A popular Montreal pub won’t have to alter its sign after Quebec’s language watchdog walked back its review, calling it “premature” to request changes to the display.
The OQLF had previously reached out to Pub Burgundy Lion, asking that it add French words to its sign to better respect the province’s newly updated French language laws, said co-owner Toby Lyle.
“Their justification is that Burgundy is not French. I maintain Burgundy is the neighborhood’s name. So it’s a place name. So it’s neither English nor French. It’s the name of the neighbourhood,” Lyle told CBC News on Wednesday.
According to the new updated law, place names in languages other than French are an exception to the rule if those place names are official in accordance with the Commission de toponymie du Québec.
So, while the neighbourhood the pub is in is known as Little Burgundy among anglophones, it is Petite-Bourgogne in French.
In a statement Thursday, however, the OQLF said it shouldn’t have sent certain documents and asked that the sign be changed before a decision on the sign’s conformity was made.
“After analysis, it appears the display is compliant,” it said in its statement. “This is a regrettable situation, and we are sensitive to the reactions it has generated, both from the company and the public.”
The OQLF has backtracked on its review of the sign outside Pub Burgundy Lion. In a statement issued on Aug. 14, the language watchdog called the review “premature,” adding that the pub’s sign is compliant with the province’s updated language laws.
In a phone call with CBC News Thursday, Lyle said he was “relieved” to hear the OQLF had gone back on its request.
“It was a pretty stressful time,” he said. “I’m glad they came to their senses.”
He said he received an email from the OQLF Thursday asking him to call them, and when he did, they apologized and told him the sign could remain as is.
Recent changes to French-language laws
Intellectual property lawyer Eliane Ellbogen said the recent amendments to Quebec’s language laws now include sizing requirements for French text, on top of the previous requirement that French be present.
Under tighter rules tied to Bill 96, passed in 2022, French must now be “markedly predominant” on commercial signage — roughly twice as large as text in another language.
But in an interview Wednesday, Lyle said asking him to change his sign was going a step too far, and that the OQFL didn’t respect the “historical and cultural significance” of the name “Little Burgundy.”
The OQLF also asked him to change the names of some of the regions of whiskies that the Burgundy Lion serves on their website. Lyle wrote back to the OQFL officer in charge of his case in an email exchange that “these are geographical locations whose names cannot be translated into French.”
“The Lowlands of Scotland remain the Lowlands, the Highlands are the Highlands, and Islay remains Islay, etc. Therefore, we will not make these changes or invent place names that do not exist,” he wrote.
Lyle said the OQLF also backtracked on that request Thursday.
Businesses in violation of the new rules can be fined $3,000 to $30,000 per day for a first infraction, and up to $90,000 per day for a third offence.
The OQLF’s statement Thursday didn’t address the other changes it had asked the pub to make on its website.
