Court asked to order Élections Québec to mail out English voting information

MONTREAL – A lawyer for Élections Québec told a Montreal courtroom on Thursday that there might be time to send out one piece of English-language voter information by mail, as the elections agency and provincial government faced a court challenge over French-only mailouts.

But Henrick Lavoie also told a Quebec Superior Court judge that it’s too late to send out both an English version of a voting guide and an English notice card to electors before the Oct. 5 vote.

“I submit respectfully that it’s impossible, downright impossible,” he said in a Montreal courtroom.

However, he said it might still be possible to send out a voting reminder card in English if the court issues an order to that effect by Sept. 16. The list of candidates is finalized at 2 p.m. on Sept. 17 and the agency had already planned to print out reminder cards to mail out after that deadline.

He said the additional cards printed in English would cost the province about $6 million.

Élections Québec is being pressed to address the issue after Montreal lawyer Doug Mitchell took it to court, seeking an order that would force the provincial agency to send out voter information in both French and English.

The agency said earlier this month that it would be providing the documents in French only.

Mitchell told the court that not giving people the information they need to cast a ballot could hurt their ability to exercise their right to vote.

“The end result of this, if no documents are sent, is that the people wanting to vote will be denied the right to vote because they will not have had the ability to understand and act to advance their interests to exercise one of the most fundamental rights in the world,” he said.

Élections Québec said on Sept. 1 that printed voter cards will be available only in French for the first time in its history, in order to comply with new language legislation. 

The provincial elections authority said it must follow legislation adopted in 2022 making French the sole language of communication for public institutions, but said the documents will include a QR code for voters seeking online information in English.

Mitchell noted that Élections Québec sought an exemption to the law in order to be allowed to mail information in both languages, but was denied. 

He cited a letter written to the Quebec government by the province’s chief electoral officer that suggested the validity of the election could be challenged if it were forced to apply the law to the letter.

“That the government of Quebec would prefer to take the risk of an election being invalidated or annulled (rather) than provide the documents that the (elections agency) believes are necessary for a fair election … the court should be troubled by that,” Mitchell said. 

He said the QR code isn’t an adequate substitute because many people can’t access them, including some seniors and people without cellphones or reliable internet.

Mitchell, acting on behalf of plaintiff Geoffrey Chambers, asked the judge to grant an emergency order to get the elections agency to provide English copies of the provincial election guide, a notice sent to electors, and a reminder card.

Éric Cantin, the lawyer for the Quebec government, on the other hand, argued that the obligation to inform voters does not equal a right to mailed documents in English. Cantin noted that Élections Québec has several other ways of delivering information to voters, including through English ads, the media, a phone line and online. 

“What we’re trying to invent is a right to a mailing by post, and not a right to information because the information is there,” he said.

He said a ruling in Mitchell’s favour would amount to creating an “absolute obligation” to send material in both French and English. “And what else? What’s to stop it from continuing after that — and being sent out in every language — if you start putting that kind of thing forward?” he said.

Cantin also argued that it is up to the Quebec government to draft language laws, and to address issues with them.

That last assertion drew pushback from Superior Court Justice Sylvain Lussier, who noted that a government representing the majority can’t always be trusted to advocate for minority rights. 

“When you say ‘trust the legislator,’ I’m not reassured,” he said. 

Lussier also questioned Mitchell on why, by his logic, speakers of other languages shouldn’t also be able to insist to have voting information mailed to them in their first language.

Mitchell said the case hinged not only on whether a right is being violated, but also on whether the restriction could be justified. He said that wasn’t the case at present, especially since Élections Québec had itself argued for the importance of continuing to provide English documents.

Lussier took notice of Élections Québec’s cutoff date to produce the reminder cards, but did not say when he would issue a decision. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2026.