By The-14 Media
September 23, 2026
A Quebec Superior Court judge has ordered Élections Québec to send election reminder cards in both French and English after a legal challenge over the province’s decision to send key voting information only in French.
The ruling comes less than three weeks before Quebecers head to the polls on October 5.
For the first time in a Quebec provincial election, Élections Québec had announced that its election information documents would be mailed in French only. The agency said the change resulted from Quebec’s language law, Bill 96, after its request for an exemption that would have allowed it to continue sending information in both French and English was rejected.
The documents contained information intended to help voters understand how and where to vote. English-speaking voters could access information online or through a QR code included with the mailouts. Certain voters, including Quebecers eligible for English-language education and members of First Nations, could also request information in English.
But for some voters, that was not enough.
From language policy to the courts
A group of lawyers and anglophone rights advocates challenged the French-only mailouts, arguing that access to understandable voting information is closely connected to the ability to exercise the right to vote.
The lawsuit argued that requiring voters to find information online or scan a QR code could create additional barriers, particularly for people who may not have reliable internet access, suitable devices or the technological ability to use a QR code.
The legal challenge asked the court to require Élections Québec to provide English versions of the election materials.
The case reached Quebec Superior Court in September.
On September 16, Justice Sylvain Lussier issued a partial ruling that changed what Élections Québec will send to voters. The court ordered the agency to prepare and mail reminder cards in both French and English.
The reminder card is important because it will contain the complete list of candidates and polling-station information.
However, the court did not order Élections Québec to resend the earlier voter information documents in English.
The judge found that doing so would be impractical and extremely costly at this stage of the election period.
That means the ruling does not completely reverse the French-only mailout policy. Instead, it provides bilingual reminder cards while leaving the earlier documents unchanged.
A growing concern over language policy
The dispute also raises a larger concern about how Quebec’s increasingly restrictive language rules are being applied in everyday public life.
Protecting the French language is a stated objective of Quebec’s government. But this case illustrates what can happen when those rules reach essential public services and democratic participation.
Élections Québec had wanted to continue providing election information in both French and English. That request was rejected, resulting in voting information being mailed in French only for the first time in a provincial election.
English-speaking voters were instead directed toward online information, a QR code or, in certain circumstances, information available upon request.
The court’s response is significant. Rather than treating access to voting information in English as merely a convenience, Justice Sylvain Lussier recognized a serious risk that some English-speaking voters, particularly older people, could be unable to exercise their right to vote because they could not understand the information provided to them.
That raises an important question for Quebec: how far can language policy go before protecting the French language begins creating barriers to equal participation in public life?
The ruling does not settle that broader question. But it has drawn a clear line in this case: voters must receive essential election information in a form that allows them to meaningfully participate.
What this means for voters
Quebec’s provincial election is scheduled for October 5.
Voters should receive bilingual reminder cards containing candidate and polling-station information. Those cards are separate from the earlier election documents that were already distributed in French.
The dispute is therefore about more than the language printed on an election mailout.
It has become a test of how Quebec’s language policies operate when they intersect with one of the most fundamental parts of public life: the right to participate in an election.
The government has emphasized the importance of protecting French as Quebec’s official language. The legal challenge, meanwhile, has highlighted the need for voters to have meaningful access to information necessary to exercise their democratic rights.
The court’s decision does not end that debate.
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But as Quebec prepares for the October 5 election, it has established an important immediate result: the next election reminder cards must be available in both French and English.
