EXPOSING QUEBEC'S BILL 96

   It has been a long time since English-speaking Quebecers have been called upon to come together in great number to defend our rights.
   The language battles of the past had become a distant memory — particularly for generations that have come of age since the dust settled after Bill 101. We’d grown weary of the fight and wary of being portrayed as “angryphones” — a.k.a. the most spoiled minority in the world in the eyes of nationalists. And truth be told the anglophone identity doesn’t fit all English-speaking Quebecers today, especially young people, who come from an array of cultures and backgrounds.
   But the era of relative peace between the Two Solitudes has come to an abrupt halt with Bill 96, the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s legislation to reinforce French.
    Not only will it curtail access to English services in health care, education and courts, it will give the Office québécois de la langue française unfettered search and seizure powers, enshrine the collective rights of francophones above the individual rights of minorities and pre-emptively invoke the notwithstanding clause to shield it all from legal challenges.