Advocacy & Policy
Quebec: LAnguage of Business
INTRODUCTION OF A BILL TO MODIFY THE QUEBEC FRENCH LANGUAGE CHARTER
December 21, 2012
ISSUE:
On December 5, Diane de Courcy, the Minister responsible for the French Language Charter, introduced a bill to modify the Quebec French Language Charter. This bill impacts some of the obligations required from Retail Council of Canada members.
OBJECTIVES:
1- Inform members as to their new obligations if this bill is adopted as is.
2- Obtain feedback and information on the impact of the bill, in order to prepare RCC’s position on this issue.
BACKGROUND:
Following an electoral promise made during the last campaign, the PQ Government was expected to introduce a bill designed to modify the French Language Charter before the Holiday recess, which it did last December 5.
CURRENT STATUS:
The bill is designed to change the following aspects of the law:
- For the Minister:
Investigative powers: the Minister would now have investigative powers on topics related to the law:
- For all businesses:
Contracts: no contract with the Government of Quebec would be allowed to be written in a language other than French if the business is established in Quebec.
Collective agreement: must be in French upon its signature, as well as any agreement concerning the working conditions of employees.
Language skills: before they can request the knowledge of a language other than French for a given position, employers will be required to “rigorously” assess the linguistic requirements of the position and proceed so on a regular basis. Bilingualism may only be required for those positions which absolutely require it.
- For businesses of 50 or more employees:
Right to be served in French: Businesses will need to ensure that consumers can be served in French at all times.
- For businesses of 26 to 49 employees:
These businesses will be required to make French the language of work and service:
In order to do this, they are required to: make a list of bilingual positions and provide justification for them; demonstrate that their promotion and transfer policies are not biased against unilingual French-speaking employees; make French the language of use for meetings and training, and use French versions of software applications. Finally, businesses need to make sure that the complaints process is in French.
In its relations with clients, businesses are required to have at least one person who is capable of providing services in French at all times during working hours, and to make available its catalogues/brochures/website content in French.
The OQLF may request reports and corrective measures from these businesses.
- For businesses of 10 or more employees:
These businesses will be required to display in their premises the list of workers’ rights pertaining to the use of French in the workplace.
NEXT STEPS:
1- Obtain feedback from members.
2- Write and validate a position to be presented during the Spring 2013 consultations.
3- Depending on the position, follow up industry requests before its final adoption, either in Spring or Fall of 2013.
Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Jean-Guy Côté at 514-982-0267 ext. 225 or at jgcote@cccd-rcc.org
Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Jean-Guy Côté at 514-982-0267 ext. 225 or at jgcote@cccd-rcc.org
