to have all their signs in English? If they have a FB account, all their posts must be in English?

If not, why is there a difference?

Canada, unlike the US, also has official languages.

So would it be ok if the state demanded business' just put out their publications in English?

But some posters seem just fine with a government telling a private business what language it must use. No thanks.

The USA does not have an Offical language.

It is officially unilingual - French.

The only official bilingual province in Canada is New Brunswick.

Edit: Oops, forgot Manitoba. They're officially bilingual too.

Sid

"Canada is Officially a Bilingual Country and business must respect both languages"

That's not the case in, say, British Columbia, right? A business owner there doesn't have to put her Facebook posts up in both French and English, correct?

And I had a long detailed explanation neary done, which I lost switching tabs on my phone.

I'll try to edit this post with additional info when I'm back on my laptop.



Sid

States which have English as the official language:

Alabama (1990)
Alaska (1998)
Arizona (2006)
Arkansas (1987)
California (1986)
Colorado (1988)
Florida (1988)
Georgia (1986, 1996)
Idaho (2007)
Illinois (1969)
Indiana (1984)
Iowa (2002)
Kansas (2007)
Kentucky (1984)
Louisiana (1807)
Massachusetts (1975)
Mississippi (1987)
Missouri (1998)
Montana (1995)
Nebraska (1920)
New Hampshire (1995)
New Jersey (2008)
North Carolina (1987)
North Dakota (1987)
South Carolina (1987)
South Dakota (1987)
Tennessee (1984)
Utah (2000)
Virginia (1981, 1996)
Wyoming (1996)

Part of their culture no issue with it

I didn't realize they had such a strict law about not using your own language. So if, say, a Pakistani immigrant community was in Quebec, and a store opened in that community to sell products specifically to the Pakistani community, they would have to advertise everything in French, not Urdu?

They are using their own language its French. As for businesses it makes 100% sense to put it in French besides they could do both (Urdu and French).

Since English is the language of the majority, it's not the same.

I understand why Quebec would do this - they are surrounded by the English language, and they have traditionally been French speaking and would like to keep it that way. They see it slipping away because of prevalence of English everywhere so they made laws to try to protect their language. I'm not sure I agree with it (I don't really have an opinion) but I understand it. My mom grew up in a French community outside of Quebec where French was her first language (and the first language of everyone else there) and now her entire family and most of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren speak primarily English (even though I think most do know some French) and even the entire town now speaks primarily English. Even my mom has trouble speaking French now. It can easily disappear in one generation when media, schools, businesses etc are in English. So I do have an understanding of what they think they are up against.

Quebec uses the not withstanding clause, under the Canadian Charter of rights & Freedoms to push their systemic racism. No outside signs in English and inside signs, French has to be above English and twice the size.

Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is part of the Constitution of Canada. It is commonly known as the notwithstanding clause (or "la clause dérogatoire" in French), or as the override power, and it allows Parliament or provincial legislatures to override certain portions of the Charter. As such, it is a controversial provision.[1]

Quebec[edit]

After the Charter came into force in 1982, Quebec inserted a notwithstanding clause into all its laws; this stopped in 1987, when the Quebec Liberals, having ousted the Parti Québécois, determined the practice should not be continued. However, the most notable use of the notwithstanding clause came in the Quebec language law known as Bill 101 after sections of those laws were found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada in Ford v. Quebec (A.G.). On December 21, 1988, the National Assembly of Quebec, under Robert Bourassa's Liberal government, employed the "notwithstanding clause" to override freedom of expression in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (section 2b) as well as the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, and equality rights of the Quebec Charter, in their Bill 178. This allowed Quebec to continue the restriction against the posting of certain commercial signs in languages other than French. In 1993, after the law was criticized by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the Bourassa government had the provincial parliament rewrite the law to conform to the Charter, and the notwithstanding clause was removed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notwithstanding_clause

In saying that I still have no issue with positive discrimination against the English language in a predominantly English speaking country.

I'd already have done a bilingual website. Seems like a no-brainer to me. Why would I not?

and the problem so far has simply been lack of enthusiasm for providing us (me) with French translations. Everyone up there seems afraid of the law and afraid of not translating the English correctly.

That said, every French Canadian speaker I've met also speaks perfect English. So IMO the law is pure DERP. Stupid.

in Quebec who would be glad to provide those services for you. Try this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=quebec+translation+services

I'm sure they could turn your website translation needs around very quickly.

At least that's what the Canadian office says. And they don't want to (can't) spend money on translations. I guess the quote was outrageous.

Just thought I'd mention it, it's not really my problem.

My link was to a search for translation companies. Had you clicked it, you would have seen that. If the company doesn't want to pay for translation, it doesn't. I don't care. I was just offering information.

Does a business owner in Saskatchewan have to do her twitter posts in both languages?

Printed packaging and marketing in both languages in Canadian market just to be on the safe side.

will end up. When it's a voluntary business decision, that makes sense.

Not sure exactly which labels though...almost all of our food labels are bilingual. Even items from other countries have a bilingual sticker slapped over the normal English-only labels.

Ok, just looked it up - all mandatory nutritional information must be in both languages. Other things, like company name, etc, don't have to be. There are some exceptions (eg. "specialty foods&quot to the bilingual laws.

Quel dommage...Au Québec, on doit être capable de parler français.