Quebec's French-language restrictions spark another legal challenge—and some cheek from Côte Saint-Luc

The latest court challenge to Quebec’s controversial new French-language law, Bill 96, has been launched by a group of two dozen municipalities with large English-speaking populations, led by the heavily Jewish suburb of Côte Saint-Luc. At a media conference on June 7, mayors outlined their objection to five new rules which came into effect on June 1 this year, after the original bill passed in 2022. At issue are access to government services for people who are entitled to speak English under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but not under Bill 96, because Quebec’s nationalist leaders in the ruling Coalition Avenir Quebec party invoked the notwithstanding clause in the Constitution to override these rights for five years. The lawsuit comes just days after Côte Saint-Luc staffers used a cheeky telephone voicemail message to poke back at the new restrictions. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we speak with Mitchell Brownstein, the mayor of Côte Saint-Luc, to break down the new language laws and why he feels they alienate people instead of making them embrace the French language.

What we talked about

• Bill 96 deeply worrying to Quebec’s Jewish community, in The CJN
• Read about Naftali Bennett’s vision to save Israel from “horrendously” handled judicial reforms, in The CJN
• Follow Nir Guzinski’s Montreal comedy on his Instagram page

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.