Quebec’s language police are, literally, pulling food from people’s mouths.Montreal restaurant Mama Khan, which is known for mouthwatering Pakistani cuisine in Montreal’s St. Denis district, was slapped with an enforcement order from the provincial Office Québécois de la Langue Française (OQLF) to shut down a popular ‘pay it forward’ program that allows customers to prepay meals to less fortunate members of the community.The reason? Vouchers to promote the program aren’t printed in French. And neither are the award-winning restaurant’s social media pages promoting it..Under its so-called ‘Pay it Forward’ program, every $5 donation adds a free meal voucher to a designated wall in the restaurant, which are redeemed for free meals for the hungry. Since it was implemented in during the 2023 ice storm, Khan’s has prepared more than 700 hot meals for less fortunate members of the community.But that violates Section 52 of the Quebec Charter aimed at protecting French language rights. The same one that has repeatedly been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada.But not everyone was a fan of the idea. The OQLF reportedly received an anonymous tip and decided to act against the family-owned establishment.The restaurant posted the letter on its Instagram page with the slug: “Peux-tu croire ça?” Or, “Can you believe this?”.”According to section 52 of the Charter, it is against the law to make a commercial publication available to the public on a website or social media in a language other than French when the French version is not accessible under at least equivalent conditions.”Office Québécois de la Langue Française.As per Google translate, the letter reads: “The Charter of the French Language contains rules concerning commercial publications. We would therefore like to inform you that, according to section 52 of the Charter, it is against the law to make a commercial publication available to the public on a website or social media in a language other than French when the French version is not accessible under at least equivalent conditions.”The restaurant has reportedly contacted the OQLF to come up with a compromise but says it has to halt the program until it can print out French vouchers.In addition to being forced to pull down the offending vouchers, designing and printing new ones will reportedly cost more than $400, owner Abdul Rashia Kahn told local media. “My reaction was kind of surprised that we were reported to the government saying that we are not bilingual,” he told Global News. “I wasn’t aware too much of the law. It’s my first time running a business.”Instead, needy people can just walk into the restaurant and ask for something to eat without a slip of paper, he said.Government representatives said they didn’t target the meal program per se; just the social media pages used to promote it. Which actually sounds even more draconian.Maintenant!
Quebec’s language police are, literally, pulling food from people’s mouths.Montreal restaurant Mama Khan, which is known for mouthwatering Pakistani cuisine in Montreal’s St. Denis district, was slapped with an enforcement order from the provincial Office Québécois de la Langue Française (OQLF) to shut down a popular ‘pay it forward’ program that allows customers to prepay meals to less fortunate members of the community.The reason? Vouchers to promote the program aren’t printed in French. And neither are the award-winning restaurant’s social media pages promoting it..Under its so-called ‘Pay it Forward’ program, every $5 donation adds a free meal voucher to a designated wall in the restaurant, which are redeemed for free meals for the hungry. Since it was implemented in during the 2023 ice storm, Khan’s has prepared more than 700 hot meals for less fortunate members of the community.But that violates Section 52 of the Quebec Charter aimed at protecting French language rights. The same one that has repeatedly been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada.But not everyone was a fan of the idea. The OQLF reportedly received an anonymous tip and decided to act against the family-owned establishment.The restaurant posted the letter on its Instagram page with the slug: “Peux-tu croire ça?” Or, “Can you believe this?”.”According to section 52 of the Charter, it is against the law to make a commercial publication available to the public on a website or social media in a language other than French when the French version is not accessible under at least equivalent conditions.”Office Québécois de la Langue Française.As per Google translate, the letter reads: “The Charter of the French Language contains rules concerning commercial publications. We would therefore like to inform you that, according to section 52 of the Charter, it is against the law to make a commercial publication available to the public on a website or social media in a language other than French when the French version is not accessible under at least equivalent conditions.”The restaurant has reportedly contacted the OQLF to come up with a compromise but says it has to halt the program until it can print out French vouchers.In addition to being forced to pull down the offending vouchers, designing and printing new ones will reportedly cost more than $400, owner Abdul Rashia Kahn told local media. “My reaction was kind of surprised that we were reported to the government saying that we are not bilingual,” he told Global News. “I wasn’t aware too much of the law. It’s my first time running a business.”Instead, needy people can just walk into the restaurant and ask for something to eat without a slip of paper, he said.Government representatives said they didn’t target the meal program per se; just the social media pages used to promote it. Which actually sounds even more draconian.Maintenant!
