Montreal realtor baffled by Quebec French-language watchdog letter about Instagram posts

A Montreal real estate agent says he was sent a letter by Quebec's French-language watchdog about his social media page not containing enough French.

Montreal real estate agent Mario Conte was surprised when the Quebec language watchdog contacted him about his Instagram page content.

He says the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) sent him a letter because he didn’t have enough French on his social media site.

“I was astonished to read that they weren’t happy with my Instragram account, Mario Conte Remax, because they found that there wasn’t enough French on it,” he said.

Conte has sold both commercial and residential properties since 1998. He is trilingual and serves his clients in their language of choice.

“I’m a law-abiding citizen,” he said. “It’s shy of three decades I have had the privilege to serve shy of 30 different communities, including half of our clients speak French.”

He, like many realtors, uses his social media account for both work and personal life.

“I don’t want to give the image that I am a machine: just sold, just listed, just sold, just listed; so I mix a little bit of everything,” he said. “I have one of the kids, it’s their birthday, or we’re away, just to say, I mean, hey, my clients interact with me. I’m a human here.”

All of Conte’s printed material is in French.

“We try to be exceptionally careful,” said Conte. “Wanting to police an Instagram account that has worldwide reach because maybe it’s missing a bit of French language, where the user has the option of choosing the language that they want the post to be transcribed in, I don’t know.”

The OQLF told CTV News that social media users who combine personal and professional posts must adjust their language accordingly.

“Publications distributed for non-commercial purposes may remain in a language other than French,” the OQLF said. “Those of a commercial nature must be available in French.”

The Remax website is in both French and English.

The OQLF said that under the Quebec Charter of the French language, all commercial publications distributed by a company about products or services intended for the Quebec market “must be in French, including those distributed on social media.”

“They may also be published in another language, but the French version must be at least equivalent and accessible under conditions that are at least as favourable,” the watchdog said.

Conte said he tried to reach the OQLF to see what the exact issue was, but that he got bounced around and never received a return call.

“I believe, respectfully, and again, I don’t want to break the law,

it’s a little bit of an overreach," he said. “Again, we’re law-abiding citizens. Let’s work together. The entrepreneurs out there, let’s not complicate things for them.”

-With reporting from CTV News Montreal journalist Matt Gilmour.