After selling homes in Montreal for nearly three decades, real estate agent Mario Conte says he’s used to dealing with paperwork — but not what he recently received.
The Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) sent him a letter of complaint about the language he uses on social media.
“I was really surprised, surprised,” Conte said. “They mentioned to me that on my social media platforms, there wasn’t enough French.”
The trilingual agent says all its printed material, from business cards to calendars, is in French and its website is in both languages.
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He never imagined that what he posts on his Instagram account would attract the attention of the province’s French language supervisor.
“We’re talking about Instagram, which has a worldwide reach,” he said. “The user has the option with the click of a button to have the post in front of them be in the language of their choice. I mean, where do we really draw the line?”
Conte is not the only one who has been the target of OQLF complaints about social media posts.
Less than two weeks ago, Global News spoke with the owners of an Armenian bakery in Montreal, who also received a letter of reprimand for using too much English in their TikTok posts.
Francois Laberge, a spokesman for the agency, says businesses and professionals operating in Quebec must respect the French language statute — including when posting and advertising on social media.
“Content may be posted in a language other than French, but the French version should be at least equivalent and as accessible as possible,” Laberge said.
But constitutional lawyer Julius Gray says the effort to regulate language on social media raises questions about freedom of expression and adds that it gives Quebec a bad rap.
“It’s terrible for Quebec and it’s terrible for the people because they’re insisting on things that have absolutely no purpose — they’re not based on any kind of fact and they can’t hurt anybody,” he said.
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