CAQ’s Bill 84
ditches multiculturalism

New identity law is based on false premises and sets Quebec on a dangerous slippery slope

By Irwin Rapoport

June 5, 2025

With the passage of Bill 84, an Act respecting national integration, last week, the CAQ declared that the official language and culture of Quebec is French.

In addition to stating that French is the official and common language of integration, it declares Quebec culture to be the common culture, that women and men are equal, and that Quebec is a secular state.

It gets better. Immigrants have an obligation, as part of the new social contract between them and the province, to respect established democratic traditions and values, be knowledgeable about Quebec, and learn French if they are not already fluent in the language.

Eight-six CAQ and PQ MNAs voted for it. The Gazette article Don’t expect to find Canadian multiculturalism in Quebec, Roberge says as the new integration bill is adopted, provides additional information.

One can only imagine how 18th-century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, author of The Social Contract, would react to Bill 86 and its agenda.

This new law culminates prior CAQ legislation in regards to language and Quebec identity. Bill 21 violates freedom of expression and religious guarantees by banning certain provincial employees from wearing visible religious symbols, which purposely targets Muslim women and spreads Islam phobia. Bill 96 strengthens and updates provisions of Bill 101 and other laws to protect and promote the French language, targeting the English and cultural communities.

Immigration Minister Jean-Francois Roberge… declared the Canadian model of multiculturalism has no place in Quebec, and the provincial government will be guided by interculturalism, where immigrants, new and established, must gravitate to the French Canadian majority.

It also builds on fears expressed by Benoit Dubreuil, Quebec’s French Language Commissioner, who worries that immigrants do not speak French at home and in their free time, and temporary migrants working on farms and other seasonal industries do not speak French on the job. Dubreuil, a well-known nationalist, is unaware of the consequences of his words.

When I brought up Bill 84 with a friend, she essentially asked “are we living in Nazi Germany?” That is an apt description as Hitler and his thugs declared Germany had only one culture – Aryan culture.

Immigration Minister Jean-Francois Roberge, also responsible for language, declared the Canadian model of multiculturalism has no place in Quebec, and the provincial government will be guided by interculturalism, where immigrants, new and established, must gravitate to the French Canadian majority.

Multiculturalism, exclaimed Roberge, has been consigned to the “limbo of history where it belongs.” The government insists multiculturalism is harmful to social cohesion.

The minister is fully cognizant that potential immigrants to Quebec may choose to go elsewhere. This is music to the ears of Premier Francois Legault, who prefers immigrants from France who are white, Catholic, and French. The CAQ is determined to reduce annual immigration to Quebec down to a trickle.

Roberge insisted that potential immigrants should be aware of Quebec’s demands in regard to language and be prepared to embrace the French language and culture. “I can’t say how (immigrants) will react,” he said during a press conference following the vote. “We are changing the contract; we are changing the way we explain our way of life here. Maybe some people who never thought about living in Quebec will say, ‘Wow, I want to go there, I want to go to Quebec because it reflects my values.’ Some people may say the exact opposite, that this doesn’t fit with me. ‘Do I really want to come to Quebec? I have no intention of learning French, I have no interest in learning about a distinct culture.’ We’ll see.”

Several groups that presented at the public hearings decried that its provisions were designed to erase the cultural identity of immigrants and assimilate them and their children.

Bill 86 was introduced last January. Several groups that presented at the public hearings decried that its provisions were designed to erase the cultural identity of immigrants and assimilate them and their children. The minister denies this. Clearly, it’s a lie. At least the Borg in Star Trek are honest when they said, “You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile,” and “We are the Borg. Existence, as you know it, is over.”

Bill 84 empowers the state via the government’s ministries and agencies to utilize all of their authority to promote it. Towns and cities, French language school service centres and English school boards must do their part. The law extends to organizations, including those from cultural communities receiving public funds for their activities and events.

Bill 101 is enforced via OQLF agents, the “language police.” Through Bill 86, civil servants have the authority to deny funding for groups and events which fail to play ball.

Will Shakespeare-in-the-Park, the Segal Centre, Centaur Theatre and others be obliged to promote Bill 84? How does one link Quebec culture to the celebration of the Philippines’ Independence Day? Will we have a Bill 84 investigation unit, and what exactly is Quebec culture?

Immigrants fleeing war-torn lands and dictatorships, and those seeking a place to start a new life, now have a new first priority – to embrace, protect and promote the French language and culture. No wonder close to 50 percent of new immigrants who settle in Quebec leave for other provinces within six months to two years.

The CAQ is asking potential immigrants to master French before leaving their home countries at their own expense, and for employers to help immigrant employees learn French on the job.
With an average birthrate of 1.3 children per woman in Quebec, employer associations and industries want to increase immigration levels. Legault is deaf to their concerns and instead is asking retired Quebecers to re-enter the workforce.

