While the decline of French continues to worry throughout Quebec, the number of complaints to the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) has literally exploded over the past year.
• Also read: French: T&T Supermarkets and Loblaw do it again
This is what we learn from the latest annual report of the OQLF, which reports the receipt of 9,125 complaints during the 2023-2024 financial year, an increase of 33% compared to the previous year.
This is the third year in a row where the number of complaints reached a new peak. Last year (2022-2023), the Office collected 6,884 complaints from citizens, an increase of almost 10% over the previous year.
Archive photo, QMI Agency
A situation which in no way surprises Jean-Paul Perreault, president of Impératif français, an organization for the defense and promotion of the French language in Quebec.
“What surprises me every time is that there aren’t more [de plaintes]. French is the only common language of diversity in Quebec. And yet, unfortunately, if we had to file a complaint every time someone transgresses our language, the OQLF would receive hundreds of thousands of complaints each year.”
Service language and display
Yesterday, Dominique Malack, current CEO of the OQLF, was not available for an interview or to discuss with The Journal of the causes of this explosion of complaints.
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But according to data available on the organization’s website, 34% of complaints or denunciations concerned the language of service, 27% the language of websites or commercial documentation (invoices, contracts, employment forms, etc.) and 20% the language of public and commercial displays.
Most of the 9,125 cases reported were located on the island of Montreal, accounting for 58% of complaints. Furthermore, 11% concerned situations that occurred on the territory of the South Shore of Montreal (Montérégie), 7% on the territory of the Capitale-Nationale and 5% on the territory of Laval.
Only four fines in 2024
The Office maintains that it has increased its presence on the ground in order to ensure compliance with the Quebec Charter of the French Language. It carried out 9,367 inspections in its last financial year, which equates to an increase of 40.4%. However, he reports having not transmitted any cases to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions during the year.
Moreover, since the start of 2024, only four convictions have been brought against companies for non-compliance with the Charter. In 2023, ten companies were sentenced, by the Court of Quebec, to fines ranging from $1,500 to $7,500.
▶ Over the past five years, complaints and denunciations for non-compliance with various provisions of the Charter of the French Language have increased by 149% at the OQLF.
Number of complaints received *:
Year | Number of complaints
- 2023-2024: 9125
- 2022-2023: 6884
- 2021-2022: 6292
- 2020-2021: 4326
* from 1is April to March 31
Source: Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF)
Convictions by the Court of Quebec in 2024*
Companies | Date | Fines
- Grillado’s Grilled Chicken Peri Peri | January 2024 | 1500$
(9318-9165 Québec inc)
- Greenfield Supermarket Inc. | February 2024 | 1500$
- Greenfield Supermarket Inc. | February 2024 | 1500$
- Bodybag by Jude | Avril 2024 |1500$
(9099-3742 Québec inc)
*As of November 12, 2024
Source: Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF)
