WATCH YOUR
LANGUAGE
U.S. RETAIL CHAINS HAVE GONE TO COURT OVER QUÉBEC'S
INSISTENCE THAT THEY 'FRENCHIFY' THEIR NAMES
A
By Elizabeth Scott
48
SCT / M A R C H 2 0 1 3
COURT BATTLE IN QUÉBEC IS PITTING SEVERAL
American-owned retailers against the provincial government's
stringent language laws. The Canadian subsidiaries of Best Buy,
Costco Wholesale, Gap (listing its Old Navy operation as a separate plaintiff), Guess and Walmart contend that l'Office québécois de la langue française — Québec's French-language watchdog
— is changing the rules after decades of allowing English-language