Just as Bill 21 stokes Islamophobia, Bill 86 will fuel anti-immigrant sentiment via individuals and nationalist organizations. The CAQ and PQ constantly say “We are all Quebecers,” but their words and actions tell another story. Many in the English community have experienced Anglophobia to a certain extent, being told “this is Quebec, speak French!” and other hateful expressions. Too often immigrants face discrimination in their daily lives.

‘With an average birthrate of 1.3 children per woman in Quebec, employer associations and industries want to increase immigration levels. Legault is deaf to their concerns and instead is asking retired Quebecers to re-enter the workforce.’

Legault, like Donald Trump, is normalizing and encouraging hate speech. Quite the legacy.

Dismantling the tenets of Bill 86

Quebec is a multicultural society, where more than 6.5 million ethnic French Canadians speak French daily and have a distinctive culture. About 1.2 million people comprise the English-speaking community. They may work in French to a certain extent, but they mainly converse in English. Culture-wise, they are very cosmopolitan, breathing in Canadian, British, American, Caribbean, and the whole of the English-speaking world, along with cultures and languages across the planet. There are also one million people representing many cultural communities, with traditions from Europe, Asia, and Africa. They speak French, English, and their native languages. They are Christian, Muslim, Hindu, etc., and their presence contributes to the cultural mosaic we appreciate.

Until the arrival of the French settlers to New France, the land was inhabited by First Nations and Inuit peoples. They were decimated by introduced European diseases spread by French missionaries, fur traders, and everyday settlers starting in 1608. The British played their part by infecting the Inuit and Cree and Innu Nations via Hudson Bay Company factories and outposts.
The tally of the dead is unknown, but it was immense. Whole generations of indigenous peoples who should have been present today were lost. Thus, the “common languages” of the territory we call Quebec would be Cree, Mohawk, Algonquin, Innu, Inuktitut, and others.

All non-indigenous languages – English, French, etc., are invasive. To declare French is the “common language” is an insult to indigenous peoples, who would have preferred their lands had not been stolen and devastated by our reckless exploitation.

Northern Quebec comprises two-thirds of the province. Culturally, this immense area is not French – it never has been.

Close to 90 percent of the non-French Canadian population of Quebec resides within a 30-mile radius of Montreal. There are significant English populations in the Eastern Townships, parts of the Laurentians, Western Quebec, and the Lower North Shore area below Labrador has an English majority.

‘Before Bills 22 (1974) and Bill 101 (1977), approximately 90 percent of immigrants gravitated to the English community. They were coming to Canada, and Montreal was our equivalent of New York City – the center of Canadian economic life and culture.’

Most of Quebec, 200 miles north of the St. Lawrence River, is French-speaking, as well as the area south of the river.

Before Bills 22 (1974) and Bill 101 (1977), approximately 90 percent of immigrants gravitated to the English community. They were coming to Canada, and Montreal was our equivalent of New York City – the center of Canadian economic life and culture. Montreal easily blended French, English, and numerous cultures and languages to create a vibrant mosaic. This is being lost.

Is it legitimate for nationalist French Canadians and the francophone to decree that their language and culture is the “common” language for integration? Absolutely not!

The primary goals of Bill 101 are to ensure immigrant children attend French schools, that French is the language of work, and that the Montreal area has an artificial French visage.

On a more sinister level, Bill 84 embraces the philosophy of “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” which is an anathema to liberal democratic societies. This link explains the phrase, noting: “[It is] a proclamation by the pigs who control the government in the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell. The sentence is a comment on the hypocrisy of governments that proclaim the absolute equality of their citizens but give power and privileges to a small elite.” In the Quebec case, the elite is the French majority.

Many understand the complicated relationship between the French community and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, which led to the Quiet Revolution. However, this is no excuse for Bill 21, and before it became law, we already had a separation of church and state throughout Canada.

Canada is an officially bilingual country, and due to the rights and freedoms we enjoy, citizens and immigrants are free to choose any culture they desire. It is not for the government to impose its will on others.

Men and women, by law, are already equal in Canada. There is still some work to be done for women to achieve full equality, but we are making progress.

‘Canada is an officially bilingual country, and due to the rights and freedoms we enjoy, citizens and immigrants are free to choose any culture they desire. It is not for the government to impose its will on others.’

Bill 84 continues to erroneously refer to Quebec as a ‘state.’ It is a province. And according to the BNA Act, it is officially bilingual via Section 133.

In regard to our democratic values, immigrants respect them and appreciate living in a democracy.

As far as being knowledgeable about Quebec, how many French Canadians are reasonably aware of their history and the history of Canada and its indigenous peoples? Sadly, every student in Quebec‘s elementary and high schools is required to use nationalist leaning textbooks and curricula, which downplay and barely mention the contributions and existence of the Indigenous, English, and cultural communities.

Bill 84, combined with other oppressive and offensive legislation, is taking all of us down a dark and nightmarish rabbit hole. It must be challenged in the courts.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of WestmountMag.ca or its publishers.

Feature image: Dannykronstrom, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons