Charter of the French Language Charter's provisions expanded upon the 1974 "Official Language Act" (Bill 22), which was enacted by the Lieutenant Governor-in-Parliament during the tenure of Premier Robert Bourassa's Liberal government to make French the official language of Quebec. Prior to 1974, Quebec had no official language and was subject only to the requirements on the use of English and French contained in Article 133 of the British North America Act, 1867. Bill 101 has been amended more than six times since 1977. Each amendment has aroused controversy over such provisions as the use of French on commercial signs or restrictions on enrolment into
Charter of the French Language notwithstanding clause, ruled that in fact any sign law was a violation of the freedom of expression right. Aside from the civil rights infringement, the Charter has faced legal challenges because the restricted education opportunities have hindered not only unilingual but bilingual anglophones' employment. Although the Charter made French the official language of government and civil administration, the same cannot be said of the private sector. Despite nearly 30 years of the Charter, it has never been applied as rigorously as intended because to do so would violate civil liberties. English is still often made a requirement by employers in