Quebec language watchdog flags bilingual government websites

Quebec's French-language commissioner found that major provincial government websites remain freely accessible in both French and English, undercutting the province's three-year-old push to make French the default across public administration.

The office reviewed seven major agencies—including Hydro-Québec, the Revenue Department, and the health insurance agency—and found most allow users to switch between languages with a button, with no verification that they qualify for exceptions.

Under Bill 96, passed in 2023, government bodies are required to communicate exclusively in French except in specific cases: people eligible for English-language schooling, Indigenous nations members, newcomers in their first six months in Quebec, and people living outside the province.

But the commissioner's report found agencies aren't enforcing these limits. Some told the office their computer systems can't track which legal exceptions apply to which clients, and that fixing the systems would be costly. As a result, immigrants who selected English when creating a file can continue receiving services in English indefinitely unless they manually change their preference.

The watchdog recommended that the French-language Department require agencies to verify exceptions before offering non-French services and to automatically transition immigrants to French-only after six months. "It's as though the Charter of the French language is not having the effects it should have," deputy commissioner Éric Poirier said in the report.

The findings underscore a persistent gap between policy intent and on-the-ground practice in Quebec's language framework.