A lifetime commitment with the OQLF

After obtaining their certificate of francization from the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF), companies often believe that the matter is settled once and for all. But they are wrong.

Permanence of the company’s status

The obligation of francization is perpetual. Once they have their certificate, companies must maintain the status of French as it was at the time of certification and the OQLF ensures that this status is permanent. As the certificate’s three-year anniversary approaches, the OQLF sends a new form called the triennial report.

Triennial report

This document is very similar to the linguistic situation analysis form that the company completed before receiving its certificate. It contains information on employees’ knowledge of French; the use of French in working documents, internal and external communications; the use of French terminology and the degree of francization of information technologies. That’s right, you have to repeat the same process over and over with the OQLF to keep your status.

Companies can handle this in three ways:

1. Complete autonomy

Some companies will fill out the triennial report by drawing on previous linguistic analysis data, or by copying and pasting from previous reports. This can be a costly strategy, as previous mistakes are systematically repeated. A lack of knowledge of the real obligations of francization means that the organization continues to accumulate expenses that are sometimes unwarranted. It might be easy to copy data, but it’s harder to defend principles you don’t fully understand.

2. Complete dependency

Other companies simply wait for the email from the OQLF and let the Office adviser fill out the document. This is a bit like letting the taxman fill out your tax return! The consequences can be alarming. The company may find itself assigned a remedial plan, forcing it to francize things it didn’t have to francize before. Moreover, employee turnover in the company (or at the OQLF) can seriously complicate the matter.
For example, if the employee in charge of the OQLF mandate leaves the company without leaving notes in the file and their successor believes they are a francization specialist because they have previously taken care of this matter in another company, it is a safe bet that they will stumble over the trick questions because they don’t understand them.

3. Work with an expert who specializes in compliance with language obligations

But there is another way—ours! With us, you benefit from real specialists in conformity with Quebec language obligations. We know that francization doesn’t mean translating everything.

For us, it is a matter of adapting a work environment to linguistic standards and practices, while taking into account all the variables that can influence a company’s productivity and profitability. No translator or lawyer is able to do this. GP Conceptal has been making this unique expertise available to companies for nearly two decades.

Contact us. We have solutions for you.

Chantal Larouche
President, GP Conceptal Inc.

514 347-3984
chantal@gpconceptal.com
gpconceptal.com