The City of Châteauguay adopted its new language policy at the August city council meeting to comply with the directives of Bill 96, which strengthened the status of French as an official and customary language in Quebec.
Translation Amanda Bennett
This law obliges municipalities to offer services only in French, unless they have official bilingual status, which Châteauguay does not have.
Nevertheless, the law provides for nine situations in which a city may address its citizens in a language other than French.
During the August city council meeting Mayor Eric Allard explained that city employees will be relying on these criteria to determine whether or not they can respond in a language other than French. “It’s getting really complicated to apply this law, but we’re going to do our best because it’s very important to respect it. There are personal fines that can be sent to employees if they don’t uphold the law,” he said.
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