Another protest against Bill 96 will take place in Montreal. It will be the first major demonstration since the law was officially adopted in the National Assembly on Tuesday.
Similar to the May 14 protest, the upcoming downtown rally has been organized by the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN). According to a Facebook event page called “Rally Against Bill 96,” protestors will gather at Place du Canada, near the intersection of Peel St. and René-Lévesque on Thursday, May 26 at 5:30 pm.
In recent weeks the QCGN — along with multiple anglophone, allophone, and Indigenous rights groups — have spoken out against the amendment aimed at reinforcing the status of the French in provincial legislation. In a statement shared with Daily Hive, the English language advocacy group called it ” the most significant derogation of human rights in the history of Quebec and Canada.”
“We are deeply disappointed and frustrated that Bill 96 was adopted today without any significant improvements since it was first tabled,” said The Honourable Marlene Jennings, president of the QCGN, on Tuesday, adding that the bill “does not reflect our vision of an inclusive Quebec where French is the common language.”
Along with organizing protests, the group says they are also prepared to support “upcoming legal challenges to the law while ensuring that its nefarious impacts on Quebecers are
brought to the public’s attention and are debated in the upcoming election campaign.”
The QCGN has repeatedly clarified that they do not oppose the protection of the French language but wholeheartedly disagree with many of the 200 points in the law, which include the appointing of a French-language minister, limiting the availability of English services, and empowering the government to conduct searches without a warrant.
“It has nothing to do with community self-identification; this legislation revokes the right to access services in English for some 300,000 to 500,000 English-speaking Quebecers.”
For updates on the upcoming protest, click here.
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