“Hey hey, ho ho, Bill 96 has got to go! Ho ho hey hey, rights are rights we’ll fight to stay!”
That’s what a group of protesters chanted in a semi-circle, holding signs that read “Students + Institutions should NEVER be political targets!” and “Bill 96 is a weapon!” in downtown Montreal on Thursday.
They were protesting the $30 million fine given to LaSalle College last month for exceeding the English-language enrollment limits set in Bill 96 amendments to the province’s French Language Charter.
It was the inaugural protest by the Coalition Against Bill 96, which was formed by the Canadian Party of Quebec and the Taskforce on Linguistic Policy.
“Enough is enough,” said Dale Webber, secretary-treasurer for The Task Force on Linguistic Policy, addressing the crowd of around 50 people who attended the rally.
“The $30 million fine is existential for the private college,” Webber later told CityNews. “They can’t afford it, and it’s overly punitive for something to just get rid of the English speakers in Montreal.
“It’s hard enough to develop a world class educational institution, and it’s a whole other things to cripple them.”
Charles Roburn, the Chair of the board of director of The Canadian Party of Quebec, holds the same position.
“The penalties are completely outrageous,” Roburn said. “The idea that they would try to penalize an internationally known and very successful institution here in Quebec simply for being too bilingual is ridiculous. It’s absurd. It’s enormously destructive.”
Roburn also gave a speech during the two-hour rally, as did Keith Henderson from the SCCU (Special Committee for Canadian Unity) and Mike Crowley, a member of the Quebec anglophone community.
The CAQ government set quotas on the number of students allowed in English-language programs in CEGEPs and subsidized private colleges as part of the Bill 96 amendments to the province’s French Language Charter in 2022.
The event’s press release says English CEGEP registration has a 17.5 per cent limit and is not permitted any annual growth. This fine “threatens the very existence of one of Quebec’s most diverse and inclusive educational institutions,” the organizers said.
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Bob Graham, a Prévost resident on the North Shore, came out to Thursday’s rally to the protest the fine.
“It was just an amount that’s just totally insane for having too much English. It’s like it’s almost laughable, but it’s reality,” said Graham. “I don’t know if the French media is going to cover this as much because we would have actually a large percentage of the francophone community supporting us, but they’re not even going to know about it.”
Another protester, Steve Theberge, came from Quebec City to show his frustration with the Quebec government. “This is going too far, Anglos have rights, francophones have rights and having two languages under one roof is the best thing that they can have for the Quebecers.”
Webber hopes the government will remove these “extraordinarily punitive fines they have against their educational institutions,” and others at the rally agree.
Shirley Newell, a 97 year old Montrealer, attended the protest carrying a blue sign reading “Kill bill 96.”
“I just hope that personally that Mr. (Francois) Legault will forgive (LaSalle College),” said Newell. “ That’s what I’m hoping. I know it’s a ridiculous hope, but still, it’s my hope.”
The Quebec government has said that LaSalle College is the only private subsidized college not to respect the quotas for students in English-language programs.
LaSalle College is challenging the fines in Quebec Superior Court, asking it to overturn the fines, arguing they are unreasonable and that it was impossible to respect the quota in part because many international students had already been accepted before the quotas were announced.
In a statement to CityNews, Quebec’s Ministry of Higher Education said that beyond confirming LaSalle College exceeded its quota, it will not be making any further comments because the case is before the courts.
“LaSalle College was subject to these sanctions in accordance with the provisions of the Charter of the French Language and the Regulation respecting reductions in subsidies paid to institutions offering college education, as it enrolled a number of students in English-language college certificate programs that exceeded its quota as determined under the Charter,” read the email.
“This is not the Quebec that we want for the future of our children, francophones, anglophones, allophones, stop the division, let’s all live together, let’s live in peace,” said Webber. “This is really the future of where we have to go. The future is bilingual. It’s not just one supreme culture that Quebec should strive for.”
–With files from The Canadian Press
