'You don't need to show us your Grade 3 report card': Cote Saint-Luc makes dig at Bill 96 in phone greeting
It's the City of Côte Saint-Sass.
Côte Saint-Luc, a Montreal-area municipality with official bilingual status, is laying the sarcasm on thick Friday in response to new provisions of Quebec's controversial language law, Bill 96.
Call the city's hotline, and this is what you'll hear:
If you'd like service in English, press two. And by the way, you don't need to show us your Grade 3 report card, or your family tree going back ten generations. And you don't have to pinky-promise anything. This is the City of Côte Saint-Luc, and that's how we roll.
(Watch the video above to hear it for yourself).
The message is a cheeky -- if not downright shady -- dig at changes made to Montreal's 311 helpline on Thursday.
According to the 311 automated message, callers must now attest "in good faith" they can receive services in English, i.e. that they're covered by one of the following exceptions:
- if you are a person declared eligible to receive English Education;
- if you're an Indigenous person;
- if you are a recently arrived immigrant residing in Quebec for less than six months;
- if you are calling from outside Quebec;
- or if you corresponded solely in English with the City of Montreal prior to May 13, 2021.
The message then instructs the caller to "please press two" if they attest (or to press one for French).
Similar messages were added to websites like that of the City of Montreal, Quebec's alcohol retailer (SAQ), and Quebec 511, used to monitor road conditions in the province.
CHANGES TO LANGUAGE LAW
The disclaimers are the product of a Bill 96 provision that requires civil administration to use French in an "exemplary manner."
It's one of several June 1, 2023 changes to Bill 96, An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec.
The law, enacted in June 2022, was designed to protect the use of French in Quebec. However, its limitations on English use in certain settings have prompted protests, court challenges, and concerns from English-language groups.
The City of Côte Saint-Luc was officially recognized as a bilingual municipality in 2005. Community officials have openly criticized Bill 96 since its inception, with city council passing multiple resolutions opposing it.
With files from CTV's Joe Lofaro.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.
Canada's favourite sport to watch is hockey, survey shows
The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs have already delivered a fever level of fan excitement in Canada.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
NASA hears from Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, after months of quiet
NASA has finally heard back from Voyager 1 again in a way that makes sense. The most distant spacecraft from Earth hadn't sent home any understandable data since last November.