Lawyers for the Quebec government were at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, asking that a recent ruling against the province's language law be suspended until they can plead their case in Canada's highest court.

The move came one week after the Quebec Court of Appeal in Montreal ruled that 25 Quebec families can send their children to English public schools, provided that the children attended English private schools for at least one year. The ruling goes against Quebec's Charter of the French Language.

Quebec is appealing the ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada, which may not hear the case for years. Until then, the government doesn't want the Court of Appeal ruling to take effect.

But Brent Tyler, a lawyer for the families, said Quebec's push for a suspension is mean-spirited. He said school starts this week, and the 57 children affected by the ruling want to start their year at English schools.

Admitting private school children into the English public school system had been a loophole that existed for decades in the Charter of the French Language, a language law more popularly known as Bill 101.

Bill 101, passed in 1977, strove to preserve French by putting strict limitations on which Quebec children would be allowed to attend English schools.

In 2002, the Quebec government quashed the private school loophole by passing an amended language law, Bill 104. The amendment came after many families began enrolling their children in private schools for just one year so they could be eligible to attend English public schools.