Does Your Business Website Have to Be in French? Bill 96 Explained for Gatineau Businesses

The short answer

If your business has an establishment in Quebec, your website must be available in French, and the French version must be at least as complete, as prominent and as easy to find as any other language version. The same applies to your social media accounts, your online advertising and your e-commerce pages. This was already the position of the Charter of the French language for commercial publications; Bill 96, adopted in 2022, strengthened it, widened it and gave the OQLF sharper enforcement tools, with provisions phased in through 2025.

You can absolutely keep an English version. The law does not stop you from serving anglophone customers in Aylmer or across the river in Ottawa. It requires that French be there, be first-class, and be the default for the Quebec public. For a Gatineau business that already sells to both sides of the river, that is less a burden than a description of what a good bilingual site looks like anyway.

What the law covers online

• Your website. Every page a Quebec customer can reach, including product pages, blog articles, FAQs, terms and privacy pages, and downloadable documents such as catalogues and price lists.
• Social media. Business accounts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and the rest are treated as commercial publications. Posts, bios and pinned content are expected in French; French-only or bilingual posts both satisfy that, English-only does not.
• Online advertising. Google Ads, Meta ads and display campaigns shown to the Quebec public must have a French version. Bilingual campaigns are fine, and as we explain in our paid media guide, they also perform better.
• Customer communications. Automated emails, chat assistants, booking confirmations, invoices and contracts. Consumers have the right to be served in French, and standard-form contracts must be presented in French first.
• Apps and portals. A client portal or booking app used by Quebec customers follows the same rule as the website.

Trademarks are the notable nuance. A registered trademark in another language can appear as is, but generic or descriptive terms around it must be in French, and since 2025 French must be markedly predominant on public signage that includes such a mark. Signage has its own transition periods; if you have a storefront, check the OQLF's current guidance on that specifically.

What "at least equivalent" means

The OQLF's position is that a French version cannot be a lesser version. In practice that means:

• The same content, not a summary. If the English site has twelve service pages and a blog, the French site needs twelve service pages and the blog.
• The same quality. A machine translation with errors and English left in the navigation is a common complaint trigger.
• The same prominence. The French version must be as easy to reach, ideally the default for visitors in Quebec, with a clear language switcher. Hiding French behind a small "FR" link in the footer is the pattern the OQLF objects to.
• The same timing. New content should appear in French at the same time as in English, not weeks later.

Good bilingual technical structure helps here: mirrored page sets, correct hreflang tags so Google serves the right language, and a switcher that keeps the visitor on the equivalent page. We cover the mechanics in our web design guide.

What about Ottawa businesses?

Ontario has no equivalent requirement for private businesses; its French Language Services Act applies to government services. An Ottawa business with no Quebec establishment is not obliged to have a French website.

Two situations change that. If you have a location, office or employees in Quebec, the Charter applies to you. And if you actively market to Quebec consumers, for example with ads targeted at Gatineau or shipping to Quebec addresses, the OQLF's view is that your commercial publications aimed at that public should be in French; how far that reaches is a question for a lawyer. Beyond the law, the business case in the National Capital Region is straightforward: a large francophone customer base on both sides of the river, and Ottawa competitors who mostly ignore it.

Enforcement and fines

Enforcement is largely complaint-driven: a customer or a competitor files a complaint with the OQLF, the Office investigates, and businesses generally get a chance to correct the issue before penalties. Bill 96 raised the fines substantially. For a business, they run from a few thousand dollars per offence to tens of thousands, doubling and tripling for repeat offences, and each day a violation continues can count as a separate offence. The OQLF can also publish the names of non-compliant businesses.

Separately, since June 2025 businesses with 25 or more employees in Quebec must register with the OQLF and go through the francization process, down from the previous threshold of 50. That is about the workplace rather than the website, but it lands on many growing Gatineau companies at the same time.

A compliance checklist

1. Every public page exists in French, with the same content as the English version.
2. French is the default language for visitors from Quebec, or at minimum equally prominent, with a visible language switcher.
3. Navigation, buttons, forms, error messages and confirmation emails are in French, not just the body copy.
4. Product names, descriptions, prices and terms of sale are in French on e-commerce pages.
5. Social media bios and posts include French.
6. Google Ads and Meta campaigns shown in Quebec have French versions, with French landing pages.
7. Chat assistants and automated replies answer in French when addressed in French.
8. Contracts, quotes and invoices are available in French, with French presented first for standard-form agreements.
9. Trademarks in another language are accompanied by French descriptors; storefront signage follows the current signage rules.
10. The French is written or reviewed by a francophone. Machine translation without review is the fastest route to a complaint.

How we build for it

Every site we build for a Quebec business is bilingual by design: mirrored French and English page sets, French written by francophones rather than translated, French as the default for the Quebec public, hreflang and a language switcher that keeps visitors on the equivalent page. Automated emails, forms and any AI assistant are built in both languages from the first screen. The result satisfies the Charter and, more usefully, ranks in both languages, which is where the real return is. If your current site falls short, an audit takes a day and we will tell you exactly what needs to change.

Questions we hear