[lg policy] Canada: Top court strikes down Quebec language law for schools; province vows to replace it

[Harold Schiffman]

Top court strikes down Que. language law for schools; province vows to
replace it
(CP) – 19 hours ago

OTTAWA — Canada's top court struck down a Quebec language law limiting
immigrants' access to English school in a politically charged decision
that quickly reverberated throughout the province Thursday It only
took minutes for the Quebec government to respond with a promise to
replace the law. The province's separatist opposition even questioned
the legitimacy of the Supreme Court of Canada, asking how "a court
named by another nation" could possibly be allowed to dictate language
policy in Quebec.
The debate was prompted by a Supreme Court ruling that called Bill 104
"excessive," in a decision Thursday that actually upheld verdicts in
two Quebec lower courts that threw out appeals by the Quebec
government.

It has given the province one year to come up with an acceptable
compromise to the law, which was originally struck down by the
provincial appeals court two years ago. Premier Jean Charest said the
province would find a way to replace the law. "We are disappointed by
the judgment - that's obvious," Charest told the legislature. "At the
same time, the Supreme Court gives the government a year to react to
the verdict. That means it's the status quo. Obviously, we'll work on
this in keeping with the same objectives we set (in the law) and which
the Supreme Court of Canada recognizes as valid ones." At issue was a
2002 bill that ended a practice where children from immigrant families
got around the province's French language charter.

Quebec law states that children can only attend English public school
if a parent was educated in that language, somewhere in Canada. But
prior to Bill 104, many immigrant families found a way around the law.
Until then, all it took to make an entire family eligible for English
public school was to send one child briefly, for even less than a
year, to an English private school. Once one child in a family
qualified for an English-language education, their siblings all
qualified, as well. That practice was halted by the 2002 law, which
the Supreme Court overturned Thursday.

Lawyers representing more than two dozen families had argued the
Quebec government was violating immigrants' constitutional rights by
denying them access to English-language schools. They contended the
policy threatened the long-term viability of the English school system
by eroding its student base. The Quebec Court of Appeal sided with the
parents in August 2007, declaring Bill 104 unconstitutional. The
Supreme Court upheld that lower court verdict. The opposition Parti
Quebecois was livid. It railed against the Charest government for
failing to have a response ready Thursday, when it knew a court
decision was coming.

The opposition leader said Charest's first duty, as head of the Quebec
nation, was to protect the French language - not the integrity of the
Supreme Court of Canada. "The Supreme Court, a court named by another
nation, has once again hacked away at a tool that is fundamental for
the Quebec nation," Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois said.
"How does the premier intend to correct the situation?"

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jV5mcCeNjfzwVEk1s0_WIDqeqOpA


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