MONTREAL – Since she went public, Eva Cooper has received a wave of support from across Canada.
Thousands of people have been encouraging the Chelsea, Que. boutique owner, and criticizing the the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF), Quebec’s so-called “language police,” for cracking down on her company’s primarily English Facebook page.
WATCH: A “virtual” witch hunt?
Friday, Cooper got another boost of support from business heavyweight Michel Leblanc, the president of the Montreal Board of Trade.
“If someone wants to use Facebook in English, I think it’s a great possibility, and I don’t see why the government should be involved in that discussion,” Leblanc told Global News.
Leblanc went further, suggesting the OQLF should drop the case.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they stepped back a little bit and say they went too far,” he added.
WATCH: Global News’ viewers weigh in on Facebook about the story
Montreal mayor Denis Coderre also weighed into the debate Friday morning.
“We have to be very, very careful in the way we’re applying that kind of legislation,” Coderre said.
“We don’t want another case like what we saw at the Italian restaurant.”
READ MORE: Quebec’s ‘Pastagate’ gets international media attention
Jean-Francois Lisee, the Parti Quebecois minister responsible for Montreal, told reporters Friday that he does not understand why the Facebook issue has turned into such a heated debate.
He even criticized storeowners like Eva Cooper who choose to have English-only Facebook pages.
“Eighty per cent of Quebec’s population is French speaking,” Lisee said.
“Why would would you want to exclude 80 per cent of your customer base? It’s mind boggling!”
The Quebec government also has Facebook pages that are primarily in English for its offices in Boston, New York and London.
It’s not illegal, according to OQLF spokesperson Jean-Pierre LeBlanc, but Minister Lisee admitted changes will be made.
“They should also have a French Facebook page,” Lisee told Global News.
READ MORE: Quebec language police target Chelsea shop’s Facebook page
The Facebook debate is now also being discussed among lawyers.
Attorney Charles Morgan, who specializes in technology law at the McCarthy-Tetreault firm, thinks the OQLF cannot legally apply the French language charter to anything on social media.
“I think there’s an open question whether the OQLF is pushing the envelope,” Morgan said.
“What I see is that social media is interactive, if you think of it it’s a lot less like a brochure of products and services than a website is.”
Eva Cooper is still deciding whether or not to contest the OQLF order.
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