Élections Québec must prepare a bilingual version of the reminder card mailed to voters ahead of the provincial election, but it won’t have to mail out English versions of the registration notice and voter’s guide, a Quebec Superior Court judge ruled on Wednesday.
The decision comes after a hearing for the lawsuit against the Quebec government and Élections Québec took place last week over French-only mailouts. Judge Sylvain Lussier only ruled on part of the legal challenge, partially granting the demand for a provisional interlocutory injunction.
The 10-day injunction means the provincial election authority must prepare the reminder card, but Lussier says the statutory date for the mailing “falls outside” the duration of his ruling.
“If necessary, the parties may appear before the court to seek a renewal of the order, at which time the court could order the mailing,” Lussier wrote.
Lussier wrote in his decision the court, however, “will not order the mailing of an English version of the registration notices and the voter’s guide. The evidence on record convinces the court that this would be an unrealistic and extremely costly undertaking.”
French-only mailers include a QR code and contact information to access the documents in English.
At the beginning of September, Élections Québec announced it wouldn’t mail out English-language versions of the provincial election guide, the notice of entry and the reminder card. The French-only mailers will include a QR code and contact information to access the documents in English.
Pointing to possible hurdles English-speaking seniors could face in accessing voting information, Lussier said the court is “not convinced that the existence of a telephone line with services in both languages enables all members of the community to obtain complete information.” The Elections Act, he added, “mandates the mailing of three documents for this purpose.”
The French-only mailouts were a result of language reforms by the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government. Élections Québec has previously said its requests for an exemption were denied.
The ruling issued Wednesday temporarily suspends part of the language law. A spokesperson for Quebec’s justice department told The Gazette that “out of respect for the judicial process, we will not comment” on the ruling.
Doug Mitchell, the lawyer representing plaintiff Geoffrey Chambers, said in an interview he is pleased with the decision.
“The judge did a very thorough review of the law and, in my view, clearly arrived at the right result,” he said.
Mitchell added that it’s “unfortunate that we were in a position that we came before him” when it was already too late to send out bilingual versions of all three documents, but he thinks “it’s a very solid judgment.”
The lawsuit’s goal was to reinstate the English versions of the documents ahead of the Oct. 5 vote with a provisional interlocutory injunction. They are also seeking a permanent injunction.
“While it is at a provisional stage, it really endorses the rights that we were seeking to advance,” Mitchell said of the ruling.
Élections Québec spokesperson Gabriel Sauvé-Lesiège said in an email that “we acknowledge the decision handed down this morning. We will be able to produce the reminder card in both languages.”
Earlier this month, anglophone-advocacy groups such as TALQ raised concerns about the French-only mailers and the possibility of English-speaking voters being left behind.
Coalition Avenir Québec Leader and incumbent premier Christine Fréchette has defended the measure, saying French is the sole official language of the province. She also told reporters the ballot question will be available in both languages, though Élections Québec noted there isn’t much to translate.
This report will be updated.
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