Bill 96 and Indigenous Language Sovereignty in Quebec: Refusal, Resurgence, and Multilingual Justice

Abstract

This paper examines Bill 96 and Quebec’s language regime as a settler-colonial legal framework that elevates French as the ‘common language’ of public life while marginalizing Indigenous language sovereignty within Indigenous homelands. Situating Bill 96 within Canada’s broader language governance, the paper briefly contrasts provincial language law with the federal Indigenous Languages Act, which links Indigenous language rights to self-determination and section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. Drawing on Indigenous scholarship on refusal and resurgence alongside critical discourse analysis of legal and institutional texts, the paper shows how “common language” rationales naturalize linguistic hierarchy and intensify barriers for Indigenous learners, including in communities where English functions as the primary non-Indigenous language alongside Indigenous language(s). The analysis highlights Indigenous resistance as generative praxis, expressed through community-led language resurgence, immersion pedagogy, mentorship, legal advocacy, and Indigenous-governed institutions. This argument is illustrated through examples from Kahnawà:ke and Listuguj, and Inuit education in Nunavik. Advancing multicultural justice rooted in Indigenous governance, the paper reimagines inclusion not as accommodation within settler systems but as relational responsibility and Indigenous-led futures.