New Quebec bill would cut funding to groups that don’t promote ‘common culture’

QUÉBEC — Cultural festivals and organizations that serve immigrants could have their funding cut if they don’t promote the common culture of Quebec, the province’s immigration minister says.

On Thursday, the right-leaning Coalition Avenir Québec government tabled a new bill on cultural integration, which requires newcomers to adhere to a set of common values, including gender equality, secularism and protection of the French language. The legislation is the latest in a series of bills that aim to reinforce Quebec identity, following the province’s secularism law and its overhaul of the language law.

Bill 84 would allow the government to make public funding contingent on adherence to what it calls a new social contract. During a press conference Thursday, Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge gave the example of festivals organized by and for certain cultural communities.

“If it’s a festival for only one group … and nothing about the common culture is in the festival, nothing is in French, nothing is coming from Quebec, maybe we’ll have some issues,” he told reporters.

Roberge said events funded by the government need to be open to all and feature elements of Quebec culture, including artists or songs from the province. “We don’t want ghettos. We want a society. We want cohesion,” he said.

Groups that welcome newcomers to the province must also focus on helping them integrate into Quebec society rather than keeping them siloed in their communities, he said. He explained that the government could review organizations’ practices when it comes time to renew their funding.;

Roberge also said the government may consider ending public funding of private religious schools.

The bill would require the government to develop a policy on integration into the Quebec nation and its culture, touching on such areas as democratic values, access to Quebec cultural content and respect for the Quebec flag and other provincial emblems. Roberge said the policy would be developed about a year after the bill is passed.

The legislation says immigrants are expected to learn the French language, enrich Quebec culture and “participate fully, in French, in Quebec society.”

The bill comes as Quebec Premier François Legault’s government prepares to further strengthen secularism rules in Quebec. Last fall, a government report made waves with findings about a group of teachers at Bedford school in Montreal, many of North African descent, who had allegedly created a toxic culture and imposed their own values on students. Other allegations quickly surfaced of Muslim religious practices emerging in classrooms, and the government launched investigations of 17 schools.

Roberge said he has been working on the integration bill for the past 18 months, but said the incidents at Bedford school highlighted the need for new legislation. “Obviously, there are people who arrived here who were not interested in common values,” he said.

The bill is intended as Quebec’s answer to the Canadian model of multiculturalism, which promotes cultural diversity. Roberge said that model is “harmful” to social cohesion in Quebec, adding that the province’s policy will be based on the principle of interculturalism, whereby newcomers are integrated into the dominant culture.

The legislation would also modify the provincial charter of rights to state that the exercise of individual rights must comply with the province’s model of integration. Roberge said that modification will prevent people from invoking the charter to invalidate the law.

Roberge said the government could update its existing values test for immigrants once the law is passed, and could make integration classes mandatory for new arrivals. In response to a question, the minister mused about the possibility of creating a separate citizenship ceremony that would be less focused on Canadian multiculturalism.

The bill doesn’t include penalties for people who don’t adhere to its principles. But Roberge said the federal law on multiculturalism, passed in 1988, has “transformed Canada” despite the absence of sanctions. “I think that with this framework law … we can do as much or even better than what Canada did,” he said.

Two Quebec trade unions were quick to criticize the bill on Thursday, arguing that integrating newcomers requires concrete action, not abstract principles. They said many French classes for immigrants were cancelled across the province last fall due to lack of funding.

In a statement, the Centrale des syndicats démocratiques said it’s concerned the bill will further restrict access to public services for newcomers. “The national integration model must not be used to forge political capital on the backs of immigrants,” Éric Gingras, president of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec, said in a separate news release.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 30, 2025.

— By Maura Forrest in Montreal

The Canadian Press