Montreal-area bakery faces anonymous OQLF complaint, the province’s language watchdog

Staff at a bakery on Montreal’s South Shore is frustrated with Quebec’s language watchdog after receiving an anonymous compliant.

Pâtisserie Obsession in Châteauguay received a complaint from the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) on Sept. 19, for not serving a customer in French.

“It doesn’t say if that was the date that my customer apparently could not receive service or did not receive service in French, which we know is not true because all of our customer service people are fluently bilingual,” said Anne Fradette-Brunet, one of the bakery’s owner’s.

This is the first such complaint they’ve received since they opened 12 years ago.

The letter states in French that, “a complaint was received on August 29, 2023 indicating that your business did not comply with language of service regulations. In fact, the complaint mentions that service in French was not available at the cash register.”

“They don’t give a date, they don’t give a timeframe, they don’t give any information for us to be able to investigate to try and fix the problem if there was indeed a problem,” said Fradette-Brunet.

“I never see somebody speak to me in English since I’m here,” said one customer.

“Every time I come here, they greet me in French but I speak English, so they always switch to English for me,” said another customer.

Obsession posted on it’s social media about the complaint letter and said, “We take our cues from you – if you speak to us in French, we speak to you in French, if you speak to us in English, we speak to you in English. Our signage is in French, our delivery truck is painted in French, our website is in French, and we answer emails in whatever language we receive them in. Our Facebook posts are offered in both languages because we choose to take the time to translate and offer information to everyone.”

Letter from the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) to Pâtisserie Obsession in Châteauguay, QC. (Photo Credit: Anne Fradette-Brunet)

The letter from the OQLF goes on to say, “the Charter of the French language includes rules concerning the language of service. We wish to inform you that according to article 50.2 of the Charter, companies offering goods and services have the obligation to respect the right of consumers and any other public to be informed and served in French in Quebec, whether in person, by telephone, by letter, by e-mail, by chat, or on social media. This letter is being sent to you to inform you of the requirements of the law so that you can make any necessary corrections.”

Fradette-Brunet says that she followed up with the OQLF to get more details about the complaint and they were unable to provide her with anything more.

Small businesses in Quebec can be fined up to $30,000 for not following language requirements outlined in the Charter of the French Language.

Fradette-Brunet says the complaint against Pâtisserie Obsession has been dropped and the bakery will not be facing any penalties, but she wants to understand more about how these complaints are logged and how the recipient of one of these complaints can get more details.

CityNews contacted the OQLF by email and they tell us that, “the Charter allows a complainant to file a complaint anonymously, and this choice has no bearing on how the complaint is handled. Furthermore, information relating to a complaint is always confidential. All complaints, whether anonymous or not, are treated in the same way by the Office. The identity of the complainant is never divulged, nor is any information contained in the complaint that could enable the complainant to be identified.”

From April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, the OQLF received 6,884 complaints. Of the ones treated, 34 complaints were logged about language of service.

Annually, less than one per cent of complaints received by the Office are forwarded to the prosecutor’s office for fines, the OQLF says.

“In all its dealings with companies, the Office favours an approach based on awareness and cooperation, to ensure that they adopt business practices that respect consumer rights.”

In it’s social media post in response to the letter, Obsession went on to say, “We generally try to avoid language discussion and politically motivate issues – it’s not good for business, but when the letter arrived, the issue was placed on our doorstep and into our hands. We think it’s important to make it public and to keep the conversation going.”

“If they truly want to improve the situation, if they want to ensure everybody is served in French, we need a little bit more to go on…They don’t give it the importance that you would think they would.” said Fradette-Brunet.