Human Rights And Freedoms Dept: Having drifted on this issue until it came up against a deadline the Supreme Court of Canada imposed a year ago, the government had left itself only until Friday to replace Bill 104, a PQ-government restriction that the high court struck down last fall, according to Montreal Gazette. Good riddance. Bill 103 would have changed the Charter to give primacy to the protection of French: "Any interpretation of the rights and freedoms set out in this Charter must take into account both the fact that French is the official language of Quebec and the importance of ensuring its perpetuity." In other words individual rights would be subordinated to the supremacy of French and premier Jean Charest's government has taken a small and temporary step back toward common sense on language of education with Bill 115, introduced yesterday and destined for quick passage by the Liberal majority. This bill is, in itself, less ill-considered and less damaging than Bill 103, which it replaces. The bad news: The troubling parts stripped out of Bill 103 will be back. Until yesterday, the Liberals were ready, with Bill 103, to slip through even more restrictions on school choice than the PQ ever imposed. But among other deletions from Bill 103, Bill 115 abruptly drops a dangerous re-writing of part of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. As
reported in the news.
@t charter of human rights and freedoms, pq government
19.10.10