Manufacturers, manufacturers and suppliers of construction products and materials sold in the various brands of the RONA company in Canada have recently been imposed a digital work platform completely stripped of French, we have learned The newspaper.
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“You want your product to be sold, whether it ends up on the shelves of RONA, Réno-Dépôt or Lowe’s, you no longer have a choice,” confirms a supplier who, fearing reprisals from the company, accepted to speak to us on condition of anonymity.
“It is possible to proceed in English or Spanish,” he continues. But in French? Forget that! Even though RONA was founded in Quebec and its head office is officially still here, it’s just not possible anymore. It’s in English or Spanish. Or not at all!”
The start of something else?
The Quebec company was bought by the New York investment company Sycamore Partners, in November 2022, for 400 million US dollars. This was only a fraction of the US$2.3 billion paid by Lowe’s six years earlier, with the approval – it should be remembered – of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
It was only a few weeks after the acquisition of RONA by the New York investment fund that a new IT solution called CommerceHub was imposed on all of the retailer’s suppliers, offering no version in French, unlike the old system (Syndigo) which was deployed in the country’s two official languages.
Above, a screenshot of a portion of the new CommerceHub platform, imposed on all RONA suppliers. The tool is available in English and Spanish, but not in French.
WEB screenshot
This situation was not without surprise to many Quebec suppliers who continue as best they can, despite frequent changes in its shareholding, to maintain sustained business ties with RONA. “Just about everyone speaks or gets by in English in our industry. That’s not the question. It’s more that when you think about it, you can’t help but wonder if this isn’t the start of something else,” another supplier told us when contacted by The newspaper.
“No comment”
Through his communications department, RONA President and CEO Andrew Iacobucci – in office for six months – refused to grant us an interview on the subject. Management also did not see fit to offer us to speak to another member of management.
Andrew Iacobucci, President and CEO of Rona, declined our interview request.
Photo RONA
In a message, sent by email, RONA claims to be “extremely sensitive to comments related to the French language”, but specifies that it “is not obligatory”, under an exception (article 52.1) of the Charter of the French language, “to offer software in French of which no version exists”.
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That said, RONA adds that at the time of “the implementation of this software, it made requests to the CommerceHub teams in order to optimize the Frenchization of the software”. Without committing to changes in this area, management assures that follow-up will be carried out in order to “explore possible solutions”.
In French, says the OQLF
Joined by The newspaperthe president and CEO of the Quebec Association of Hardware Stores and Retailers of Construction Materials (AQMAT), Richard Darveau, could not do anything other than say he was disappointed with RONA and in solidarity with the fifty or so importers, suppliers, manufacturers or manufacturers from Quebec who are thus forced to use a language other than French as their working language.
Richard Darveau, CEO of AQMAT.
Archive photo, Pierre-Paul Poulin
“RONA was founded in Quebec and its head office is in Boucherville. If all this turns out to be true, he said, I can only say that I am very surprised and disappointed. This is not normal, especially from a local company like RONA, which has always made it a point of honor to remember its origins, in particular by supporting our local purchasing program.”
For its part, in response to our questions, the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) recalls that “the Charter of the French language provides that the websites of companies carrying out commercial activities in Quebec and the information they contain must be available in French.”
RONA inc., in brief
- Founded: 1939
- Head office: Boucherville, Quebec
- Owner: Sycamore Partners, New York
- Five brands: RONA, Lowe’s, RONA+, Réno-Dépôt, Dick’s Lumber.
- Stores: 425 in Canada
- Employees: 22,000 employees
Source: RONA inc.