Office québécois de la langue française

Office québécois de la langue française
The OQLF's main office, located in the old building of the École des Beaux-Arts on Sherbrooke Street in Montreal.
Agency overview
Formed	March 24, 1961
Jurisdiction	Ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine du Québec
Headquarters	125, rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montreal, Quebec
Annual budget	$19.0 million CAD (2007-2008)[1]
Minister responsible	Christine St-Pierre
Agency executive	Louise Marchand, CEO
Child agency	Commission de toponymie du Québec
Website
[1]

The Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) (English: Quebec Board of the French Language) is a public organization established on March 24, 1961 by the Liberal government of Jean Lesage. Attached to the Quebec ministry of Immigration and Cultural Communities, 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."^[2]

Its mandate was enlarged by the 1977 Charter of the French Language, which also established two other organizations: the Commission de toponymie (Commission of Toponymy) and the Conseil supérieur de la langue française (Superior Council of the French Language).

History

The Office was originally named Office de la langue française (OLF), and is still occasionally referred to as such. The OLF was renamed OQLF 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 (Commission of protection of the French language) and part of the Conseil supérieur de la langue française.

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.^[2] 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.

Mission and powers

Sections 159 to 164 of the Québec Charter of the French Language defines the mission and powers of the commission.:^[3]

• To define and conduct Quebec's policy pertaining to linguistic officialization, terminology and francization of public administration and businesses; (Section 159)
• To monitor the linguistic situation in Québec and to report thereon to the Minister at least every five years; (Section 160)
• To see to it that French is the normal and everyday language of work, communication, commerce and business in the civil administration and in enterprises; (Section 161)
• To assist and inform the civil administration, semipublic agencies, enterprises, associations and natural persons as regards the correction and enrichment of spoken and written French in Québec; (Section 162)
• To establish the research programmes needed for the application of the Act. (Section 163)
• To make agreements or take part in joint projects with any person or agency. (Section 164)

In 2004, the organization had a yearly budget of $17.8 million. In 2005-2006, the budget rose to $18.5 million^[4] and in 2007-2008 to $19.0 million.^[1]

Members

In March 2011, the OQLF's eight members, appointed by the government for a maximum of five years, were:^[5]

• Louise Marchand : Présidente-directrice générale de l’OQLF
• Gordon Bernstein : Vice-président de Bernstein Delambre
• Daniel Boyer : Secrétaire général de la Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ)
• Monique C. Cormier : Professeure titulaire au Département de linguistique et de traduction de l’Université de Montréal
• Gilles Dulude : Président de Synergroupe Conseils en ressources humaines inc.
• Marie Gendron : Directrice générale de l'opération sociétale de la Fondation Lucie et André Chagnon
• Jacques Gosselin : Sous-ministre associé responsable de l'application de la politique linguistique
• Marc Termote : Professeur associé au Département de démographie de l’Université de Montréal

Services

Following its mandates, the OQLF offers the following services to the population of Quebec:^[6]

• General information service via toll free line, Web site and brochures;
• Francization services:
  • Francization counselling (for businesses of 50 employees or more);
  • Technical assistance relating to Francization of information technologies;
• Processing of complaints for non-respect of the law;
• Terminology and linguistics tools and services:
  • The Grand dictionnaire terminologique;
  • The Banque de dépannage linguistique;
  • Personalized terminological and linguistic consultation;
• Publications of the OQLF:
  • Le français au bureau, a book for the general public pertaining to administrative and commercial writing;
  • Terminology works: dictionaries, lexicons addressed principally to specialists;
• Libraries: one in Montreal the other in Quebec City;
• Evaluation of competence in French by candidates to professional orders of Quebec;

Awards

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 (French Merits at work and in commerce).^[7]

Since 1998, it awards the Mérites du français dans les technologies de l’information (French Merits in information technologies).^[8]

Since 1999, in collabration with the Union des artistes (UDA), the Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois (UNEQ) and the Société des auteurs de radio, télévision et cinéma (SARTEC), the OQLF awards the Mérites du français dans la culture (French Merits in culture).

Since 1999, supplanting the former Mérite de la langue française (French language Merit), 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 Association Québec-France and the Mouvement national des Québécoises et des Québécois, it awards the Prix littéraire Québec-France/Marie-Claire-Blais 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 (Merits in Francization of new immigrants). 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".^[9]

The president of the OQLF presides the Jury of the Dictée des Amériques (Dictée of the Americas), an international competition of French spelling created by Télé-Québec in 1994.^[10]

Complaints

Quebec citizens who believe their right as consumers "to be informed and served in French"^[11] is not being respected can file a complaint to the OQLF which is responsible for processing these complaints.

