For Montreal barber Jesse Padulo, running a barbershop usually means long hours behind the chair, but lately, he says he’s been spending more time behind a screen ever since Quebec’s language watchdog issued notices against his business for using English on signs and on Instagram.
Padulo opened The Corner Shop barbershop in Saint-Leonard a little over a year ago, but six months in, inspectors from the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) were knocking on his door.
“If I’m not cutting hair, I’m answering emails about the French police,” he said. “When am I functioning? When am I working? How am I running this business?”
Padulo received four different warnings from the OQLF, all relating to his business’ English signage and online presence, particularly on Instagram.
Quebec law requires that any English signage be no more than half the size of the corresponding French text.
In a letter, the OQLF also referenced Article 52 of the Charter of the French language, which bans businesses from using languages other than French on social media, classifying such posts as “commercial publications.”
The barber said that he could face a flat preliminary warning fee of $500 to $800 that could be bumped up to $30,000 per day if he chooses not to comply.
“I have not even functioned for two years and I have this government coming in and trying to rip me apart,” Padulo said.
Padulo said that going along with the change would take away from what his business stands for.
He considers his barbershop a Christian barbershop, and that shop’s name is a nod to the biblical concept of the “cornerstone.” Changing it to French, he said, would lose its meaning.
“The cornerstone was from the Bible,” he said. “‘Le magasin du coin’ — that’s not in the Bible.”
However, Padulo said there’s only so much he can do, and that he’s caught between his beliefs and the pressure to follow the law.
“I’ve got to follow the law, right?” he said. “You can bully me all you want. At one point, I have to comply.”
