Indigenous man says he was refused service at Quebec auto insurance office because he can't speak French

Xavier Dearhouse, 20, is from Kahnawake on Montreal's South Shore and said he was refused service at an SAAQ outlet because he can't speak French. As an Indigenous person, he is exempt from Quebec's French-language law. SOURCE: Xavier Dearhouse/Facebook

A young Indigenous man on Montreal's South Shore says he is out $40 and frustrated after he says he was refused service and escorted from the building by security when trying to book a driver's test because he could not speak French.

Xavier Dearhouse, 20, is from the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) community of Kahnawake and speaks English and Kanien'kéha (the Mohawk language).

He says he went to the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) outlet in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield to take a driver's licence road test but could not get past the language barrier when called to the counter after waiting for an hour.

He put $40 on the counter for the $31 test and asked to book one.

"She started to speak in French. I looked at her confused because I don't understand French and I said, 'I don't understand French. Can you speak in English?'" said Dearhouse. "I don't even know what she said, but I know that she said 'no' because it's not hard to understand that."

Dearhouse said he told her that he is Indigenous and only speaks English or his own language.

He said the employee pointed to a sign in French with information about the French-language law that Dearhouse could not read.

"I did ask if somebody else would serve me and she said, 'No. It's the law that they speak French,'" said Dearhouse. "By then, I was kind of shocked. I couldn't really believe it."

Dearhouse said he kept asking if someone could serve him in English but was told 'no' as the employee continued to speak to him in French.

"By then, she called over security, and I was asked to leave," said Dearhouse.

The SAAQ told CTV News that The Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec, commonly known as Bill 96, exempts Indigenous people from being served in French and that "the employee concerned behaved consistently with these guidelines, although she was not perfectly bilingual."

The SAAQ added that a security agent "intervened to ask the customer to leave the premises, considering his attitude."

"The SAAQ does not tolerate any act of aggression and violence, whether verbal or physical, from customers," said spokesperson Geneviève Côté.

Dearhouse said he was not acting aggressively but simply trying to get service in a language he understood.

"I wasn't getting aggressive, but I was trying to argue my point: Why can't I be served in English?" he said. "Really, I didn't understand why until I looked up that Bill 96 is a law. But I did say that I was Indigenous and should be spoken to in English and she said 'No. It's the law.'"

He did not get his $40 back.

He added that people approached him outside the SAAQ outlet to tell him they witnessed the interaction and that "it's not right."

Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) Chief Cody Diabo told CTV News that community members have reported that people would not speak English, but typically, the interactions are in retail, restaurants, or other commercial spaces and not government institutions.

"It's not uncommon that we hear about it, it happens," said Diabo.

He said when Bill 96 was implemented, the council was concerned that language would become an issue for community members trying to access services.

"We knew that this would be an opportunity or a chance that certain Quebec government branches would apply it to its fullest," said Diabo.

He added that Indigenous people typically will get service in the end but that the interaction is not as pleasant as it could be.

"From my own experience, when you pull out your status card, quite often the tone changes," he said. "They say 'Bonjour' and you say 'Hi' and you get a sense of frustration on their end." 

The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) is challenging the reforms in Bill 96 in court.

Indigenous groups argue that the law infringes on their rights to self-determination and to teach children in their languages.

Dearhouse said he went to another SAAQ outlet in Dorval, and staff spoke English with him.

He was also told to call a 1-800 number to get the $40 back that he paid in Valleyfield.

He said he's always gotten by speaking English or Kanien'kéha.

"That was the first time I was totally refused service because I couldn't speak it," he said. "I don't want to sound prejudiced, but I do feel she was being racist, from my point of view." 

-- with files from the Local Journalism Initiative and the Eastern Door.