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A provincial politician in Québec has called for an investigation after players in on a Québec Maritime Junior Hockey League team were pictured wearing English-only gear celebrating their playoff berth.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the Parti Québécois, took to Twitter on Wednesday, March 27, to decry shirts and hoodies worn by players on the Drummondville Voltigeurs that read “2024 GILLES COURTEAU TROPHY “Playoffs” without the French equivalent.
It’s very alarming to see the league not doing its job in this way. St-Pierre Plamondon, who plays in a North American League of International Scope, has never dared go this far with their lack of consideration for the Frenchman. “The QMJHL is the QUÉBEC league responsible for the development of our young Quebec players. Its common and officially recognized language should be French.
The PQ leader has also posted a picture of Chicoutimi players with motivational quotes on the wall in English behind them.
The PQ currently hold only four of the 125 seats in the National Assembly of Québec. The Coalition Avenir Québec holds 89, while the Québec Liberal Party is the official opposition with 19.
In response, French Language Minister Jean-Françcois Roberge told reporters in Québec City on Thursday that he intended to file a complaint with the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) over the matter. “I think that this does not respect — at the very least — the principle of the law,” he said, as reported by the Montréal Gazette.
Isabelle Charest, Sports Minister, said she did not have the authority to impose French to the QMJHL because it is a privately owned league. However, she called for the league to behave in good faith. “We’re in Québec and we want our young players to speak French,” she said.
A QMJHL spokeswoman said Wednesday that they had brought up the matter with the Voltigeurs. She also stated that it was an error made by a person. The league admitted that the shirt should at least have been bilingual.
A statement from the league on Thursday stated that “as soon as it was informed, the league asked the Voltigeurs rectify the situation which will be done.” The statement also noted that “everything happens in French at QMJHL headquarters” and that it would remind the 12 Québec-based teams of “the importance of French in their daily operations.”
Québec’s Charter of the French Language, last amended in 2023, declares that French is the official language of Québec and also “the only common language of the Québec nation and constitutes on of the foundations of its identity and distinct culture.”
The QMJHL has changed its name to the QMJHL in December 2023The M stands for “Maritime”, not “Major”. This was done to recognize the six QMJHL teams that play in the Maritime provinces, while still retaining a long-used acronym.
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