CBC Digital Archives - Fighting Words: Bill 101 - Bill 101 is official

Bill 101 is official

On March 31, 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Quebec's language law but ruled that the province must allow greater access to English schools. Back in 1977, when the Parti Qubcois first introduced Bill 101, critics compared it to "lunatics taking over the asylum." Under Bill 101, even the "apostrophe s" in Eaton's, became illegal. The charter's defenders said such measures were necessary to protect the dwindling French culture and language from English dominance. CBC Archives looks back at the most debated law in Quebec.

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At the end of a long hot summer, Bill 101 (French language charter) is adopted on Aug. 26, 1977, kicking off the transformation from a traditionally bilingual Quebec into a unilingual French province. Bill 101 is shock therapy for what the PQ describe as a sick society that Quebec has become, reports CBC's David Bazay. The new French language charter is hailed as a master plan to free Quebec from the economic dominance of the province's English minority.

. In predominantly English areas such as the Eastern Townships, where anglophones had been the first white settlers, reaction to Bill 101 was one of shock and disbelief. The French language charter, or Bill 101, made anglophone Quebecers feel unwelcome and uncomfortable. It led to an exodus of anglophones from Quebec. Between June 1976 and June 1981, the number of Quebecers whose mother tongue was English declined by more than 94,000 in the province.

Medium: Television
Program: CBC News
Broadcast Date: Aug. 26, 1977
Reporter: David Bazay
Duration: 3:06

Last updated: August 28, 2013

Page consulted on February 28, 2014

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