The City of Côte Saint-Luc responded to the new provisions of the Legault government’s reform of Bill 101, in force since Thursday, with humor. While municipalities in Quebec can now only offer services in English to certain targeted groups, Côte-Saint-Luc decided to ignore this new measure in a humorous message from the city’s telephone information line.
“For English service, press 2,” the recorded voice said. By the way, you don’t need to show us your grade three report card or your family tree going back ten generations. And you don’t have to promise anything. We are the city of Côte Saint-Luc, and that’s how we work here. »
“This law is so absurd that someone has to [oser] say it,” explained Steven Erdelyi, a city councilor from this small enclave with an English-speaking majority in the west of Montreal, on Friday, in an interview with CTV News. The municipality also specified that the message would be temporary and that it especially wanted to react with humor.
Note that among the new provisions of the An Act respecting the official and common language of Quebec, Frenchonly certain people who can demonstrate “in good faith” that they belong to exempt groups can receive municipal services in English.
These are persons declared eligible for instruction in English, Aboriginal persons, immigrants who have been in Quebec for less than 6 months, callers from outside the province of Quebec and persons who have corresponded with the City only in English before May 13, 2021.
online services
Several cities in Quebec have also modified their websites following the entry into force of the new provisions of the law. On the site of the City of Montreal, for example, one could read, Thursday: “This content is intended for the public covered by the exceptions provided for by Bill 96”. On Friday, the message, which sowed controversy, seemed to have been changed to: “The Charter of the French language governs the consultation of content in English”.
In Longueuil, the English section of the City’s website has been completely removed. A message in English, however, indicates that “using the translation tools of your web browser, you can also consult it in the language of your choice”. On the side of the City of Quebec, no modification has been made to the site for the moment.
What’s more, bilingual Quebec municipalities have had to make sure in recent months with the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) that they could keep their status. They were told that said status could be revoked if English was the mother tongue of less than 50% of their population.
However, the OQLF confirmed, last March, that all these 48 cities, municipalities or boroughs have taken the necessary measures to remain bilingual. Unsurprisingly, Côte-Saint-Luc is part of the lot.