The Legault government introduced anonymous complaints to make it easier for Quebecers – particularly whistleblowers informing on their employers – to report alleged Bill 101 violations.
Anonymous tips are keeping Quebec language inspectors busy.
Official complaints about alleged violations of Bill 101 have surged since the Legault government began allowing anonymous grievances, encouraging whistleblowers to come forward.
In 2023-24, there were 9,125 complaints to the province’s language watchdog, marking a 45 per cent increase from two years earlier when complainants had to provide their names.
Just under 3,500 complaints (38 per cent) were anonymous, according to a Gazette analysis of data obtained through an access-to-information request with the Office québécois de la langue française.
In the previous period, when anonymity was only allowed for part of the year, 26 per cent were anonymous.
It’s unclear whether the rise in complaints is directly linked to the change.
In a statement to The Gazette, the OQLF attributed the “significant increase” in complaints to “multiple factors, including heightened concern among Quebecers about the state of the French language.”
The concept of “denunciation” was added to Bill 101, allowing complaints by people with “privileged information” about potential violations.
Now, people can file complaints even if they are bound by “a contract or a duty of loyalty or confidentiality.”
Bill 101 now also protects whistleblowers from reprisals, imposing fines of up to $250,000 for retaliation against those who, “in good faith, make a disclosure to the OQLF or cooperate in an investigation.”
In 2022, Simon Jolin-Barrette, then French language minister, said the changes aimed to facilitate complaints, especially among workers reporting on their employers.
“A person who feels uncomfortable for x, y reason, who fears losing their job or facing reprisals, can make an anonymous complaint,” Jolin-Barrette told a National Assembly committee hearing.
Others might file anonymously because they prefer not to receive follow-ups from the OQLF.
“Consider a sign situation,” Jolin-Barrette said. “Someone could say: Well, look, this sign in this place (violates the law). I don’t necessarily want to be called back, I want you to handle the complaint, I want you to handle the situation.”
Jolin-Barrette is now Quebec’s justice minister.
With complaints on the rise, the OQLF hired 40 new employees in 2022-23, bringing staffing to 330 as of March 2023.
“The increase in headcount is due to the addition of new positions dedicated to handling complaints and denunciations, and to the francization of companies,” the agency said at the time.
Since François Legault became premier in 2018, the OQLF’s workforce has grown by 120 employees, a 60 per cent increase.
Promoting the French language is a cornerstone of Legault’s administration. Polls indicate language is a key concern for francophone Quebecers.
The OQLF’s annual budget has grown by 61 per cent – to $39.3 million – since the CAQ came to power.
Complaints to the OQLF have more than tripled in this period. The biggest one-year jump – 45 per cent – came in 2021-22 as the state of the French language dominated headlines amid Bill 96 hearings.
OQLF statistics indicate:
- Just under 60 per cent of complaints (5,293) were filed about situations in Montreal in 2023-24. The Montérégie and Quebec City followed, with 11 per cent and seven per cent of complaints, respectively;
- In Montreal, on average, each complainant filed 2.7 complaints in 2021-22, the highest of any region. Calculating this is no longer possible because the OQLF does not have the addresses of anonymous complainants;
- The OQLF receives an average of 11 complaints per year from people living outside Quebec;
- The number of complaints about businesses from outside Quebec has more than doubled in five years – to 467. The targets were companies doing business in Quebec, for example, selling goods online.
The top three complaints in 2023-24 were related to language of service (34 per cent); commercial documentation such as websites, bills and contracts (27 per cent); and signage (20 per cent).
The vast majority of complaints did not result in fines.
Here’s the OQLF’s breakdown of the outcome of complaints processed in 2023-24:
- 35 per cent: Problems were corrected;
- 23 per cent: Complaints were “unfounded or inadmissible;”
- 20 per cent: Subjects were contacted about the importance of complying with Bill 101;
- 14 per cent: Warnings were issued;
- Six per cent: Subjects were contacted but no resolution was possible (for example, the business had closed);
- Three per cent: Subjects were in the process of francizing operations.
Since January 2023, Quebec courts have imposed $29,500 in fines on 14 businesses found guilty of a total of 18 Bill 101 violations.
Eight fines were for breaking rules related to commercial publications such as fliers and websites.
Five other companies were found to have “posted outside a building a trademark in a language other than French, without ensuring the sufficient presence of French on the premises.”
Four violated rules regarding the language of packaging. One failed to draw up an invoice or receipt in French.
Bill 101 calls for fines of between $700 and $30,000 for first offences.