Quebec’s refusal to deliver English presentation to parents raises questions about language law [Video]

Quebec’s education ministry says it is working on clarifying directives on when officials can communicate with the public in a language other than French.

The directives come amid an uproar from parents of special needs children who were left confused and upset because two ministry officials refused to deliver a presentation in English due to the province’s language law.

Reacting to the parents’ concerns on Tuesday, Interim Quebec Liberal Party leader Marc Tanguay said this was yet another negative consequence of Bill 96, the new law that revamped Quebec’s Charter of the French language.

During a Zoom presentation last Thursday organized exclusively for English parents, one of the officials told about 65 parents participating in the session that, “I would like to do it in English, but the law will not allow me to. We were able to translate the slides but I don’t recall being told that we could verbalize it in English. It doesn’t bring me pleasure to do this but …