Sault Ste. Marie language resolution
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The Sault Ste. Marie language resolution was a government motion passed on January 29, 1990, by
Sault Ste. Marie City Council Sault Ste. Marie City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Meeting at the Ronald A. Irwin Civic Centre on the city's waterfront, it consists of ten city councillors and the mayor of Sault Ste. M ...
, the governing body of the city of
Sault Ste. Marie Sault Ste. Marie may refer to: People * Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, a Native American tribe in Michigan Places * Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada ** Sault Ste. Marie (federal electoral district), a Canadian federal electora ...
,
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,
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, which resolved that English was the sole working language of city government. The resolution ignited a national controversy which made the city a flashpoint in the
Meech Lake Accord The Meech Lake Accord () was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister of Canada, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial Premier (Canada), premiers. It was intended to ...
debate. The Sault Ste. Marie resolution was not the first of its kind in Ontario, but Sault Ste. Marie was the largest municipality to pass such a resolution and bore the brunt of the controversy. The resolution was struck down by a court ruling in 1994, and ceased to have legal effect. In 2010, John Rowswell, a subsequent mayor of Sault Ste. Marie, apologized to French Canadians across the country for the resolution."Les excuses de Sault-Sainte-Marie"
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, January 28, 2010.


Background

Sault Ste. Marie was founded by French-speaking missionaries in 1623 but had become overwhelmingly English-speaking by the twentieth century. In response to a French-language education controversy which began in 1987 when a group of
Franco-Ontarian Franco-Ontarians ( or if female, sometimes known as ''Ontarois'' and ''Ontaroises'') are Francophone Canadians that reside in the province of Ontario. Most are French Canadians from Ontario. In 2021, according to the Government of Ontario, ther ...
families lobbied to have a new French school opened in the city, the Sault Alliance for the Preservation of English Language Rights (SAPELR) was formed and began circulating petitions to have this resolution passed by council. The group worked in concert with the Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada (APEC), a lobby group which was concurrently campaigning against the provincial government's ''
French Language Services Act French Language Services Act may refer to: * French Language Services Act (Ontario) The ''French Language Services Act'' () (the ''Act'') is a law in the province of Ontario, Canada which is intended to protect the rights of Franco-Ontarians, or ...
''. Although that law dealt only with provincial government services, APEC's strategy was to convince municipalities that they would be required to provide services in French, regardless of cost or benefit, in an attempt to convince the municipalities to pass this type of resolution. As a result of the schooling controversy, the SAPELR petition quickly garnered over 25,000 signatures. The resolution was widely seen as retaliation for Quebec Premier
Robert Bourassa Robert Bourassa (; July 14, 1933 – October 2, 1996) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd premier of Quebec from 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Liberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just ...
's move to override the Supreme Court of Canada ruling that declared parts of
Bill 101 The ''Charter of the French Language'' (, ), also known as Bill 101 (, ), is a law in the Canadian province of Quebec defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the official language of the provincial government. It is th ...
unconstitutional. Bill 101 had declared French as the only official language of Quebec.


Text of the resolution

Whereas the City of Sault Ste. Marie is composed of many different ethnic groups, languages and cultures; And whereas the City of Sault Ste. Marie has always shown respect for each of these cultures by providing preferential treatment for none; And whereas the City of Sault Ste. Marie has throughout its history had one common working language for all of its written and oral communications, which is English; And whereas the preferred common language of commerce, business, trade, science and normal everyday activities is English; Now therefore be it resolved that the Corporation of the City of Sault Ste. Marie in the interests of maintaining goodwill, harmony and sound and responsible fiscal management continue as it has in the past to accept the use of English as the official language of communication with its citizens and with all levels of governments, thereby demonstrating the concept of equality for each ethnic, cultural and language group in its jurisdiction. And further resolved in accordance with the Provisions of the ''Municipal Act'' of Ontario Part VII and more specifically Section 104a of Said Act the Council of the Corporation of the City of Sault Ste. Marie declares English to be the official language of the said Corporation.


Resolution passes

On January 27, 1990, the city's daily newspaper, '' The Sault Star'', reported that council would debate the language resolution two days later. This triggered the attention of the national media, and with reporters from all across Canada in town to cover the debate. The council adopted the resolution by a vote of 11 in favour with only two, Ward Two alderman Tom Angus and Ward Three alderman Harry Hurdon voting against. Angus, who had served on council for three decades, derided the motion as "an unnecessary resolution that solves a problem that does not exist".


