A Montreal bakery is in the OQLF's crosshairs for its English TikToks
When Quebec’s language watchdog wrote to a Montreal family-run bakery, the owner’s son assumed the letter was fake.
The Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) told Lahmajoune, a Syrian-Armenian-Lebanese shop in Villeray, that it had received a complaint alleging that most of the company’s social media posts were not accessible in French “under at least equivalent conditions,” as required by Quebec’s Charter of the French Language. It singled out
.
“My brother checked online,” Charbel Hannan said. “And he said ‘No, it’s actually real. It’s really from the government.’”
After being initially shook, Hannan said he felt urged to speak out:
They posted the letter on Instagram
, where it has been viewed more than 350,000 times, he said. More than 2,000 accounts have liked the post and it has been shared thousands of times, spurring both calls of support and sharp debate in the comments.
The dispute goes back to
Bill 96
, the reform passed in 2022 under Premier François Legault. This expanded the OQLF’s powers to bolster French in public life, imposing, among other measures,
stricter rules for businesses
on signage, packaging and social media presence.
Companies operating in Quebec must ensure commercial publications intended for the Quebec market are available in French, François Laberge, a spokesperson for the watchdog, said in a statement on the matter.
“They may also be posted in another language, but the French version must be at least equivalent and accessible under conditions at least as favourable,” he said.
When a violation is brought to its attention, Laberge added, the office contacts the company “to inform it of the requirements of the Charter and assist it in finding solutions.”
“All companies doing business in Quebec must comply with the law that Quebecers have enacted to protect their common language.”
Under Legault, whose party’s support has dropped from more than 40 per cent in the 2022 provincial election to about 14 per cent in recent polls, Quebec more than doubled the OQLF’s budget to $49 million for 2024-25 compared with 2017-18, before Legault took office.
In 2025, two Montreal companies — Grillado’s Poulet Grillé Peri Peri and Commandité Panche — were fined $1,500 each for publishing commercial content on social media in a language other than French without an equivalent French version.
In this case, the letter sent to Lahmajoune did not threaten a fine but asked that the situation be corrected “as soon as possible.”
“We’re not experts. We don’t pay $2,000 a month for social-media consultants. We’re up at 5 a.m. baking,” Hannan said.
The bakery, he said, involves about 10 family members. His father was part of it for decades under its former name, Chez Apo.
“My dad came from Syria more than 40 years ago,” Hannan said. “It was his first job here. He was paid $2 an hour.”
Seven years ago, after the original location burned down and sat empty for three years, Hannan said he persuaded his father to rebuild.
“(Customers) gave so much love in return. There were crazy lineups. I still remember them.”
Like most businesses in the restaurant industry, he said, they turned to social media. Instagram and Facebook captions were consistently bilingual. On TikTok, however, many posts were only in English.
“TikTok is an American app,” he said. “It’s mostly English. … But I’m not saying French isn’t important. We are Quebecers. We include French in most of our communication.”
And after trying four or five times to reach the OQLF by phone without success, Hannan decided to respond publicly.
“I told my mom and dad: ‘I’m not staying silent. Everyone’s going to read this letter with us’,” he said.
The reaction online, he said, has included both support and criticism.
Still, he said: “We posted this letter because we don’t understand why we’re receiving it.”
“Honestly, it makes it makes me feel sad (to receive the letter). We’re a family-run business rooted in this province. We work hard, we pay our taxes, we serve our community with respect, with love, with craft. Everything is handmade. So to receive a letter like that, it doesn’t feel like support.
“I just wish the approach feels more collaborative, more understanding of who we are.”
What do you think about Bill 96? Write to Harry at hnorth@postmedia.com.
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