A provincial politician in Québec has referred to as for an investigation after gamers in on a Québec Maritime Junior Hockey League staff had been pictured carrying English-only gear celebrating their playoff berth.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, chief of the Parti Québécois, took to Twitter on Wednesday, March 27, to decry shirts and hoodies worn by gamers on the Drummondville Voltigeurs that learn “2024 GILLES-COURTEAU TROPHY PLAYOFFS” with no French equal alongside.
“It’s very worrying to see that the league is not doing its job to this extent. Even the Montreal Canadiens, who play in a North American league of international scope, have never dared to go this far in their lack of consideration towards the Frenchman,” St-Pierre Plamondon tweeted (translated to English by Google). “The QMJHL is the QUÉBEC league responsible for the development of our young Quebec players. Its common and official language should be French.”
The PQ chief additionally posted a photograph of Chicoutimi Sagueneens gamers with motivational slogans on the wall behind them in English.
The PQ at present maintain solely 4 of the 125 seats within the Nationwide Meeting of Québec. The Coalition Avenir Québec holds 89, whereas the Québec Liberal Celebration is the official opposition with 19.
In response, French Language Minister Jean-Françcois Roberge advised reporters in Québec Metropolis on Thursday that he supposed to file a grievance with the Workplace québécois de la langue française (OQLF) over the matter. “I think that this does not respect — at the very least — the principle of the law,” he stated, as reported by the Montréal Gazette.
Sports activities Minister Isabelle Charest stated that, as a result of the QMJHL is a personal league, she felt she didn’t have the authority to impose French on it, however she referred to as on the league to behave in good religion. “We’re in Québec and we want our young players to speak French,” she stated.
A QMJHL spokesperson stated on Wednesday that it had introduced up the difficulty with the Voltigeurs, and that it was a human error. The league conceded that the shirt ought to have at the very least been bilingual.
“As soon as the league was informed, it asked the Voltigeurs to rectify the situation, which will be done,” learn a league assertion issued Thursday. The assertion additionally famous that “everything happens in French at QMJHL headquarters” and that it will remind the 12 Québec-based groups of “the importance of French in their daily operations.”
Québec’s Constitution of the French Language, final amended in 2023, declares that French is the official language of Québec and in addition “the only common language of the Québec nation and constitutes on of the foundations of its identity and distinct culture.”
The QMJHL changed its name in December 2023, with the M now standing for “Maritime” as an alternative of “Major”. This was to acknowledge the six energetic QMJHL franchises which play within the Maritime provinces whereas nonetheless retaining the long-used league acronym.
