30 Jun
2004
30 Jun
'04
6:18 a.m.
It's gotten to the point that it is actually
illegal to post a sign
on English!
Not quite. French must be given prominence, I think it is. You can
put up all the English signs you like, provided there are more
prominent and otherwise comparable French signs as well. Exactly what
"more prominent" (or whatever the actual language is) means has been in
question; it usually ends up meaning "larger font" in practice.
Also, this applies only to businesses putting up signs for their
businesses. You can tack up a garage-sale sign, or pretty much
anything else individual and informal, in English only, and the worst
that's likely to happen is it may get vandalized if you do it in too
violently francophone a neighbourhood.
Furthermore, the language requires that French be given prominence over
other languages, but it's enforced selectively against English.
And I've seen many cases where they would actually
refuse to speak to
someone in English even though they spoke it perfectly well. That
isn't protecting your heritage, it's just plain rude.
Agreed. I think linguistic bigotry (notably the linguistic bigotry
enshrined in law, and especially the selective enforcement I referred
to above) is a Bad Thing. If I were the activist type, I'd be trying
to get it changed - after all, it has basically achieved its goal, that
of overturning the "English oppressing the French" effect.
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