An airgun shooting range in Cote-des-Neiges is returning fire after finding itself in the crosshairs of the Office québécois de la langue française over its bilingual storefront banner.
The large green sign outside Tir du soleil, which used to carry French and English descriptions of the business to each side of the French name, now has a black plate covering the right quarter—removing any English from view.
In its place, is a message on the plate that reads: “We don’t want you to read this English text as it’s the same size as the French one,” signed by the OQLF.
Owner Lev Chif says he felt it was the right way to respond after first receiving a letter in May from the OQLF about the sign and then getting nowhere as he tried to approach the language watchdog about whether there had been a mistake.
“Three quarters of my sign is French, only a quarter was in English,” he said, adding that based on his understanding of Bill 101, he was adhering to the law about maintaining prominently French signage.
He tried to contact the OQLF, he recalled to CJAD 800 News, but says he was stonewalled.
“I tried to ask them, ‘hey, listen, come [visit our location because] maybe we are ok,’ and they answered, ‘the only place we can come and meet [is in] court,’ he said.
Section 51 of the Charter of the French Language states that “public signs and posters and commercial advertising must be in French.”
“They may also be both in French and in another language,” it continues, “provided that French is markedly predominant.”
Chip says he isn’t sure how his airgun shooting range even found itself in the sights of the provincial language police, adding his letter from the OQLF made no mention of whether an inspector ever even visited his business on Queen-Mary Rd. just east of Highway 15.
A step-by-step guide to how language complaints are processed on the OQLF website does not specify whether inspectors visit the premises of each alleged infraction.
“I hate this bureaucracy, they could do so much to help us,” said Chif.
“Bureaucrats are supposed to help us—the everyday people, small businesses, all businesses—but they don’t, they do the exact opposite,” he added.
The fake message from the OQLF isn’t coming down anytime soon.
“I’m going to leave it for a while,” he said, calling it a form of “political protest.”
The OQLF could not be reached for comment.