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La Belle Province NOT!
Montreal, Quebec, Canada has often been touted as a bustling city with a quaint European flair and a sense of French joie de vivre, mixed with a multi-cultural energy. That may read well for the tourist guides, but if you look past the high-end shopping, fabulous restaurants, world-class museums and other dazzling features that the city offers, you’ll likely discover some ugly truths about Montreal. The entire Province of Quebec is under the scrutiny of l’Office québécois de la langue française, which is an official and legal department of the Provincial Government. This “office” employs inspectors who act on citizen complaints regarding the visibility and prominence of the French language in businesses throughout the province. Imagine living and working in a place where, at any point in time, an official "language inspector" can enter your place of business, take photographs, measure the size of French words in comparison to any other language and generally seek out “violations” of the provincial language charter. Imagine having to spend your time and money to defend yourself and your business against the “office”.
Montreal made international headlines recently – you may have heard of “PastaGate” – it involved a well-known Montreal restaurant that was the target of what is now being called an “overzealous” investigation. The complaints stemmed from the use of the word “pasta” on the menu of an Italian restaurant – imagine that! The “office” has since backtracked and has launched what it’s calling an investigation on how complaints are handled and has promised to make the results publicly known by the end of March.
I invite you to visit the website of the OQLF (http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/index.html) to view some of the documents that are being published by our government and being paid for by our tax dollars.
There are strict rules and regulations pertaining to the Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business and they’re outlined here:
http://www2.publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/dynamicSearch/telecharge.php?type=3&file=/C_11/C11R9_A.HTM
Sadly, not enough people realize that all of this is in direct conflict with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
It is my hope that this information will become a topic for discussion outside of La Belle Province, and that people will finally understand the conditions under which we are living. With the threat of Bill 14 coming into play, now is the time for people to be made aware of what is being done in the name of preserving the French culture in Quebec.
Montreal made international headlines recently – you may have heard of “PastaGate” – it involved a well-known Montreal restaurant that was the target of what is now being called an “overzealous” investigation. The complaints stemmed from the use of the word “pasta” on the menu of an Italian restaurant – imagine that! The “office” has since backtracked and has launched what it’s calling an investigation on how complaints are handled and has promised to make the results publicly known by the end of March.
I invite you to visit the website of the OQLF (http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/index.html) to view some of the documents that are being published by our government and being paid for by our tax dollars.
There are strict rules and regulations pertaining to the Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business and they’re outlined here:
http://www2.publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/dynamicSearch/telecharge.php?type=3&file=/C_11/C11R9_A.HTM
Sadly, not enough people realize that all of this is in direct conflict with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
It is my hope that this information will become a topic for discussion outside of La Belle Province, and that people will finally understand the conditions under which we are living. With the threat of Bill 14 coming into play, now is the time for people to be made aware of what is being done in the name of preserving the French culture in Quebec.
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