Quebec Provincial Government Proposes Requiring Bilingual Outdoor Signage

Quebec’s government has proposed a modification to the provincial sign rules that would require all businesses there to add French to its outdoor signage without altering registered trademarks, according to www.cbc.com. At a Montreal news conference, Helene David, a government minister responsible for protecting and promoting the French language in Canada, said "people will know they are in Quebec because they see French on the signs."

The proposal stipulates that any business that doesn’t have a trademarked French name would have to add a French word, description or slogan to its outdoor signage. The government is seeking public feedback on the new proposed legislation through mid-June. In 2014, retailers won a court battle with the province when the Quebec Superior Court ruled that businesses that have storefront signs with trademark names in languages besides French weren’t in opposition to the province’s Charter of the French Language.

For the full CBC article, click here.