Office québécois de la langue française


The Office québécois de la langue française , is a public organization established on March 24, 1961, by the Liberal government of Jean Lesage. Attached to the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec, its initial mission, defined in its report of April 1, 1964, was "to align on international French, promote good Canadianisms and fight Anglicisms... work on the normalization of the language in Québec and support State intervention to carry out a global language policy that would consider notably the importance of socio-economic motivations in making French the priority language in Québec".
Its mandate was enlarged by the 1977 Charter of the French Language, which also established two other organizations: the Commission de toponymie and the Conseil supérieur de la langue française.

History

The creation of a "Board of the French language" was one of the recommendations of the Tremblay Royal Commission of Inquiry on Constitutional Problems which published its five-volume report in 1956. Such an institution was part of the list of 46 vows formulated by the Second Congress on the French Language in Canada held in Quebec City in 1937.
In 1961, the Act to establish the Department of Cultural Affairs was passed providing for the creation of the Office of the French Language. The organization had as its mission the assurance of the correct usage French and enrichment of the spoken and written language. In 1969, the Act to promote the French language was passed. This law expanded the mandate of the office and introduced the notion of the right to work in French.
In 1974, the Official Language Act was passed aiming to strengthen the status and use of French in Quebec and gives the office a decisive role in the implementation of its provisions. In 1977, the Charter of the French Language was passed. The first mandatory language law, it incorporates several elements of the Official Language Act, which it broadens, and substantially enhances the status of the French language in Quebec. For its implementation, the Charter establishes, in addition to the Office de la langue française, the Commission de toponymie, the Commission de surveillance et des enquêtes and the Conseil de la langue française.
The office was renamed as the Office québécois de la langue française pursuant to the adoption of Bill 104 by the National Assembly of Quebec on June 12, 2003, which also merged the OLF with the Commission de protection de la langue française and part of the Conseil supérieur de la langue française. Two new mandates, the handling of complaints and the monitoring of the linguistic situation, were then entrusted to the OQLF. The organization has also instituted two committees each chaired by a member of the Board: the Linguistic Officialization Committee and the Language Status Monitoring Committee.

Mission and powers

Sections 159 to 164 of the Québec Charter of the French Language defines the mission and powers of the commission.:
In 2004, the organization had a yearly budget of $17.8 million. In 2005-2006, the budget rose to $18.5 million, in 2007-2008 to $19.0 million and to $24.453 million in 2018-2019.

Members

In July 2020, the OQLF's eight members, appointed by the government for a maximum of five years, were:
Following its mandates, the OQLF offers the following services to the population of Quebec:
Many distinctions are given by the OQLF to reward persons and organizations contributing to keeping French alive. They are given as part of the Grand gala des Mérites du français which occurs each year, usually in March during the FrancoFête.
The OQLF rewards outstanding francization efforts by persons and organizations. For over 20 years, it has been awarding the Mérites du français au travail et dans le commerce.
Since 1998, it awards the Mérites du français dans les technologies de l’information .
Since 1999, in collaboration with the Union des artistes, the Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois and the Société des auteurs de radio, télévision et cinéma, the OQLF awards the Mérites du français dans la culture.
Since 1999, supplanting the former Mérite de la langue française, it awards the Prix Camille-Laurin to underline a person's effort in promoting the usefulness of quality of French in his/her social milieu.
Since 2005, in collaboration with the and the Mouvement national des Québécoises et des Québécois, it awards the to a French writer for his or her first work.
In collaboration with Québec Ministry of Immigration, it awards the Mérites en francisation des nouveaux arrivants. One is for a "non-francophone immigrant person", another for a "person working in the field on francization of immigrants", a "Community of institutional partner of francization", and a "business".
The president of the OQLF presides the Jury of the Dictée des Amériques, an international competition of French spelling created by Télé-Québec in 1994.

Complaints

Quebec citizens who believe their right as consumers "to be informed and served in French" is not being respected can file a complaint to the OQLF which is responsible for processing these complaints. As per Section 168 of the Charter, the complaint must be written and contain the identity of the complainant. The Office does however ensure privacy of information as per the Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information. The OQLF does not have the power to send an agent unless it has received a complaint or a vote by the members of the OQLF.
The statistics compiled by the OQLF for 2005–2006 reveal that some 1306 complainants filed 3652 complaints. 1078 complaints were from the region of Montreal, 883 from the region of Outaouais, 386 from Montérégie. Section 51, the language of products amounted to 43.0% of the total. 13.8% were for breaches of Section 52, language of catalogues, pamphlets, business directories, and 9.6% were for breaches of Sections 2 and 5, the language of service.
Between April 1, 2005 and March 31, 2006, the OQLF closed 2899 complaints. There were 797 resolved cases, 523 unfounded complaints, 430 where the product was ultimately retracted from the market, 199 complaints found to be out of order, 183 cases of translated products. For the year 2006, there were 127 infractions ranging from $250 to $5000.

Negative perception

The OQLF was created to enforce the everyday use of the French language in Quebec. The OQLF promoted the Quebec Charter of the French Language, and, prior to 1988, was responsible for enforcing a regulation whereby French was the only language authorized on outdoor commercial signage. After multiple successful legal challenges, the role of the OQLF has since changed to ensuring French is the "predominant" language, meaning at least twice the size of any and all other languages.
The OQLF has been referred to in English as 'tongue troopers'. The term "language police" was possibly first used by the American television show 60 Minutes, which ran an investigative report on Quebec language laws. Legally, the organization has no police powers, instead relying on the threat of fines or the withholding of the company's "francisation certificate" as enforcement techniques.
According to the statistics of the OQLF, 95% of all complaints by citizens which are judged to be valid are resolved without resorting to legal sanction. In an average year, the OQLF receives between 3000 and 4000 complaints from citizens. Forty to fifty percent of these complaints have to do with commercial products for which there is no available French manual or packaging, 25% have to do with signage in stores, 10% with websites and 5% with the language of service.
The majority of criticism directed at the OQLF is due to a perceived overzealous nature in the application of its mandate. Some recent examples include:
One case that gained international attention in 2013 was dubbed "Pastagate", in which the OQLF cited an Italian restaurant for using the word "Pasta" on its menu instead of the French word "pâtes". After receiving negative coverage throughout the world including the US and Europe, the OQLF eventually backed down, admitting to being "overzealous" and stating they will perform a review of the way these types of complaints are handled.

Today

Originally, the Charter of the French Language required that all commercial signage be in French and no other language. In 1988 Ford v. Quebec the Supreme Court of Canada ruled this was against the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. After massive protests in support of the legislation, the Bourassa Government invoked section Thirty-three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, allowing the language laws to override the rights and freedoms charter for a period of five years, after which they would be reviewed.
In 1993, the United Nations Human Rights Committee concluded in Ballantyne, Davidson, McIntyre v. Canada that it was outside of the Quebec government's jurisdiction to limit freedom of expression in a language of the person's choice. Also in 1993, but not due to the UNHR ruling, Quebec reviewed the law and modified its language regulations to require that French be markedly predominant on exterior business signs, as suggested by the Supreme Court of Canada ruling in the case of Ford v. Quebec.