French-only voter mailouts for Quebec election challenged in court

Plaintiff Geoffrey Chambers aims to reinstate English versions of the documents ahead of Oct. 5 vote.

The French-only voter information documents being mailed ahead of the Quebec provincial election are officially the subject of legal action.

The issue was briefly discussed at the Montreal courthouse Tuesday afternoon, a little over a week after Élections Québec announced it will send unilingual mailouts to voters. The case will return to court Thursday morning, following a request for a delay by the defendants that was granted by the judge.

The legal challenge includes a request for a provisional interlocutory injunction as well as for a permanent injunction on the French-only election mailouts, with the goal of urgently reinstating the English versions of the documents ahead of the Oct. 5 vote. It was filed against Élections Québec and the Quebec government.

The plaintiff is Geoffrey Chambers, the former president of TALQ (known at the time as Quebec Community Groups Network), a group that advocates for the rights of English-speaking Quebecers. He was also the founding executive director of Alliance Quebec, a similar advocacy group that disbanded in 2005. Chambers declined to comment Tuesday afternoon, referring media to his lawyer.