BILD thanks Andréanne Langevin for preparing the nine one-hour video digests linked below. We are indebted to Marina Koutsis and Elizabeth MacDougall for their work on the English summaries. Note that each video digest starts with an identical one-minute introduction by Andréanne.

Dear BILD community,

My name is Andréanne Langevin. I am a Ph.D. student at McGill University, in the Department of Integrated Studies in the Faculty of Education. I am also a born and raised Quebecker. My research focuses on provincial language policies, where I study parents’ opinions regarding the language of instruction legislation in force in the Quebec school system.

Throughout my years studying policy while teaching French immersion and being in close contact with Quebec parents, I have witnessed the confusion around some of the intricacies found in the provincial language policy provisions contained in the Charter for the French Language (or Bill 101). My research accounts for the impacts such complex legal ramifications can have on these parents’ ability to make an informed choice in terms of the language of instruction they want and can access for their children.

Policy disinformation is not, however, limited to parents. Academics can also, at times, corroborate some of the more persistent misconceptions regarding these laws. Such misconstructions can prevent the various stakeholders from fully understanding how a policy impacts them and whether they could or should call upon decision-makers to improve their situation. Therefore, one of my goals in academia is to provide clear language policy content, accessible to all stakeholders. In doing so, I hope to contribute to a fairer representation of the plurality of opinions eligible for consideration during the policy-making process.

About this hors-série publication…

In May 2021, the government of Quebec tabled a new piece of language legislation titled Bill 96. In essence, this new bill is meant to amend a multitude of provisions compiled in the Charter for the French Language introduced by Bill 101 in 1977.

In the fall of 2021, the Government of Quebec organized a series of special hearings to discuss Bill 96 and its new provisions. A selection of experts was invited before the Commission on Culture and Education at the National Assembly to share their opinions regarding the new bill’s potential amendments to the existing Charter of the French Language. The hearings were recorded and all the videos are publicly available on the National Assembly website.

Since the nine-day hearings amount to over forty hours of recording, I have created this Hors Série publication, where I selected the meaningful moments from the Bill 96 consultations. These moments are gathered in a viewer’s videodigest organized by hearing dates.

Bill 96 has the potential to profoundly modify the face of language policy in Quebec. This publication aims to make the current policy debate accessible to a greater audience. Feel free to listen, comment, share and interact with the videos*.

Andréanne Langevin
PhD Student in Language Acquisition
DISE, Faculty of Education, McGill
andreanne.langevin@mcgill.ca

Day-by-day Viewer’s Videodigest of Bill 96 Hearings

Day 1

This is a viewer’s digest of the meaningful moments from September 21^st 2021, day 1 of Bill 96’s special hearings.

Speakers, Day 1:

• Office québécois de la langue française
• Guillaume Rousseau, professeur, Université de Sherbrooke
• Centrale des syndicats du Québec
• Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique
• Louise Beaudoin, ancienne ministre; Louise Harel, ancienne ministre
• Confédération des syndicats nationaux
• Christian Dufour, politologue

Thanks to Marina Koutsis for her work summarizing this hour in English and offering her critique (prepared for McGill graduate seminar EDSL-620, Fall term 2021).

Day 2

This is a viewer’s digest of the meaningful moments from September 22^nd 2021, day 2 of Bill 96’s special hearings.

Speakers, Day 2:

• Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses duQu bec
• Union des municipalités du Québec
• Patrick Sabourin, démographe
• Guy Rocher, professeur émérite à l’Université de Montréal
• Mouvement national des Québécoises et Québécois

Thanks to Elizabeth MacDougall for her work summarizing this hour in English and offering her critique (prepared for McGill graduate seminar EDSL-620, Fall term 2021).

Day 3

This is a viewer’s digest of the meaningful moments from September 23^rd 2021, day 3 of Bill 96’s special hearings.

Speakers, Day 3:

• Association des commissions scolaires anglophones du Québec
• André Binette, constitutionnaliste
• Patrick Taillon, professeur titulaire à la Faculté de droit de l’Université Laval
• Frédéric Lacroix
• Pierre Curzi, ancien député de Borduas

Thanks to Marina Koutsis for her work summarizing this hour in English and offering her critique (prepared for McGill graduate seminar EDSL-620, Fall term 2021).

Day 4

This is a viewer’s digest of the meaningful moments from September 28^th 2021, day 4 of Bill 96’s special hearings.

Speakers, Day 4:

• Chambre des notaires du Québec
• Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal
• Syndicat de la fonction publique et parapublique du Québec
• Quebec Community Groups Network
• Fondation Lionel-Groulx
• Assemblée des Premières Nations Québec-Labrador
• Charles Castonguay, auteur et mathématicien

Thanks to Elizabeth MacDougall for her work summarizing this hour in English and offering her critique (prepared for McGill graduate seminar EDSL-620, Fall term 2021).

Day 5

This is a viewer’s digest of the meaningful moments from September 29^th 2021, day 5 of Bill 96’s special hearings.

Speakers, Day 5:

• Syndicat de professionnelles et professionnels du gouvernement du Québec
• Benoît Pelletier, professeur titulaire à l’Université d’Ottawa
• Barreau du Québec
• Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec
• Conseil du patronat du Québec

Day 6

This is a viewer’s digest of the meaningful moments from September 30^th 2021, day 6 of Bill 96’s special hearings.

Speakers, Day 6:

• Association des municipalités de banlieue
• Regroupement des organismes en francisation du Québec
• Jean Leclair, professeur titulaire à l’Université de Montréal
• Conseil interprofessionnel du Québec
• Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec

Day 7

This is a viewer’s digest of the meaningful moments from: October 5th 2021, day 7 of Bill 96’s special hearings.

Speakers, Day 7:

• Fédération des cégeps
• Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec
• Daniel Turp, professeur émérite à l’Université de Montréal
• Consortium des cégeps, collèges et universités d’expression anglaise du Québec
• Ville de Montréal
• Mouvement Québec français
• Hugo Cyr, professeur et spécialiste endroit constitutionnel,
• Université du Québec à Montréal

Day 8

This is a viewer’s digest of the meaningful moments from October 6^th 2021, day 8 of Bill 96’s special hearings.

Speakers, Day 8:

• Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain
• Conseil québécois du commerce de détail
• Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse
• Association des Townshippers
• Fédération québécoise des municipalités

Day 9

This is a viewer’s digest of the meaningful moments from October 7^th 2021, day 9, final day of Bill 96’s special hearings.

Speakers, Day 9:

• Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes
• Marc Termote, démographe
• Société nationale de l’Estrie
• Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes
• Communauté mohawk de Kanesatake

*The Members of the National Assembly and the invited experts mostly debated Bill 96 provisions in French. The videos are edited in the original language of the speakers.