The owner of a Gatineau, Que. café says it’s “silly” that Quebec’s language watchdog is telling the business to write its Instagram posts in French.
The Petites Gamines dessert shop says it received a letter from l’Office québécois de la langue française on Wednesday about a complaint that the café’s social media posts are in English only.
“The office asks you to correct the situation as soon as possible,” says the letter posted on the Petites Gamines Instagram page. “To do this, you can write publications of a commercial nature in French and in one or more other languages, provided that their French version is accessible under at least as favourable conditions.”
Quebec requires businesses to post signs and advertising in French. The letter from l’Office québécois de la langue française says its a violation of the Charter of French Language to make a social media post that is not in French when a French version is “not accessible under at least equivalent conditions.”
The letter tells the Petites Gamines, “we are counting on you to take the necessary measures now.”
In a post on Instagram, the owner of Petites Gamines says they think they know who made the complaint to the language watchdog.
“Though we understand your right to be served in French in Quebec businesses, which by the way is always the case here, as well as all our internal signage being in French only, we reserve the right to do we want on our Instagram,” the post says.
“Our Facebook page is in French only since the beginning so receiving this is an extremely petty move from a person who should really find a new hobby. Stay tuned for this battle!”
In a separate post Thursday night, owner Gabrielle Sexton says they’re having fun pointing out “how silly this whole thing is.”
“If this account offends you or goes against your principles, please leave. You’re clearly not who this content is meant for.”
The post adds, “in all seriousness, we’re mostly disappointed that some people would feel the need to scold us on how we run our Instagram enough to make a formal complaint, when there are more serious offenses happening in other small businesses in the region.”