Read the Letter the OQLF Sent Le Pois Penché

This week it was disclosed that the Office québécois de la langue française, colloquially known as Quebec's language police, had sent a notice to some Montreal bars and restaurants about specific window decals and stickers. The stickers, from the likes of travel website TripAdvisor and debit card system Interac, violate the province's Charter of the French Language because they are not in French. Two establishments that we know of so far, popular Sud-Ouest pub Burgundy Lion, and downtown's Le Pois Penché, received letters from the OQLF this month.

Photo: Google Street View

Eater obtained a copy of the letter sent to Le Pois Penché today. It explains that the restaurant's window stickers don't conform to Quebec's language laws that mandate French commercial and public signs. The notice states that languages other than French are permissible, but that French must be dominant. Somewhat helpfully, the letter, signed by OQLF complaint processor Paul Roy, provides links to both TripAdvisor and Interac where Le Pois Penché, and presumably any business, can obtain French-language window stickers. There's no mention of a fine or consequences if the restaurant does not comply; Roy simply writes that the purpose of the letter is to inform Le Pois Penché about the provisions of the Charter of the French Language. Stay tuned for developments.

Office québécois de la langue française letter to Le Pois Penché