Offer French when you sell in Quebec

How to do it

The Charter of the French Language requires French for catalogues, brochures and similar publications. Quebec's government enforces this on websites and fined a company whose French site was harder to reach than its English one. Software must be available in French when a French version exists. A contract of adhesion, such as online terms, goes to the customer in French first. Build the French version as Give each language its own path says, and link it from every page. Ask a lawyer in Quebec about exceptions.

Examples

JavaScript example

const missingFrench = publicPages.filter(page => page.language !== 'fr' && !page.alternates.fr);
if (missingFrench.length) throw new Error(`No French version: ${missingFrench.map(page => page.path).join(', ')}`);

Python example

missing_french = [page.path for page in public_pages if page.language != "fr" and "fr" not in page.alternates]
assert not missing_french, f"No French version: {missing_french}"

How to check

A test lists every public page in the other languages. Each has a French version that answers 200, and the switch to French appears on every page. The checkout shows the terms in French first to a customer with a Quebec address.

Sources

• Charter of the French Language (CQLR c C-11)
• Québec.ca (Charter offence for a website with a less accessible French version)

Related rules

• LOC-1 Give each language its own path in Localization