City of Montreal needs a French-language and Francophonie office: committee

A person walks past a storefront with French words printed on the window in Montreal, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Christinne Muschi, The Canadian Press)

The City of Montreal's French-language committee wants a French-language office established to promote and increase the use of the language in the metropolis.

The new office is among the recommendations in the committee's 11-page final report after a three-year analysis of French in Montreal.

"Montreal, the French-speaking metropolis of the Americas, needs an investment commensurate with its ambitions," the committee's final report reads.

The committee was made up of francophone volunteers from a variety of backgrounds.

The first section of the City of Montreal Charter says that "Montreal is a French-speaking city," but committee lead Louise Harel said they wanted to go beyond that.

"We're convinced that Montreal's sociological and demographic realities call for a permanent institutional and political commitment to the French language and culture," she said.

French-language commissioner Noémie Dansereau-Lavoie would run the Bureau de la langue française et de la francophonie, which would create a portrait of the linguistic reality in each borough and develop a strategic plan to promote French in those boroughs.

Dansereau-Lavoie was appointed commissioner in 2023.

"This report comes at just the right time: it will feed into the city's next action plan, which will be drawn up shortly," said Dansereau-Lavoie. "I am convinced that these recommendations will strengthen our distinct identity and our status as a key player in the French-speaking world."

The office will, the committee says, work with local organizations to coordinate francization efforts and action plans.

In addition, the committee says that Montreal must establish a three-year framework agreement with the French Language Ministry, much like the agreements the city has with the culture, public security and other ministries in Quebec City.

The committee further recommends "the inclusion of mandatory criteria relating to the use of the French language in basic agreements for international as well as in the funding of local activities."

Official documents, logos and other written communication and oral communication in culture, sports and the economy should promote French, the committee said,

It acknowledges that Montreal is a pluralistic metropolis, but that the city "must be committed to promoting and enhancing a common French-language culture and national history, while recognizing the importance of interculturalism."

"The French language is the language of Montreal, it is the language of the heart," Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante said on X. "We must celebrate it, value it, protect it."