The Government Of Quebec Announced A New Montreal Exhibition Dedicated To French

Downtown Montreal is getting a new public exhibition dedicated to the French language, paid for by the Government of Quebec.

Simon Jolin-Barrette, newly minted Minister of the French Language, announced a $950,000 grant for Montreal's museum of archaeology, Pointe-à-Callière, to develop the exhibition, which will be on display in the Espace culturel Georges-Émile-Lapalme at Place des Arts.

According to a press release from Jolin-Barrette's office, the installation will recount the history of French in Montreal and describe "the importance of its role and the events that led to the creation of the Charter of the French Language."

The aim is for a summer 2023 opening.

The $950,000 grant comes from a fund of $104 million earmarked in the 2021 budget to support projects that, as the minister's office put it, "defend and strengthen the status of French as an official and common language of Quebec."

"The French language is a precious cultural heritage, at the heart of our identity," Jolin-Barrette stated in the release.

He added that he hopes the exhibition will "awaken a collective sense of pride in the French language, inspire a desire to preserve French, move people with the beauty of our language and encourage the use of French."

The project, he said, "demonstrates the government's desire to give back to French the place it deserves in Quebec."

The announcement of the grant follows the passage of Bill 96, a sweeping reform of the Charter of the French Language that, among other things, created the Ministry of the French Language.

At the announcement of the launch of the ministry, Premier François Legault vowed to "continue to protect our language and reverse the trend of the last few years that has unfortunately led to the decline of French in Quebec."