On May 13, 2021, Bill 96: An Act Respecting French, The
Official and Common Language of Québec (the
“Bill”) was tabled by the
Québec government. This Bill aims to provide for stricter
protections of the French language within the Charter of
the French Language (the
“Charter”) and several other
provincial laws. However, we are comforted that the current
practices in the industry, including the preparation of loan and
security documents, remain largely unchanged by the Bill.
Section 55 of the Charter: Standard-form contracts and standard
clauses
The Bill requires that standard-form “contracts of
adhesion” be drafted and presented only in French to a
contracting or credit party for examination under the amended s. 55
of the Charter. Only after having done so in respect of such
“contracts of adhesion”, will the contracting or credit
party be able to be bound by such a contract in English provided
further that it is expressly requested and chosen as the
“choice of
