Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: North Star with Ellin Bessner
Episode: 44 years after Bill 101, Quebec's language laws remain controversial
Description: One year after the separatist Parti Quebecois government won Quebec's 1976 election, they passed Bill 101—better known as the Charter of the French Language—which cemented French as Quebec's only official language and restricted the use of English in private businesses and public schools. A mass exodus of Jews from the province ensued, with as many as 40,000 Jewish Quebeckers leaving the province for good.
Robert Libman was a teenager then, but ended up staying in Quebec. In 1988, after graduating with a degree in architecture from McGill, he entered politics as the founder of the Equality Party, pushing for angl...