The owner of Boutique Shawville Shooz, Jill McBane, received a warning letter last week from Quebec’s French language authority, the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF), after publishing posts in English-only on her store’s Facebook page.

Boutique Shawville Shooz is a shoe and accessory store on Shawville’s Main Street.

The letter, which THE EQUITY obtained, notified McBane that the OQFL had received a complaint that Boutique Shawville Shooz was posting notices of a commercial nature on the store’s Facebook page without including a French equivalent.

According to the letter,

which was only written in French, an investigation found that Boutique Shawville Shooz’s Facebook posts violated Article 52 of the Charter of the French Language, the provincial legislation governing language in Quebec, which states:

“Regardless of the medium used, catalogues, brochures, folders, commercial directories, order forms, and any other documents of the same nature that are available to the public must be drawn up in French. No person may make such a document available to the public in a language other than French if the French version is not available on terms that are at least as favourable.”

The letter advised McBane to publish all commercial notices in French along with English going forward. The letter did not outline any fine or punishment, however, it did say that this complaint would be considered in the event of a new violation.

McBane said she will do her best to comply with the warning but was outraged by it.

“Whether you speak French or German or English or Spanish, it doesn’t matter. You should be allowed to speak whatever language you choose,” McBane said. “They tend to pick on Shawville because we’re an English-speaking community. I have a lot of French customers, and quite frankly, they are my best customers. And we have absolutely no problem communicating at all.”

Businesses in Shawville have a history of clashing with the OQLF, with notable incidents drawing national attention with the OQLF inspectors.

“It’s time our government starts standing up for us,” said McBane. “I don’t have a problem with bilingualism, I really don’t. But when they tell you that you have to speak French it’s just wrong, We’re an anglophone community. We’ve been here since the 1800s.”

As of the 2021 Statistics Canada census, of Shawville’s 1215 residents, 1,050 identified as anglophone and 150 as francophone. Ten residents identified having both English and French as their primary languages.

Of the MRC Pontiac’s municipalities, every town except l’Île-du-Grand-Calumet, Mansfield-et-Pontefract and Fort-Coulonge are majority anglophone.

McBane also expressed anger over the expenditure of tax dollars going towards OQLF targeting businesses like hers.

“We pay them, they’re not paying us,” McBane said about anglophone businesses. “They’re not paying my rent here. They’re not paying for my phone. When they start paying my bills, then they can tell me what to do.”

She brought the current state of the Pontiac Hospital as an example of what she viewed as misallocated tax money.

“It is such a waste of money, they’ve hired so many people to go after all our small businesses,” McBane said. “Our healthcare is in deep trouble right now. Why are they not using those funds to work on something worthwhile? We need health care here, never mind this pettiness. This is ridiculous.”

President of the Pontiac Chamber of Commerce, Sébastien Bonnerot, said he has personal experience of the OQLF making business difficult, which he would have more to say about later. As for now he wants to consult with MNA André Fortin about the implications of the letter.

When asked for comment from Fortin’s office, he clarified that this regulation stems from Bill 101, not Bill 96. He added that businesses in Montreal have been subject to warnings in relation to their social media posts.

“While there are many implications for businesses of Bill 96, it did not specifically change any of the requirements on promotions (online or in store),” wrote Fortin. “However, the CAQ government’s investment of $100 million in additional yearly funding to the OQLF means that there are a considerable amount of new inspectors that will be overseeing compliance with Bill 101 and Bill 96. As a direct consequence of this, it seems likely that government inspectors will, in the coming months, be looking into a number of area businesses and government services.”

McBane does not know who submitted the complaint. Since posting notices that she received the letter on Facebook, the post received 92 comments, the vast majority of which are supportive.

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