Quebec store owner ordered to change Facebook page to French
"Eva Cooper argues that Quebec's language law, Bill 101, doesn't cover social media
The owner of a store in Chelsea, Que., says she has been inundated with calls of support since the Quebec government ordered her to change the language on her store’s Facebook page to French.Eva Cooper owns the women’s clothing boutique store, Delilah (in the Parc), with locations in Ottawa’s Glebe neighbourhood and in Chelsea, just north of Gatineau
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Cooper said she serves customers in both languages, but her Facebook posts are mostly in English.
“I was a little bit in shock. I was a bit taken aback,” Cooper said regarding the request to change her Facebook page.
“It’s not like I’ve ever not followed the law with my businesses on the Quebec side.”
Customer complaint prompted order;
Cooper said she received a letter from the provincial government after a customer complained the page did not meet the requirements of Bill 101, the main legislation in Quebec’s language policy.
Cooper has been ordered to translate her page by March 10 or she could face legal action.Bill 101: Chapter VII
Language of Commerce and Business52. Catalogues, brochures, folders, commercial directories and any similar publications must be drawn up in French.
Jean-Pierre Leblanc, a spokesman with Quebec's French-language office, said any promotional material from a business must be written in French, including posts on Facebook and Twitter.
"It's not the media itself, it's the use of it, so when you use it for commercial purpose, advertising, you are selling product or you are advertising for a service, it's applied," said Leblanc.
But Cooper argues there are blurred lines because the law does not mention social media."
It is a little funny and a lot sad. Ridiculous, and vindictive.
As Oscar Wilde reminded us so eloquently, "Life imitates art." (the notion that an event in the real world is inspired by a creative work.)
I wonder what kind of hateful mind one must possess to work at the OQLF and thrive in such an atmosphere of intolerance. Like Iran's dogmatic and fanatical religious police the Basiji, who scour the streets in search of immodestly dressed women, so too does the OQLF, which views itself as the protector of all things linguistically pure and chaste.
When Quebec militants observe that religious zealots are unwelcome in Quebec, they conveniently ignore that the only ones terrorizing the public over morality and language are they themselves.
While the PQ and its followers hold that extremists who demand religious piety from those disinclined represent a dangerous affront on freedom, they hold that extremists who demand language compliance, honourable instruments of legitimate public policy.
As Oscar Wilde reminded us so eloquently, "Life imitates art." (the notion that an event in the real world is inspired by a creative work.)
I wonder what kind of hateful mind one must possess to work at the OQLF and thrive in such an atmosphere of intolerance. Like Iran's dogmatic and fanatical religious police the Basiji, who scour the streets in search of immodestly dressed women, so too does the OQLF, which views itself as the protector of all things linguistically pure and chaste.
When Quebec militants observe that religious zealots are unwelcome in Quebec, they conveniently ignore that the only ones terrorizing the public over morality and language are they themselves.
While the PQ and its followers hold that extremists who demand religious piety from those disinclined represent a dangerous affront on freedom, they hold that extremists who demand language compliance, honourable instruments of legitimate public policy.
The reality is that the OQLF, Quebec's language police, is a chickenshit outfit, prone to terrorizing and bullying mom and pop businesses, but utterly afraid of the big boys.
Humourless and faceless ideologues who can actually make sense of demanding English television and radio stations to advertise their wares in French on billboards....Mais Oui!
But when faced with the harsh reality that some big companies will leave Quebec rather then operate in French, the solution is to offer waivers.
Think the OQLF will offer small boutiques, whose clientele is foreign or exclusively English the same opportunity?
Humourless and faceless ideologues who can actually make sense of demanding English television and radio stations to advertise their wares in French on billboards....Mais Oui!
But when faced with the harsh reality that some big companies will leave Quebec rather then operate in French, the solution is to offer waivers.
Think the OQLF will offer small boutiques, whose clientele is foreign or exclusively English the same opportunity?
I repeat what I've always said, why is
it that toy cars must be labeled in French, yet real cars continue to
have English dashboards?
Quebec language laws are morally reprehensible because they are enforced selectively.
How would we react if police stood on a busy downtown corner in any Quebec city and ticketed jaywalkers selectively, that is, picking out only those who are people of colour, ignoring the whites. (Oh wait, this actually happens in Montreal.)
Quebec language laws are morally reprehensible because they are enforced selectively.
How would we react if police stood on a busy downtown corner in any Quebec city and ticketed jaywalkers selectively, that is, picking out only those who are people of colour, ignoring the whites. (Oh wait, this actually happens in Montreal.)
And so why do Quebec casinos, owned and operated by a government of Quebec agency, flout the language laws with impunity. How is it they are given a pass, while small fry shopkeepers are terrorized?
The below screenshot comes directly from Loto-Quebec's French language website, proudly showing off all the wonderful slot machines offered in its Quebec casinos, with nary a word in French;
Take note that not only is the artwork in English only, but the instructions as well!
You can visit Loto-Quebec's webpage that proudly introduces all its exclusively English slot machines through a well produced slideshow. HERE
Why do the Quebec casinos, own and operated by a government of Quebec agency, flout the language laws with impunity?
So I repeat what I've always said, why is it that toy cars must be labeled in French, yet real cars continue to have English dashboards?
I'm going to say this again, that we as a targeted minority shouldn't complain if we are not willing to make any effort to resist.
Most businesses just cave in to the pressure in order to buy their peace, it is sad, but true.
If every targeted business would invest a thousand dollars and would committ its time to drag the OQLF in a time-consuming and bitter legal battle, the wheels of the OQLF would fall off.“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”- Ben Franklin
If every OQLF inspector understood that he or she was walking into a hornet's nest instead of a fearful and compliant victim and every single file would be a bloody battle royale, things would change.
Like a bully who finds that his victims are fighting back and with effect, attitudes quickly change.
Each case can easily be dragged out for years and years and this at almost no cost. Most cases will be dropped anyways because for the OQLF, pursuing tiny cases costs an enormous amount of money and so tying up legal resources, a legitimate act of social defiance.
If Eva Cooper just says no to the OQLF over the Facebook page, it will mean a lengthy delay (years) before the issue is decided in court (and there is absolutely no overwhelming expectation that the OQLF will win.)
In the meantime, the OQLF will send out hundreds of letters pretending that the issue is cut and dried, when clearly it is not.
If everyone who received such a letter refused to comply based on the position that the request is beyond the scope of the law, it will be the OQLF which will be perturbed.
Every OQLF employee who is required to spend loads of time on the most obscure offences, it means that he or she cannot terrorize someone else.Legal resistance is not only a viable defence, but an obligation in the face of collective oppression.
For our community, it is time to put up or shut up. The OQLF cannot flourish unless we blindly obey their every caprice.
Nobody is asking you to take a truncheon in the noggin or face a jail term for resistance, as did many who fought for their human rights.
If we aren't willing to spend a few dollars and expend a little effort we absolutely deserve what we get.
Fight back or shut up, which will it be?
****** UPDATE ********
****** LANGUAGE COPS CAVE UNDER PRESSURE! ********
March 3, 2014;"Quebec’s language police have beaten a hasty retreat in their fight with a Chelsea businesswoman they’d targeted for supposedly violating provincial language laws.“I think I can do what I was doing before,” Eva Cooper, owner of a specialty clothing shop, Delilah (in the Parc), said Monday as she explained that officials with the Office québécois de la langue française — more contemptuously known as the language gendarmes — are no longer insisting her store’s Facebook postings be equally French and English" Link