Contrary to a common misrepresentation, the Office does not process anonymous complaints. As per Section 168 of the Charter, the complaint must be written and contain the identity of the complainant.^[12] 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. Also, the OQLF does not have the power to send an agent unless it has received a complaint. Doing so would require 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 (29.5%) complaints were from the region of Montreal, 883 (24.2%) from the region of Outaouais, 386 (10.6%) from Montérégie.^[13]

Breaching of Section 51, the language of products (labelling, packaging, instructions manuals, directions, warranty certificates) (article 51) 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.^[13]

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.^[14]

Negative perception in English-speaking Canada

The OQLF was created to promote the everyday use of the French language in Quebec. The OQLF is also one of the most visible manifestations of Quebec's tense linguistic situation and language laws, which, prior to 1988, was responsible for enforcing a regulation whereby French was the only language authorized on outdoor commercial signage.

The term "language police" was possibly first used by the American television show 60 Minutes,^[15] which ran an investigative report on Quebec language laws. Legally, the organization has no police power, although they may impose fines or, in extraordinary situations, shut down businesses^{[citation needed]}. In the majority of the cases, the office will convince businesses that it is in their own financial interests to respect the francophone customers, as they constitute roughly 80% of the province's population.^[16]

However, there have been cases where businesses have been fined and even shut down^{[citation needed]} for violating these laws. 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.^[17]

Today

Originally, Bill 101 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 unconstitutional. After massive^{[citation needed]} protests in support of the legislation, the Bourassa Government invoked section Thirty-three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, allowing the laws to remain static for a period of five years, after which they would be reviewed. In 1993, the United Nations ruled that it was outside of the government's jurisdiction to limit freedom of expression in this particular way. Also in 1993, but not due to the UN 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.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} OQLF, Rapports de l'Office québécois de la langue française, October 2008, p. 31
2. ^ ^{a b} 24 mars 1961 - Création de l'Office de la langue française, in Bilan du siècle, Université de Sherbrooke, retrieved on February 18, 2008
3. ^ The Charter of the French Language, on the Web site of the Office québécois de la langue française, retrieved February 18th, 2008
4. ^ Rapport annuel 2006-2007, on the Web site of the Office québécois de la langue française, retrieved February 18th, 2008
5. ^ OQLF, "Membres de l'Office québécois de la langue française", on the Web site of the Office québécois de la langue française, retrieved March 31, 2009
6. ^ Déclaration de services aux citoyens, on the Web site of the Office québécois de la langue française, retrieved February 18th, 2008
7. ^ Mérites du français au travail et dans le commerce, in the Web site of the FrancoFête, retrieved February 18th, 2008
8. ^ Mérites du français dans les technologies de l’information, in the Web site of the FrancoFête, retrieved February 18th, 2008
9. ^ Mérites en francisation des nouveaux arrivants, on the Web site of the Ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés culturelles, retrieved February 18th, 2008
10. ^ À propos de la dictée > Jury, on the Web site of the Dictée des Amériques, retrieved February 18th, 2008
11. ^ Article 5 in the Chapter II on Fundamental language rights of the Charter of the French language, on the Web site of the Office québécois de la langue française, retrieved February 18th, 2008
12. ^ Questions générales concernant le respect des droits linguistiques, on the Web site of the Office québécois de la langue française, retrieved February 18th, 2008
13. ^ ^{a b} Respect des droits linguistiques et plaintes - 2005–2006 - Statistiques, on the Web site of the Office québécois de la langue française, retrieved February 18th, 2008
14. ^ Respect des droits linguistiques et plaintes — Infractions pour l'année 2006, on the Web site of the Office québécois de la langue française, retrieved February 18, 2008
15. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKOGgYaqwhg
16. ^ "Population by mother tongue and age groups, percentage distribution (2006), for Canada, provinces and territories, and census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations – 20% sample data". Statistics Canada. http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/highlights/language/Table401.cfm. Retrieved 2008-02-18. 
17. ^ Respect des droits linguistiques, on the Web site of the Office québécois de la langue française, retrieved February 22nd, 2008

See also

• Académie française of France, arbiter of the French language in France
• Charter of the French Language
• Ford v. Quebec (Attorney General) (1988), (2 S.C.R. 90)
• Legal dispute over Quebec's language policy
• Politics of Quebec
• Quebec French

External links

• Office québécois de la langue française (French)
  • OQLF webpage English content (English)
• Bill 101 Background
• Quebec Statutes and Regulations