Quebec court urged to order bilingual voter mailings before election

Geoffrey Chambers, who previously led the anglophone rights organization Talking. Advocating. Living in Québec., sued Élections Québec over its policy of sending election guides and voter cards solely in French for the first time.

At a hearing in the Quebec Superior Court, Chambers urged Judge Sylvain Lussier to reverse the decision and require bilingual mailings. The agency says it was denied a government exemption and that adding English documents would cost an extra $4.3 million on top of the existing $7.5 million budget, with security constraints complicating distribution. Plaintiffs argue the move breaches the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and would marginalize seniors and remote voters who cannot rely on QR-code links to online English information. The judge must decide by Wednesday, with production of the cards set to start the next day and the deadline for voter receipt being Oct. 2, three days before the Oct. 5 election.