Bill 96 and CEGEP: What Quebec's French-Language Law Changed for Students

What Bill 96 is

Bill 96, formally An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Quebec, received royal assent on June 1, 2022. It amends the Charter of the French Language, the provincial law commonly known as Bill 101 that has governed language of instruction, workplace French and public signage in Quebec since 1977.

Most of Bill 101's earlier rules applied to elementary and secondary school, requiring most students to attend French-language school unless a parent qualifies for an exemption. CEGEP had stood apart from those rules since the college system was created: any student, regardless of eligibility for English-language school, could choose an English-language CEGEP.

What changed for CEGEP students

Bill 96 brought CEGEPs into the Charter's reach for the first time, though it stopped short of restricting who can enrol at an English-language CEGEP the way the law restricts English elementary and secondary school. Instead, it added conditions.

Students who attend an English-language CEGEP without holding a certificate of eligibility for English-language instruction, which covers the large majority of English CEGEP students since CEGEP admission was never limited to eligibility holders, now face added French-language coursework as a condition of earning their Diplome d'etudes collegiales (DEC). The law also limits how much English-language CEGEPs can grow their enrolment going forward, a change that drew objections from English-sector colleges such as Dawson, Vanier, John Abbott, Marianopolis and Champlain, along with student and faculty groups who argued it constrains access for anglophone, allophone and francophone students who choose an English CEGEP.

Why it matters for your planning

If you are considering an English-language CEGEP in Quebec and you do not hold a certificate of eligibility for English instruction, plan for extra French coursework beyond what earlier cohorts completed, on top of the usual DEC general education requirements.

If you are weighing a French-language CEGEP instead, this provision does not apply to you the same way, since French-sector CEGEPs were already teaching in French. Enrolment caps at English CEGEPs also mean admission at those schools can be more competitive for a given intake than it was before the law, particularly for the largest English colleges in the Montreal area.

What remains unsettled

Bill 96 has faced legal challenges since its passage, including from groups representing the English-speaking community and from Indigenous organizations objecting to specific provisions. Details of implementation, including exact phase-in timing for individual CEGEPs and how enrolment limits get applied year to year, continue to be worked out between the Quebec government and individual institutions.

Check directly with your target CEGEP's admissions office for its current French-course and enrolment rules before you apply, since these keep evolving school by school.

How this connects to the rest of Bill 96

The CEGEP provisions sit inside a wider law that touches most parts of daily life in Quebec, from workplace French requirements at mid-sized employers to French-language rules for public signage and provincial government services. For students specifically, the CEGEP changes are one piece of a broader push to keep French as the primary language of instruction and daily use across the province's education system, extending a policy approach that has applied to elementary and secondary school since Bill 101 in 1977 into the college level for the first time. If you plan to work in a regulated profession in Quebec after your CEGEP or university studies, separate French-proficiency requirements can apply at the licensing stage, so check with your field's professional order directly rather than assuming your CEGEP or university French coursework alone satisfies a licensing body's language standard.

What to do before you apply

Ask your target CEGEP directly which French-language courses apply to your specific admission cohort and whether you hold a certificate of eligibility for English-language instruction, since that status decides whether the added French coursework applies to you. Build a bit of flexibility into your CEGEP program plan for the added coursework, and confirm current enrolment competitiveness at your target English-sector CEGEP, since demand against a capped number of spots can shift admission cutoffs from one intake to the next.

Sources

• Charter of the French Language, Legis Quebec

• Federation des cegeps

• Office quebecois de la langue francaise