harmful to Quebec’s francophones, anglophones, and allophones alike. Otherwise, the remaining realistic future is a sovereign Quebec.