On December 12, 2025, the National Assembly of Quebec passed Bill 109, An Act to affirm the cultural sovereignty of Québec and to enact the Act respecting the discoverability of French-language cultural content in the digital environment (the Act). This legislation – which will come into force on a yet-to-be-determined date and is likely to be subject to legal scrutiny – marks a significant step in the province’s ongoing efforts to ensure that French-language cultural works, including film, television, and music content, are readily available and easily accessible on digital platforms and connected devices in Quebec.
Background
Canada presents a unique bilingual cultural milieu. At the federal level, English and French possess equal status, rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada, pursuant to The Constitution Act, 1982 (Canada), the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Official Languages Act (Canada). However, so far as the provinces of Canada are concerned, other than in New Brunswick, provincial law, regulation and provincial institutions reflect a mosaic of differing bilingual polices. In Quebec, Canada’s historically French-language dominated province, the provincial government is particularly present to the Supreme Court of Canada’s affirmation that language rights possess deep cultural significance and are tied to cultural identity and minority protection.1
Given consumer acceptance of new streaming technologies that render all countries essentially one borderless media marketplace, the Quebec government’s Ministry of Culture and Communications (the Ministry) formed an advisory committee in April 2023 to analyze available tools and legal avenues to improve the discoverability of French-language Quebec cultural content on major digital and online streaming platforms. The Quebec government’s increased focus on content discoverability on digital platforms was in no doubt also influenced by the Canadian federal government’s own increased efforts to promote the discoverability of Canadian film, television and music content on online streaming services. Those efforts have been a significant focus of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)’s regulatory actions following the passage of the Online Streaming Act (Canada) in April 2023, as discussed in our previous Cassels Comment.
In January 2024, the Ministry’s advisory committee released its report, the “Cultural Sovereignty of Quebec in the Digital Age: Report of the Advisory Committee on the Discoverability of Cultural Content” (the Report). This Report contained 32 recommendations from the Ministry intended to protect, improve, and defend Quebec’s cultural content. Notably, recommendation 21 from the Report was the proposal of a bill to guarantee Quebec residents the right to access and discover French-language cultural content.
Building on the Report, the Ministry launched a public consultation, “Legislative framework on the discoverability of Francophone cultural content,” in May 2024. This consultation drew 43 submissions from a wide range of stakeholders, including Canadian and international media companies, as well as Quebec-based content creators. The responses to the consultation revealed deep divisions on legal, constitutional, and policy issues, highlighting the challenges of regulating cultural content in a globalized digital environment.
Following the Report and the subsequent consultation, the Act was introduced to Quebec’s National Assembly on May 21, 2025 and passed on December 12, 2025.
Framework and Scope of the Act
Once in force, the Act is set to reshape Quebec’s digital landscape by requiring online content platforms and device manufacturers who sell their products or offer their services in Quebec to prioritize French-language cultural content on those platforms and devices. The requirements will apply broadly to digital platforms that offer services for viewing audiovisual content online or audio content for online listening, such as streaming services and music and podcast platforms, as well as connected devices such as smart TVs whose interfaces provide access to cultural content. The Act will not apply to digital platforms that primarily offer Indigenous content, i.e., content that is in an Indigenous language (or a language understood by Indigenous communities) and is intended for Indigenous communities.
Key requirements, obligations, and features of the Act include the following:
- Qualifying platforms will be required to register with the Ministry, which will have broad powers to demand information and enforce compliance.
- The interfaces of digital platforms or devices will be required to set the default language to French, ensuring that users encounter the language first when navigating digital services.
- The Quebec government will be empowered to issue regulations that set minimum requirements regarding the quantity or proportion of French-language cultural content that must be offered by platforms. Relatedly, the Quebec government will also be empowered to issue regulations establishing criteria for determining what constitutes original French‑language cultural content (similarly to how the CRTC has a “CanCon” system for determining what constitutes “Canadian content”).
- Digital platforms that fail to comply will face monetary penalties of up to $2,500 per day of non-compliance for individuals and up to $15,000 per day of non-compliance for corporations. However, the Ministry will retain discretion to negotiate “substitute measures” with digital platforms, so long as such measures remain aligned with the purposes of the Act.
