Should protection of the French language come at the cost of small Quebec businesses when the majority of their audience is anglophone?
As a small business owner in Quebec, I understand the importance of respecting local regulations, including those that aim to protect the French language. But there’s a fine line between preserving language and stifling business growth, and the recent action by Quebec’s language office, the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF), is a perfect example of overreach.
The OQLF recently ordered Petites Gamines, a Gatineau café, to post all its Instagram content in French or face consequences. The café, located on the border of Quebec and Ottawa, had been posting in English for nine years without issue, catering to a largely anglophone audience. Despite the café offering service in French and maintaining a French Facebook page, the OQLF took action based on a complaint about its English Instagram posts. The café’s owner, Gabrielle Sexton, has refused to comply, arguing that social media is global and that this restriction would harm her business.
This situation raises serious concerns for other small business owners, like myself. Many of us post in English because our customers aren’t just in Quebec—they’re all over the world.
For example, my website is bilingual, and I provide services in both French and English, but on platforms like LinkedIn, I communicate in English because my clients are global.
Forcing me to post in French would mean I would need to produce all my content in both languages. This would mean spending time adapting my content to French (very time consuming), paying for a translator (not financially viable), or using AI (the tech is not there to allow me to trust it to do a good enough job).
If I were FORCED to do it, my business would not survive.
I strongly believe that protecting the French language is important, in fact I encourage and support many of my clients to post bilingually, because it makes business sense for them. The ROI is there. For me it is not.
There must be a better way to ensure language preservation while also allowing businesses the freedom to remain profitable.
For example, I’d be happy to translate all my content if it was subsidized! It would support the French language AND allow me to continue running my business. Give me the carrot instead of the stick.
I’d love your thoughts!
Discover more from MIM Marketing
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I think that commerces on the street have a hard enough time to compete with international internet commerce that I strongly agree with you. Stop making rules that are hard to follow for on the street retailers.
I feel you! The laws for brick and mortar businesses add costs and burden on SME. Do you find they outweigh the returns?
Well to be honest, I am a digital nomad working in Costa Rica for Canadian companies. So I completely understand your point but not necessarily living it. Hope you will succeed someday to value your point because it is nonsence to me that I can do whatever I want here but you have so many rules when you have a postal code in Canada and you are competing with the world.
oh wow! Not a bad life, my friend. Good for you! 😉