Eating places and bars haven't had a simple go throughout the pandemic and two enterprise house owners say along with their issues they now have one other.
On the Petros Taverna in Westmount, the tables are set for Monday when the eating room can lastly reopen.
However proprietor Ted Dranias says he has one other headache to cope with — a letter from Quebec's language watchdog, the Workplace quebecois de la langue française.
“After I opened it, it form of disgusted me,” Dranias mentioned.
“And after dwelling what we have been dwelling for the previous two years, I used to be a bit bit insulted.”
The letter mentioned a buyer couldn't be adequately served in French.
“That is not possible. I might say 100 per cent not possible. I might change from any language from French to English to Greek,” mentioned Anastasios Roussopoulos on the restaurant.
They are not the one ones getting a warning. The Blue Canine Motel additionally acquired a letter this previous week.
The bar is at the moment closed resulting from COVID-19 restrictions, however proprietor Raphael Kerwin advised CJAD 800 somebody complained about posts on the bar's Fb web page.
“It was telling us we needed to change all of our social media posts, that have been in French and in English,” mentioned Kerwin.
The OQLF confirmed each institutions have been despatched letters and companies have to be aware of their on-line presence, identical to another promoting or signage.
“In 2020-2021, the Workplace obtained greater than 1,200 complaints about social networks and web sites, greater than double the quantity the earlier yr,” an OQLF spokesperson mentioned
“As a reminder, the Workplace doesn't impose a positive. It's the courts that will do that if corporations refuse to conform.”
However Kerwin asks: why now?
“Right here on in, positive, we will probably be doing it bilingually. However my downside is throughout this pandemic, whereas we're closed they've spent the time to nitpick our tiny little Fb web page, which we barely even use any extra,” he mentioned.
“So, to me, it appears like an entire waste of time.”
CTV Information reached out to the minister liable for the French language in Quebec, Simon Jolin-Barrette, for remark.
“Quebecers have the proper to be served of their language: French. It's a elementary proper that each one companies should respect, always. It isn’t one thing new. It's what Invoice 101 has offered since 1977,” Jolin-Barrette mentioned in a press release.
Dranias, nonetheless, nonetheless questions the timing.
“Throughout this time, individuals must work collectively. They've to affix collectively, they must be good to one another,” he mentioned, “and right here we're getting nitpicked in the midst of all these things happening.”
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