Charter of the French Language

The Charter of the French Language (French: Charte de la langue française, pronounced [ʃaʁt də la lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz]), also known as Bill 101 (French: Loi 101, pronounced [lwa sɑ̃ œ̃]), is a law in the Canadian province of Quebec defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the official language of the provincial government. It is the central piece of legislation that forms Quebec's language policy and one of the three principal statutes upon which the cohesion of Quebec's society is based, along with the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Civil Code of Quebec. The charter also protects the Indigenous languages in Quebec.

First introduced by Camille Laurin, the Minister of Cultural Development under the first Parti Québécois government of Premier René Lévesque, it was passed by the National Assembly and received royal assent on August 26, 1977. The charter's provisions expanded upon the 1974 Official Language Act (Bill 22), which was enacted during the tenure of Premier Robert Bourassa's Liberal government to make French the official language of Quebec. Prior to 1974, Quebec had no official language and was subject only to the requirements on the use of English and French contained in article 133 of the British North America Act, 1867. The charter has been amended more than six times since 1977, each of which met with controversy in Quebec. Most recently, in 2022, the charter was amended (also covered in this article) by the adoption of the Act respecting French, the Official and Common Language of Quebec, commonly known as Bill 96.

The preamble of the Charter states that the National Assembly resolves "to make French the language of Government and the Law, as well as the normal and everyday language of work, instruction, communication, commerce and business". It also states that the National Assembly shall pursue this objective "in a spirit of fairness and open-mindedness" and recognizes "the right of the First Nations and the Inuit in Quebec, the first inhabitants of this land, to preserve and develop their original language and culture".

The Charter consists of six titles and two schedules:

In order to achieve the goal of making French the "normal and everyday language of work, instruction, communication, commerce and business" and ensure the respect of francophone Quebecers' language rights, the Charter contains a number of key provisions and various regulations.

In the first article of the Charter, French is declared the official language of Quebec.

The French language was previously declared the sole official language of Quebec with the adoption of the Official Language Act in 1974. Quebec is constitutionally obligated nonetheless to provide English services in the courts and the National Assembly of Quebec (see below).^{[citation needed]}

The fundamental French-language rights in Quebec are: