Too much English on Quebec government websites, says French-language commissioner

MONTREAL — Many of Quebec’s largest government agencies continue to operate bilingual websites despite stricter requirements under the province’s language law, said the office of the French-language commissioner.

Two reports published May 27 by the office conclude that the government is failing to achieve the objectives set out in the language reform adopted three years ago.

The language office says websites of seven major provincial agencies generally remain available in both French and English, often through a button allowing users to switch freely between languages. Only one organization required users to confirm they qualify for an exception permitting them to navigate English sections of the website.

“Under these circumstances, it is difficult for users to understand that French is the official language of the province of Quebec and that French is the common language,” one report says.

The findings come nearly three years after Quebec adopted Bill 96, which strengthened the Charter of the French Language and expanded requirements for the use of French in public administration and workplaces.

Since June 2023, government bodies have been required to communicate exclusively in French, except in specific situations explicitly authorized by law. Exceptions include communication with people eligible for English-language schooling, members of Indigenous nations, newcomers who have been in Quebec for fewer than six months, and people living outside Quebec.

However, after reviewing practices at public bodies including Hydro-Québec, the Revenue Department and the health insurance agency, the commissioner concluded many continue offering services in both French and English “without real verification or control.”

“It’s as though the Charter of the French language is not having the effects it should have,” Éric Poirier, deputy commissioner, said in one of the reports. “There are no observable structural effects.”

The watchdog also raised concerns about services provided to recent immigrants.

Under the French-language charter, government agencies may provide services in another language than French to immigrants during their first six months in Quebec. But the report found that five of the seven organizations reviewed had no mechanism to ensure clients returned to French-only services once the six-month period was over.

Some agencies told the office of the commissioner that their computer systems could not track which legal exception applied to which client and that modifying those systems would be costly.

As a result, immigrants who selected English as their preferred language when creating a file could continue receiving services in English indefinitely unless they personally changed their language preferences, one of the reports says. “We consider that these practices do not allow the objectives set by the Charter to be achieved.”

The office recommended that the French-language Department require government agencies to clearly identify the legal justification whenever services are offered in English or another language.

It also recommended implementing mechanisms to ensure immigrants automatically transition to French-only services after six months and requiring agencies to verify that an exception applies before offering services in another language.

Without such verification, the report says, public agencies should communicate exclusively in French.

Additional recommendations include requiring government websites to publish information only in French unless a specific legal exception applies and ensuring digital advertising appears exclusively in French.

The commissioner’s office has no enforcement powers but plans to follow up with the government next year to determine whether its recommendations have been implemented.

The union for workers in the public sector and in agencies partially funded by the government welcomed the report, arguing it confirmed longstanding concerns that the province is failing to properly enforce its own language rules.

“We were promised major advances for French,” said union vice-president Patrick Audy in a press release. “But due to a lack of political will to ensure that the government actually leads by example in the use of French, it is the use of English that is on the rise.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2026.

Sébastien Auger, The Canadian Press