The intersection of language and politics has long been a source of contention in Quebec, with the call to “protect the French language” often presented as a sort of political imperative. In spite of the steady growth of Quebec’s total francophone population, concerns of French’s supposed decline have intensified in recent years. In a province where French is so highly revered as a core aspect of its identity, the measures taken to preserve French walk a fine line between preservation and division—a line the government recently crossed after spending nearly a quarter of a million dollars to monitor French in Quebec’s businesses and shops.
In 2022, the Quebec government hired a private research firm to make sure businesses were greeting customers in French. To test this, the firm conducted an eight-month long study that involved sending members into businesses to impersonate customers and receive typical service. The pseudo-customer would then take notes on the greeting received—in terms of the language used and proficiency of language—and record their observations via. electronic questionnaire, submitting the data to the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF). This process was repeated in over 3,000 businesses in Montreal, setting the OQLF back approximately $224,000 CAD.
The results of this study found that 71 per cent of greetings were exclusively in French, while 97.4 per cent of businesses had French services available. While these percentages seem like clear evidence of a thriving French language, the OQLF felt the opposite, claiming that it proved French was on the decline. All because, despite the overwhelming availability of French, the percentage of French-//only// greetings had gone down by less than four per cent.
Jean-Francois Roberge, the Minister responsible for the OQLF, issued a statement on the study, remarking that the decrease in French-exclusive greetings indicates that French is becoming less prevalent in Quebec’s public sphere.
This approach is both antagonistic and counterfactual to the strong pervasiveness of French in Quebec. We should be celebrating the fact that French is alive and well in Montreal instead of framing the study as a sign of linguistic erosion. As a matter of fact, there’s been a steady //increase// in the availability of services in French since 2010. The strange interpretation of these results raises the question of what political motivations might underlie such a negative analysis of a seemingly positive result.
Cherry-picking the one ‘bad’ result and ignoring the positive findings of the study is an inherently dishonest practice, using research for political aims at the detriment of harmony between Quebec’s anglophone and francophone communities. The OQLF’s budget should be used to promote French constructively rather than as a tool for political messaging.
Language discourse aside, the matter of spying on businesses without their informed consent is a further argument for the inappropriate implementation of this study. Not only is it invasive (and rather unsettling), but it walks a fine moral line in terms of basic research ethics. Undercover agents disguised as customers to wander into predetermined addresses and secretly record conversations pushes the boundaries of the American Sociological Association’s Code of Ethics in sociological research. Not to mention, discovering that your government is collecting data on you without your knowledge undermines public trust in such institutions and creates an atmosphere of opposition instead of solidarity. No one likes the idea of being watched, especially not covertly by their own government using public funds. If the publication of this study does end up leading to an increase in French greetings, it would be through Orwellian-adjacent surveillance tactics. This is not to say the French language should not be protected.
French is a core aspect of Quebec’s history and provincial identity. With that being said, studies like these do little to incentivize the long-term protection of the language. Perhaps more anglophones will greet customers with Bonjour if they think they’re being watched, but this shift would likely be confined to the business setting, and not something socially internalized through effective promotion and a sense of provincial identity. Why would you want to dedicate months of study to a language being forcibly shoved down your throat through coercive measures? The so-called “promotion” of French creates an environment less conducive to long-term social acceptance of French and instead establishes a hostile relationship between the Quebec government and the people whose language habits it is trying too hard to control.
