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 of the OQLF was criticized by a columnist of "The Gazette" who alleged that there was a "totalitarian mindset in the bureaucracy". The columnist complained of sections of the report which described the continued prevalence of languages other than French in two-thirds of Montreal's households as an "alarming" trend that would present a formidable challenge to francophones in Montreal. In reality, the report judged alarming the fact that adoption of English as home language by allophones grew faster than the adoption of French as home language. The use of the notwithstanding clause in the 1990s to circumvent the Canadian Charter