TALQ welcomes and strongly supports the Barreau du Québec’s recent comprehensive brief on Bill 1. The CAQ’s proposed bill, which sets out a blueprint for a Quebec constitution, was itself introduced abruptly in the National Assembly on Oct. 9, 2025, without prior consultation.
The Barreau’s thorough analysis confirms what a great many diverse civil-society organizations – including TALQ – have expressed alarm about: Bill 1 threatens the integrity of Quebec’s legal system, weakens the rule of law, and undermines the rights protections that all Quebecers, whatever their origin, expect and rely upon.
Just as TALQ has outlined in its own brief to the National Assembly commission which is set to begin studying the bill and hearing from groups in early December, the Barreau’s brief, methodically and in painstaking detail, demonstrates that Bill 1 would:
- Restrict civil-society oversight by prohibiting professional orders and community organizations from participating in constitutional challenges.
- Erode judicial independence through the creation of a politically constituted “Conseil constitutionnel” with ideological-appointment criteria and no right to publish dissenting opinions.
- Diminish individual-rights protections, including those guaranteed under the 1975 Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
- Create profound legal instability by introducing a “Constitution of Quebec” that lacks actual constitutional authority under Canadian law.
- Mislead the public through the rebranding of the federal notwithstanding clause as a “disposition de souveraineté parlementaire”.
“We applaud the Barreau du Québec for its clarity, its courage, and its principled defence of the rule of law,” TALQ President Eva Ludvig said. “The Barreau’s analysis confirms what we have been saying and what we are hearing across Quebec: Bill 1 is not an exercise in constitutional housekeeping. It represents a structural shift that threatens judicial independence, weakens rights protections, and places democratic dissent at risk.”
The rule of law is not an abstract concept, TALQ maintains. It is the practical guarantee that individuals, families, and minority communities can rely on courts, institutions, and rights-protection systems when governments go too far. As the Barreau noted, Bill 1 would make that guarantee weaker, more political, and less accessible.