Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - March 2010
The Quebec Government is reportedly looking at using the notwithstanding clause in its fight to keep immigrants and Francophones in the French school system.
Last fall, the Supreme Court of Canada gave Quebec one year to solve the problems brewing over Bill 104, an amendment to Bill 101 which blocked access to English schools.
In an attempt to protect the French language, Bill 101 was passed in Quebec in 1977. It stated that only those with direct ties to Canada’s English school system could send their children to English public schools in Quebec.
However, until 2002, many Quebeckers were bypassing that law by first sending their children to private English schools and then transferring them into the public system. Bill 104 was passed to “close” this loophole in the system.
Since then parents have been fighting the amendment, saying that the strict rule does not take into consideration specific circumstances and, therefore, is a violation of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They took their fight to the Supreme Court, who gave the Quebec Government one year to come up with an alternate solution.
Now there is talk that the Charest government may use Quebec’s notwithstanding clause to extend the jurisdiction of Bill 101 into the private English schooling system. The notwithstanding clause can be used by the province if they wish to pass or uphold a Quebec law that goes against Canadian law.
If the Quebec Government were to succeed in this effort, parents would no longer be able to funnel their children into the English system through privatized schooling. Numerous families would be forced either to accept a French education or move to a different province.
Source: Montreal Gazette
