A lawsuit has been filed in Quebec Superior Court against Quebec’s Chief Electoral Officer and the Attorney General of Quebec over French-only election mailouts that contain details on how and where to vote. The legal action comes after Élections Québec said on Sept. 1 that the French-only election mailouts were a result of Quebec’s language law, Bill 96. The agency said Quebec’s Minister of the French Language and the Commissioner of the French Language denied its request for an exemption that would have allowed it to continue sending documents to voters in both English and French. The lawsuit, obtained by CTV News, alleges that voters who lack access to the information needed to cast their ballots are “denied the exercise of their fundamental right to meaningfully participate in the political process.” The lawsuit asks that, on an urgent basis, Élections Québec be ordered to mail the information documents in English, no later than the date the French versions are mailed, or as soon afterward as possible. This will be the first time in a provincial election that voting information will only be available in French. Voters who want information in English will have to visit Élections Québec’s website or scan a QR code included on the election mailouts. The lawsuit claims this measure imposes substantial barriers on voters. “The ability to scan and navigate a QR code depends on an elector having both sufficient technological proficiency and access to a camera-equipped device with Internet connectivity, which is obviously not the case for all voters, especially not in rural communities and for English-speaking seniors,” the lawsuit said. It also said it is unclear whether voters will have online access to the same information that would otherwise have been included in the information documents had those documents been translated, printed and distributed in both English and French. In a statement to CTV News on Sept. 2, Quebec’s Minister of the French Language said that since French is the official language of Quebec, Élections Québec should “fulfill its duty to set an example,” adding that Quebecers eligible for English-language education, as well as members of First Nations, will still be able to receive information in English “upon request.” “This strikes a fair balance that respects the linguistic and democratic rights of these individuals without contravening our objectives of defending our national language or the spirit of the French Language Charter, as amended by our major reform of 2022,” the statement said. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
