After a Quebec Superior Court judge ordered Elections Quebec to temporarily suspend the language law and prepare voter reminder cards in both French and English, the court has now ordered the agency to send them. In a three-page safeguard order, Justice Sylvain Lussier also extended the suspension of the Charter of the French Language until 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 5, the day of the Quebec provincial election. Last week, Lussier ruled that he would not force the agency to resend the original voter information cards, which were only in French, adding that it could, however, send reminders in both languages. The lawsuit was filed in early September after French-only mailouts were sent with details on where and how to vote, due to Quebec’s language law, Bill 96. Elections Quebec said previous election material had been sent in both languages, and that it requested an exemption from the language law to continue the practice. But the request was denied by Quebec’s Minister of the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, and the Commissioner of the French Language, Benoît Dubreuil. The documents included a QR code directing voters to information in English. With files from CTV Montreal’s Daniel J. Rowe.