- To oversee compliance, the Act will establish a new administrative unit within the Ministry, the Bureau de la découvrabilité des contenus culturels (the Bureau). The Bureau will be tasked with monitoring adherence and reporting on the presence and consumption of French-language content.
- The Act will also grant the Ministry the ability to conduct inspections and investigations, as well as the power to order corrective measures when digital platforms or manufacturers fail to meet their obligations.
Debates, Criticisms, and Jurisdictional Challenges
The Act reflects Quebec’s longstanding commitment to ensuring that French-language cultural content remains accessible and financially viable in the digital age. In a recent interview, Culture Minister Mathieu Lacombe noted that the Act was tabled in response to concerns that the advancement of digital technology has resulted in Quebec culture receding, particularly in light of studies cited by the Culture Minister that claim that an overwhelming majority of young people in Quebec have reported finding it difficult to discover and access French-language cultural content.
On the other hand, the passage of the Act has attracted criticism and concern from stakeholders in the domestic and international digital content and online streaming industries. For example, shortly after the Act’s passage, various online streaming platforms and film and television industry associations that represent the interests of digital and streaming platforms released statements expressing concerns that the Act’s vague definitions, overlap with federal regulations and policies, and absence of a distinction between foreign and domestic platforms could create uncertainty and impose burdensome obligations on industry stakeholders. Some have also criticized the Act for not taking into account the nuances of how some digital and streaming platforms offer content in practice; for example, many streaming services (particularly in the audio content market) offer a nearly unlimited selection of content, making it practically impossible for those services to meet potential French-language content proportionality requirements without outright blocking access to English-language content in Quebec.
The Act also raises constitutional questions because the regulation of broadcasting in Canada traditionally falls under federal jurisdiction, including through the Broadcasting Act (Canada) and the federal regulations thereunder. As discussed above, the Online Streaming Act (Canada) amended the Broadcasting Act (Canada) in 2023 to explicitly regulate online streaming services. While the regulation of “culture” is commonly understood to be within the purview of the provinces, the regulation of the internet and internet service providers is not. As such, Quebec’s assertion of jurisdiction over this domain has sparked debate about whether provinces can regulate streaming platforms directly. The passage of the Act therefore highlights a potential tension between provincial cultural authority and federal broadcasting jurisdiction, possibly setting the stage for legal and political disputes over the constitutional scope of Quebec’s powers in the digital sphere.
Key Takeaways & Next Steps
While the Act has now been passed, it is not yet in force, and the Quebec government has yet to propose regulations detailing the scope of the Act and the specific obligations of digital platforms and device manufacturers. It is anticipated that the regulations under the Act will define what qualifies as original French-language cultural content and establish what quantity or proportion of such content digital platforms must make available. As noted above, companies unable to comply will have the option to negotiate substitute measures with the Ministry, offering some flexibility while also achieving the purposes of the Act.
At the same time, broadcasting remains firmly recognized as a matter of federal jurisdiction, governed by the Broadcasting Act (Canada), as recently amended by the Online Streaming Act (Canada). The CRTC is actively implementing the Online Streaming Act (Canada) through consultations and policies that address discoverability and the promotion of Canadian content. Against this backdrop, the Act raises unresolved constitutional questions about whether provincial authority extends to digital streaming platforms. As a result, the legislation is likely to face legal challenges and further political scrutiny in the months ahead. While any obligations under the Act would apply only within Quebec, online undertakings that operate nationally will need to navigate both the provincial and federal regimes.
Lastly, the Act may also present a bit of a backfire to French language culture if not carefully implemented. If the anticipated regulations under the Act specify percentages of French language content on streaming services during various hours of the broadcasting or streaming day, one way to meet those requirements may be not to increase French language content, but to reduce English language content, all to the determinant of the aggregate streaming media content available to Quebec residents.
The Cassels Entertainment & Sports Law Group has been closely monitoring developments in the regulation of broadcasting and online undertakings following the passage of the Online Streaming Act. If you have any questions about how the Act may impact your business, please reach out to a member of our Group.
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1 The Attorney General of Quebec v. La Chaussure Brown’s Inc., Valerie Ford, McKenna Inc., Nettoyeur et Tailleur Masson Inc. and La Compagnie de Fromage Nationale Ltée [1988] 2 SCR 712