Controversy

Criticism of the resolution came from across the country and locally. In an attempt to control the growing controversy, the mayor and council unanimously adopted a subsequent resolution on February 19, 1990 recognizing "the important role which French Canadians have played in the development of our community and our country." However, the second resolution did not rescind the January 29 resolution. At the same time the mayor issued an open letter blaming critics of the earlier resolution for having "not read it or have read it and applied their own connotations." Many political figures, including
Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...
,
Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a retired Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. He served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, leader of t ...
and Ontario premier
David Peterson David Robert Peterson (born December 28, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th premier of Ontario from 1985 to 1990. He was the first Liberal officeholder in 42 years, ending the so-called Tory dynasty. Back ...
, who had strongly condemned Premier Bourassa's use of the notwithstanding clause, expressed their opposition to the city's move. Both Peterson and his successor as premier,
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, refused to meet with mayor Joe Fratesi on several subsequent occasions, even to discuss unrelated matters. In particular, the resolution was seen as a slap in the face to
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, where it was widely viewed as racist. (One
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meteorologist sent out a weather report for Sault Ste. Marie in which the forecast called for "a chance of flurries and
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s", leading to her suspension.) Council defended the resolution, suggesting that Quebec's language laws and its refusal to abide by the Supreme Court ruling also constituted racism. Council was also criticized for seemingly turning its back on the city's own history; although in modern times francophones are only a small percentage of the city's population, the city's history is intimately connected to early
French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...
missionary and
voyageur Voyageurs (; ) were 18th- and 19th-century French people, French and later French Canadians and others who transported furs by canoe at the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, i ...
exploration of the
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area. Some commentators also jokingly suggested that the resolution would require the city to change its name to St. Mary's Falls. Entertainers weighed in on the controversy; on their 1991 album '' Road Apples'',
The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, was a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassis ...
criticized the resolution in the song "Born in the Water":
Smart as trees in Sault Ste. Marie
I can speak my mother tongue
Passing laws, just because
And singing songs of the English unsung
How could you do it?
How could you even try?
When you were born in the water
And you were raised up in the sky?


Aftereffects

Fratesi, who was viewed by Sault Ste. Marie voters throughout the controversy as standing up for the city's interests, was re-elected mayor in a landslide in 1991. He later became embroiled in a
conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...
controversy in 1995 when he applied for the job of chief administrative officer of the city, while still sitting as mayor. Quebec Premier Bourassa later passed Bill 86, which amended that province's language laws in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling, so the controversy died down. On June 30, 1994, a court ruling struck down the English-only resolution as ''
ultra vires ('beyond the powers') is a Latin phrase used in law to describe an act that requires legal authority but is done without it. Its opposite, an act done under proper authority, is ('within the powers'). Acts that are may equivalently be termed ...
'' the council's authority. On August 9, 1999, a resolution was brought forward under a new city council to strike down the resolution. The city's solicitor advised that the resolution was out of order given that a court had already struck down the resolution. Attempting to do what it could, the council then unanimously passed the following resolution:
Moved by Councillor Derik Brandt
Seconded by Councillor Sam Lepore
Whereas the "language resolution" was struck down by the courts because it was beyond the City’s authority; and
Whereas it is not legally possible to rescind a resolution that has already been struck down by the courts;
Be It Resolved that a notation be added to the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of City Council of January 29, 1990 to include the following beside item 5(e); N.B. "This resolution was struck down by the courts on June 30, 1994 and therefore has no effect."
The effect of the resolution was to amend the minutes containing the English-only resolution to note that the resolution had been struck down. As recently as 2007, '' The Gazette'' in
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referred to the town of
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, then embroiled in a controversy around
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of immigrants, as Quebec's "own Sault Ste. Marie".


Apology and further actions by council

On January 28, 2010, 20 years less a day after the original resolution was passed, then-Sault Ste. Marie Mayor John Rowswell apologized to French-Canadians across the country for the resolution of the prior council. On January 29, 2024, on the 34th anniversary of the resolution, Sault Ste. Marie City Council unanimously passed a resolution to improve French language services offered by the city. In his speech, Mayor Matthew Shoemaker reiterated that the 1990 resolution was a mistake and outlined the importance of French culture and language in the city's history. The new resolution directs the CAO to ensure that there is the ability for Francophone residents to navigate municipal services in French.


References

{{SaultOntario 1990 in Canadian politics 1990 in Ontario Bilingualism in Canada Canadian language legislation Franco-Ontarian history Language conflict in Canada Language law Municipal government of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Political history of Ontario