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Bill 96 aims to strengthen Quebec's language laws, with new and expanded rules for businesses, harsher penalties for violations and limits on who can access certain government services in English.
Wordly can help organizations meet the French translation requirements of the new bill with our AI-powered translation platform.
For more information on the Bill, here is an excerpt from a blog post written by Alexandre Fallon, a partner in the Litigation practice at Osler based in Montreal, on July 12, 2022.
Bill 96, adopted by Québec’s National Assembly in May 2022, brings significant amendments to the Charter of the French Language that will affect all businesses with operations or employees in the province. With implications for client and employee communications, contracting, public signage and more, it is critical that organizations understand the new requirements to remain compliant and reduce their risk.
The Bill opens the door to lawsuits against businesses that fail to service customers in French, provide communications in French and post job descriptions in French, as just a few examples. The law will also apply to e-commerce sites run by businesses outside Quebec, to the extent these sites sell to Quebec residents, and increases the risk of liability if businesses don't comply.
Here are the top 5 areas of the law that could impact your business:
All businesses must inform and serve their Québec clients (both consumers and non-consumers) in French.
Broader requirements for all businesses to communicate with Quebec employees in French.
Stricter standards for hiring in Québec, both in terms of publishing job offers in French and also in respect of limiting situations where knowledge of a language other than French is required as a condition of employment.
A new private right of action for all Québec residents to seek injunctive relief, damages and punitive damages for violations of the provisions of the Charter.
Reducing the threshold at which businesses become subject to the obligation to undergo a “francization program” seeking to generalize the use of French within the businesses’ Québec operations from 50 to 25 employees in Québec.
The new law applies the francization process to thousands of businesses that had previously been exempt. Francization is a process that involves detailed inspections of business operations and the development of tailored compliance plans.
Businesses will also be subject to increased scrutiny if they do not follow Québec’s language law. Members of the public and employees can, for the first time in the history of language rights in Québec, seek redress before the Courts, and the Office Québécois de la langue française is gaining several new powers to ensure compliance with the requirements.
Wordly Makes it Easier to Comply With Bill 96
Wordly makes it easy and affordable to provide English to French translation in real-time with our AI-powered translation platform. We work with hundreds of businesses and government agencies located across Canada and around the world. Our interpretation solution has been used by over 1 million attendees for industry conferences, sales kickoff events, employee training, customer onboarding, city council meetings, and much more.
Some additional capabilities include:
To learn more about Wordly, contact us to set up time to speak with one of our interpretation specialists.
