The reform of the Charter of the French language put in place by the Legault government offends certain video game professionals who refuse to learn French within the prescribed time limits. They also believe that the imposition of learning the language of Molière will scare away workers in the sector en masse, something that industry representatives dispute.
“This perception came after some video game professionals said they were angry about the situation in the media, but we do not perceive a real problem in general,” says the To have to the director general of the Video Game Guild of Quebec, Jean-Jacques Hermans. “There is a certain administrative overload for certain small studios, but we don’t worry: we have prepared a guide to help them adapt. »
Bill 96, passed by the National Assembly in late May, requires newcomers to be fluent enough in French to obtain services from the Quebec government just six months after arriving in the province. The law also obliges the smallest businesses—those with between 25 and 49 employees—to submit to the same language obligations as SMEs with 50 to 99 employees. Which doesn’t suit everyone.
“You can see it already, there are a few people looking at ’96 Bill’ and saying, ‘OK, it’s time for me to pack my bags and go.’ This is what a newly arrived worker in the Montreal video game world told the CBC anonymously at the end of June. He feared he wouldn’t be able to get a job with a local publisher since he doesn’t speak French and doesn’t seem inclined to get into it anytime soon.
His fear was ultimately unfounded — the company he hoped to work for told him that the new law would not change anything in his day-to-day operations and that meetings would continue to be held in English. In fact, the publisher also implied that learning French would remain optional and, in fact, no one was going to demand it, explains the CBC in its article.
But it was his first assertion that stood out the most, admits Jean-Jacques Hermans. “There were some questions following the CBC interview,” but it’s still anecdotal, he says. ” We know that [le jeu vidéo] is an ecosystem that has long operated predominantly in English. The Guild has been working closely with the OQLF for a long time to try to francize the industry. »
“In the context of a tighter labor market, does this cause concern? No more than in other ecosystems. »
One-stop shop requested
Labor specialized in video games is scarce all over the world. The same is true across Canada, where Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia are daringly competing to attract the professionals their businesses need.
It is above all the new administrative measures imposed by the Act respecting the official and common language of Quebec, French (formerly Bill 96) and which affect publishers with more modest means which bother the Guild. Because before moving dozens of future employees to Quebec, publishers mainly continue to open or expand satellite offices elsewhere in the country.
“The logic is not to move people, rather to get closer to the workers,” says Jean-Jacques Hermans. On this subject, the Video Game Guild is on the side of other Quebec companies from the technology sectors who are asking the Legault government to postpone the application of certain measures of Law 96 or, at least, to accelerate the creation of a counter bringing together all the tools companies need to comply with it.
“If we could have a one-stop shop for immigration assistance programs by studios that have to dealer with these new regulations and which have little infrastructure, that would help”, continues the director general of the sectoral body. “In fact, the main barrier for our ecosystem is more at the level of immigration thresholds and access to immigration programs. »
Not all immigrants want to learn French, but there are certainly foreign workers who are ready to do so in order to come and work in Quebec. Facilitating the connection of these people with Quebec employers seems the best way to silence critics of the reform of the Charter of the French language, says Jean-Jacques Hermans in a way.
” Whether [apprendre le français] was our only stake in the job market, we would be super happy! he concludes.