New legislation much less restrictive than Bill 101

The Government of Nunavut's proposed new package of language laws, especially the Inuit Language Protection Act, are already being compared to Bill 101 – Quebec's well-known language law.

Bill 101, also known as the Charter of the French Language, makes French predominant in nearly all aspects of life in Quebec.

But Nunavut's proposed language laws, which aim to elevate the status of the Inuit language, are much less restrictive than those in Quebec.

Here's a quick comparison:

Official ­language status

Nunavut's proposed Official Languages Act would establish the Inuit language, English and French as the official languages of Nunavut, with each language enjoying equality of status and equal rights and privileges.

But in Quebec, the Charter of the French Language establishes French, and only French, as the official language. French has enjoyed exclusive official status in Quebec since 1974, when Premier Robert Bourassa's government passed Bill 22, la Loi sur la langue officielle.

This status was strengthened by Bill 101, passed by René Lévesque's Parti Québécois in 1977, the law that created Quebec's first Charter of the French Language.

Public signs

In Nunavut's proposed Inuit Language Protection Act, all public and private organizations must use the Inuit language in public signs, but may also use other languages. The Inuit language must be at least equal in prominence to other languages

In Quebec, the French language text in public signs must be "markedly predominant." A regulation attached to Bill 101 since 1993 says the French text must be at least twice as large as the text used in other languages.

The 1977 version of Bill 101 stated that only French could be used on public signs and banned the use of English in most situations. But after the Supreme Court of Canada and the United Nations Human Rights Committee each declared this to be a rights violation, the law was changed in 1993.

Enforcement

In Quebec, a government body called l'Office québécois de la langue française is in charge of enforcing the Charter of the French Language. They may inspect businesses, do investigations and impose fines of up to $7,000 for violations.

In Nunavut, the language commissioner is in charge of enforcing the act. Fines range up to $1,000 for individuals and $5,000 for corporations.

Language of the workplace

Nunavut's proposed Inuit Language Protection Act guarantees that the Inuit language may be a language of work in government workplaces, and that most public and private organizations are required to provide service in the Inuit language. But it's silent on the issue of which languages people may use at work.

In Quebec, all workplaces with more than 50 employees must register with l'Office québécois de la langue française and all workplaces with more than 100 employees must set up a "francization committee" and submit to a long list of bureaucratic restrictions on the use of languages other than French.

Education

In Nunavut, any parent with a child in school has a right to have their child receive instruction in Inuktitut. Nunavut's proposed laws do not restrict instruction in English or French, and francophones have a right to education in French.

In Quebec, the declared language of instruction in elementary and secondary schools is French, but with exceptions for the children of parents who received instruction in English in Canada. The children of recent immigrants must have their children educated in French.

In Nunavik, the language of instruction is Inuktitut, but the Kativik School Board must also "pursue as an objective the use of French as a language of instruction so that pupils graduating from their schools will in future be capable of continuing their studies in a French school, college or university elsewhere in Quebec, if they so desire."