The change, the latest to emerge from the new Bill 96 language law, is also one of the first specific changes to be rumored but not well understood by the public, even when the bill was passed on May 24th.
With the entry into force on June 1, the wedding rule already has some couples changing locations for their weddings, as they want their certificates in English, said a wedding organizer.
“There are some who have decided to get married in a destination style,” said Montreal-based event and wedding organizer Jaime Korey.
Others, he said, simply decided to get married in a different province.
Among its customers were “mostly Ontario,” Korey said, including the small town of Hawkesbury, about an hour west of Montreal, just across the Ottawa River from Quebec.
“There are a lot of places in Hawkesbury, as well as places in Ottawa that are also nearby,” he said.
Of its customers, 90 percent are bilingual and unaffected, he said.  There are also a number of adjustments to wedding planning, including dealing with COVID-19, so it can be difficult to pinpoint people’s motivations for changing plans.
But for about 10 percent of Korey’s clients, he said, the language of the marriage certificate matters.
“It just has to do with the fact that it is a bilingual province and an English country,” he said.
Their reasons are “emotional, political, original,” he said.  “They want to have their marriage certificate in their prominent language.”
Korey had heard the news, but it has not been published well.  Quebec wedding officials received a letter from a director of Quebec «tat Civil, or state, on June 1 telling them about the change.
With the passage of Bill 96, some parts of the provincial civil code have changed, wrote Nicolas Normandin, who oversees legal changes and officials.
“Although it is still possible to complete a marriage declaration form (DEC-50) or Civil Union (DEC-55) in English after 1 June 2022, all marriage and social union certificates are written in French,” he wrote.  .
“As a result, certificates and copies of deeds related to marriages and associations that have been registered with the Registry since June 1, 2022 are issued in French.”
The wording left the situation not entirely clear.  An English-speaking wedding official told CTV News that he understood that all forms, including the marriage declaration, would be available in French only, but that people would be allowed to fill in the blanks in English.  The certificate sent by post after each wedding will be in French.
When asked to clarify certain aspects of the new rule, attat Civil asked CTV News to contact the Ministry of Justice, which oversaw the bill.  This section has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Officials in Ottawa and Hawksbury could not immediately comment on whether they saw a change in demand from the Quebec.

DO YOU WANT A DESTINATION OF MONTREAL DESTINATION? TRANSLATION REQUIRED

For Quebec residents hoping their marriage certificates will be portable outside the countryside, this rule will change that or at least add an extra hurdle.
A State Department spokesman handling visa applications for the United States directed CTV News to the Department’s step-by-step application instructions, which say non-English documents must receive certified translations.
This means that people who get married in Quebec and then find work in the US, for example, and want to bring their spouse to live and work there, will need to obtain a certified translation of their marriage certificate.
But it is not just Canadians who will have to face this extra step, said Montreal-based wedding organizer Elyna Kudish.
“Most of our clients are Americans, mostly,” he said at destination weddings in Montreal. 
“I can not talk about all my co-developers, but for me, about 75 percent of my business is from New York, Washington, Boston and Los Angeles.”
Montreal residents may not realize that their city is attractive as a wedding destination, but “for many Americans it is closer to Europe, it’s easier – the US dollar goes a long way here,” Kudish said.
“We are known for the amazing food, the great DJs, the amazing party atmosphere,” he said.  “People make a weekend out of it.”
Kudish herself is non-native, she said – fluent in French and English – but among her local clients, the majority are English-speaking, she said, simply because many French-speaking Quebeckers do not marry after the Cultural Changes of the Quiet Revolution.
He said he was concerned about the economic impact, as “Quebec lives and breathes tourism”, but was also concerned about the idea of ​​forcing English speakers to complete and sign documents written in French without a translation available.
“If I was going to get married in a foreign country and they made me sign something in a language I can not speak … how would they know what they are signing?”  he said.

BIRTH PLANS, DEATH CERTIFICATES STILL SAFE

An important question that has not been clarified is whether bill 96 will also mean that Quebec birth and death certificates will only be issued in French from now on.
In his letter to Normandin, he said that three articles in the Quebec Civil Code had been amended by Bill 96: Articles 108, 109 and 140. The updated articles have not yet been published online.
Article 108 specifically deals with the language of births, marriages, alliances and deaths in Quebec, which until now could have been written in French or English. 
This article gives you tips on how to handle transcription of official documents in foreign languages ​​with unknown characters or insignia.
Article 140, meanwhile, discusses the need to translate official documents from outside Quebec.  No translations are required for foreign English or French documents.
The Ministry of Justice and État Civil have not yet responded to a request for comment on whether the changes to Bill 96 will extend to births and deaths or simply to marriages and civil unions.
Read the letter here: