Inside the OQLF: How inspectors hunt English signs, receipts and service

Cellphone in hand, they move from shop to shop along busy commercial streets, stopping briefly before heading to the next store. But they’re not Christmas shoppers. In fact, merchants eye them warily, fearing paperwork, unwanted headlines — even fines. They’re Quebec language inspectors. For decades, the province has dispatched them to monitor language compliance. Their work sometimes stirs controversy: the Pastagate scandal over Italian menu words, the singling out of the Burg