Language office firm on sex toy packaging

French was missing; But lawyer says store's fine could be appealed

Martin Bergeron, of the Office québécois de la langue française, with librarian Chantal Robinson, says the agency would launch its case against a sex products store all over again as it's key to helping francophone shoppers.

Photograph by: JOHN MAHONEY, THE GAZETTE, The Gazette

The bottom line for any product sold in Quebec is that it must have instructions in French, whether it's intended for a mass market or a tiny clientele, says a spokesperson for the Office québécois de la langue française.

And Martin Bergeron said that despite the groans that may have been evoked by a six-year effort to compel a Montreal North sex toy store to apply French-language stickers on one product - even though it sells only 15 or 20 of the items per year - the OQLF would do it all over again.

In a case triggered by the OQLF, a Quebec Court judge fined Boutique Séduction $500 because a U.S.-made men's sexual aid, Sleeve Super Stretch, was being sold without French instructions.

Store manager Mireille Gaudreault said the store will appeal the fine. The product is no longer for sale, she added.

The store used to sell the item, which came in five colours, for $5.85.

She declined to comment further. Store owner Claude Perron is in China this week on business, she explained.

Bergeron noted the large store sells thousands of products, many of which come without any French on them.

"There probably are many items there that don't comply with the law. We'll pursue any complaints, if we get any.

"The point is to provide instructions in French so that the francophone consumer is not at a disadvantage and is just as well-informed as the anglophone shopper."

Bergeron said there is no sense at the OQLF that its efforts in the Séduction case were a sign that it has run out of worthy cases. It's a case like any other, he said, in which ensuring there is respect for the French-speaking majority is foremost.

"It's in the interest of those doing business in Quebec to be able to communicate with 80 per cent of the population."

Boutique Séduction's appeal may turn on the French language charter's six exemptions for allowing products without French instructions. One of them allows for it if the product is from outside Quebec, is in limited use in the province and no equivalent substitute with French is available in Quebec.

Michael Bergman, a Montreal lawyer who argued a case related to Quebec's Bill 104 language law before the Supreme Court of Canada, said Séduction could probably present a strong appeal.

"It seems like a unique, novel product," Bergman said. "It's logical to think that it would be exempted."

The OQLF should have negotiated more to resolve the matter before it went to court, he said. The French language charter should be applied with suppleness, he said, and solutions to complaints should balance the charter's principles with the reality of the marketplace and "cosmopolitan Montreal."

François Héleine, a Université de Montréal law professor and a specialist in contract law, said the Séduction case is "a sad testament to the weakness of the (OQLF)."

Consumers can reasonably expect instructions for all products they buy to be understandable to them, he said. The Séduction case, he added, is off-putting because it may make people think there are no mainstream products left without French instructions included.

The OQLF should be beefed up, with more inspectors, he said. Members of the public should be encouraged to "help in this witch hunt" and be paid if they report a verifiable complaint about non-compliant products.

Héleine, who moved to Canada from his native France in 1967 when he was in his 30s, said Quebec faces assimilation into English-speaking culture. He emphasized he believes Quebec should remain in Canada.

Anglophone Quebecers should help the OQLF in its mission to reinforce the status of French, he said. "The French language is part of our common heritage as Quebecers."

Language watchdog, by the numbers

Total complaints

Received........................2,668

Opened files on..............2,622

Types of complaints

Signs..............................26.4%

Products..........................22.3%

Websites............................12%

Publications, invoices,

receipts, job applications...16.2%

Language of service..........18.3%

Language at work...............4.5%

Other................................0.3%

Top three complaint zones

Montreal..............................41%

Quebec City.........................12%

Monteregie..........................17%

Complaint resolution

Corrected...........................54.3%

Complaint unfounded..........13.7%

Preventative intervention........13%

Handed over to prosecutor.....1.4%

Other measures..................17.5%

Total complaints resolved: 3,175

Budget

Total budget: $21 million

Employees: 225, including 18 analysts who deal with complaints (three are inspectors).