To describe this week's Supreme Court ruling on Quebec's Bill 104 as a victory for minority language rights may be an overstatement.
True, the country's highest court struck down a law that prevented some parents from sending their children to English schools. Yet despite the ruling the law remains in place. Apparently the province has only to do some tweaking in order to address the court's constitutional concerns. The court even said that the objective of the law is "important and legitimate."
Where that leaves the 25 parents who took the province to court over the law, and who believe their children have a right to be educated in English, is unclear.
And yet the ruling is significant, if only because it has -- perhaps inadvertently -- highlighted the negative impact the province's language laws are having on recent immigrants, something that should concern all Quebecers. By thwarting the efforts of immigrants to have their children educated in English -- the international language of commerce and technology -- Quebec is driving these hard-working, ambitious families to other parts of the country or right out of Canada.
It's hard to imagine a more self-defeating policy. With birthrates as low as they are in Canada, immigrants play a key role in securing our future prosperity. Quebec in particular is struggling to address the problem of a low birthrate. So desperate has the situation been that the province has enacted what are virtually emergency response measures, such as paying women to have babies ("baby bonuses") and the creation of day care that is almost entirely government subsidized.
Quebec needs immigrants, but they won't stay with policies that deliberately handicap their children by depriving them the opportunity to be educated in English.
Under Quebec's controversial language legislation, Bill 101, parents must prove that they, or at least one of their children, have a link to English schooling in Canada before any of their children can attend English language school. Families were able to get around this stipulation by sending their children for a brief period to an English language private school, which would then allow them to be educated at English public schools in the province. Bill 104 closed that loophole, leaving parents with few options.
Virender Singh Jamwal, one of the parents who has challenged the constitutionality of Bill 104, took dramatic steps to secure for his children an English-language education. According to media reports, the Montreal resident moved his wife and children to Ontario -- to Hawkesbury -- while he remained in Montreal. After two years, they moved back to Montreal, where they then qualified for English-language school in Quebec because they had been to an English school in Canada.
This is a good father, and a determined one. Many immigrants who come to Canada assign a high value to educational success. They recognize that education is the means to a better future. And it is perfectly reasonable that immigrants, no matter where they settle in Canada, should desire for their children fluency in English. The truth is that children of immigrants often speak several languages.
It's unfortunate that Quebecers still need to be reminded every so often that the legitimate desire to promote French in the province does not allow them to run roughshod over minority rights.