Québec court orders voter information in English and French

The decision to send election information in French only violated English-speaking Quebecers' right to vote, a judge ruled.MONTREAL (CN) — A judge in Québec ruled Wednesday that the provincial nonpartisan organization Élections Québec must send documents in both French and English to voters ahead of the Oct. 5 elections.Superior Court of Quebec Judge Sylvain Lussier heard the arguments of the plaintiff Geoffrey Chambers, the Québec attorney general and Élections Québec on Sept. 10 before granting the interlocutory injunction Wednesday, the last day it could so before voter reminder cards go to the presses.Chambers, the former president of Quebec’s anglophone’s rights group known today as Talking. Advocating. Living in Québec (TALQ) argued that the decision would violate English-speaking Quebecers’ right to vote under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.Lussier agreed, finding that sending out French-only information “effectively deprives approximately 12% of voters of the opportunity to obtain the information necessary to exercise their right to vote in English, the language in which they have always received this information.”Voters will receive their voting reminder card, which indicates where, when, and how to vote, in both French and English. The voter information card and the election guide have already been mailed out in French only, and Lussier ruled ruled it would be an “unrealistic and extremely costly operation” to create and mail English versions. This English operation will already cost an additional 6 million Canadian dollars ($4.3 million) for Élections Québec, bringing the total cost of the mailout to CA$16.4 million.The injunction will last for 10 days, expiring at the end of the mailout period. The parties will need to return to court to renew the order.“If necessary, the parties will appear before the court to request a renewal of the order, which may then order the shipment,” Lussier wrote.Notably, Lussier noted the controversial 2025 parliamentary elections in the district of Terrebonne, in Québec, in which a voter claimed she had not been allowed to vote due to an address error on her voter card. The winning candidate won by only one vote, however, and the Supreme Court of Canada eventually nullified the election, which led Lussier to write “the Supreme Court reiterated the importance of every vote in the electoral process.”The decision to send the documentation only in one language stems from the controversial “Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec, made to the Charter of the French Language,” adopted in 2022. This bill reinforces French is the only official language in the province of Québec and restricts access to public services in English.Élections Québec had asked to be exempted from the provisions of the law and has been in discussion with the government since 2023. Its request was ultimately refused despite the group’s insistence that doing so could compromise the validity of the elections.The group said it would provide English information on its website and by phone to those who would meet the criteria under the law — Indigenous people and persons declared eligible to receive instruction in English. However, Lussier found the solutions insufficient, especially for elderly people who could have trouble with technology and accessing the internet.“Is it in the public interest to urgently deprive the English-speaking community in Québec of the right it has always enjoyed — to receive election information in English?” Lussier wrote. “To ask the question is to answer it.”Élections Québec declined to comment but said it will " be able to produce a reminder card containing information in French and English."Chambers’ attorney Doug Mitch praised Lussier’s ruling as “a very thorough and thoughtful judgment from a very thoughtful judge.”He added: “I’m hopeful though that the government will listen to [Élections Québec] and do what they had requested, which is to create an exemption for the prior notices before the elections which would save everybody the time and the headache of litigation.“It’s gratifying for the English-speaking community, and minorities generally, to know that the court will be there to enforce their fundamental freedoms when issues of importance are brought to the attention of the court.”Courthouse News Reporter Tatiana Mulowayi-Pelletier is based in Montreal, Canada.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads