OQLF receives complaint about Sherbrooke barber shop's signs
Complaint was eventually dropped, but owner says she's surprised it happened at all
A barber shop in the Rock Forest borough of Sherbrooke received a complaint from the Office québécois de la langue française, Quebec's language watchdog, just three weeks after opening because some of its signage reads "barber shop" in English instead of French.
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Avenue du Barbier has vintage-inspired signs that say "barber shop" on its windows and walls, though the vast majority of its signage is in French, and the population of Rock Forest is 90 per cent Francophone.
'Just two words'
The owner of the barber shop, Bonnie-Lee Beaucage, said she was surprised by the complaint.
"I never thought it'd happen to me," she said. "It's just two words."
Her business received the visit on Feb. 25. By law, the OQLF must investigate every complaint it receives.
A week later, the OQLF called Beaucage to tell her the complaint would be dropped because a sufficient amount of her advertising and signage is in French.
The OQLF receives about 3,000 complaints per year, but according to Radio-Canada, very few of those complaints are from the Eastern Townships.