Quebec Government Advised to Enforce French on Even Smaller Businesses

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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An advisory body of Quebec government, that is overseeing the implementation of the French Language Charter, has recommended that smaller businesses shall also be obligated to enforce the use of French language in the workplace.

The currently applicable language law states that it is mandatory for companies that have 50 or more employees to impose French as the language of communication in the workplace. However, now a recommendation have been submitted by The Conseil supérieur de la langue française (CLSF) that the law shall be expanded up for even smaller businesses, including the ones with 26 to 49 employees, while insisting that “less stringent and more flexible” means it shall be applied for enforcing the provision in the law. It was admitted by the advisory body that smaller businesses do not usually have the same financial means as much as larger companies to act in accordance with the language provisions.

However, the advisory body expressed growing concern over the increasing bilingualism in the workplace, which the advisory board’s president, Robert Vézina, believes is becoming a “problem” for promoting the use of French especially among immigrants. It was explained during a news conference by Mr. Vézina on Wednesday, that “If we want neo-Quebeckers to be able to work in French, because that is what we ask them to do … and they go to the workplace and are being asked more and more to work in English, that’s a problem. That is what we are seeing now.”