KFC Canada is reminding Saskatchewan franchisees about anti-discrimination policies after a memo instructing staff to speak English only was brought to its attention.

CBC News obtained a copy of an internal memo distributed to employees at a Yorkton, Sask., KFC last month, which instructed foreign workers to speak English only in front of customers.

It alleged that customers complained after staff spoke a different language in front of them — and also said some complained when they overheard staff speaking another language in the back of the fast food restaurant.

"THIS STOPS NOW. When our FW's [foreign workers] were brought over to Canada part of the process was that they had to pass English tests," the memo says.

"These workers need to understand that communicating in a language which is not understandable by 99 per cent of our customers aggravates the general public."

CBC obtained a copy of an internal memo distributed to staff at multiple KFC stores in Saskatchewan. It ordered staff to speak only English when in front of customers.

The memo stipulated that employees could speak "their own language" in the break room.

The supervisor on shift at the location declined to comment Wednesday, but confirmed it was an internal memo at that restaurant.

KFC Canada has confirmed, however, that the memo was distributed by one franchise partner to a few stores throughout Saskatchewan.

Memo 'not in line' with KFC 'values'

Linn Free, director of operations at KFC Canada, said the company values diversity.

"We have stringent policies in place around anti-discrimination, and we expect the entire KFC family, including our franchisee partners, to uphold these standards," he said in an emailed statement.

"The memo that was shared with our Saskatchewan employees is not in line with these values and guidelines, and we'll be taking further action to remind all franchisees, employees and partners of our expectations."

Sets wrong tone: Federation of Labour

A memo like this sets the wrong tone for the workforce, said Larry Hubich, president of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour.

"It's a terrible message. It's a message of intolerance; it's a racist message," Hubich said.

He said a conversation with the employees would have been more appropriate if the English-only policy was justified.

"I'm not sure what the justification for that would even be," he said. "I just don't understand why an employer thinks that they've got the right to say to workers, 'Oh, you can't speak in your native language because it offends our customers.'"

Earlier this month, the owner of a McDonald's franchise in Yellowknife apologized to staff after a manager ordered employees to speak English only.

Language not ground for discrimination in Human Rights Code

The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code does not include language as a prohibited ground of discrimination, a spokesperson explained in an email.

However, a policy that requires employees not to speak a certain language could be considered discriminatory based on "related grounds," like race, ancestry or nationality.

Generally speaking, there would be no issue with a policy if an employer can prove a specific language is required, such as in meetings, writing and with customers.

But conversations with co-workers and held on breaks can be done in the language of choice.

The spokesperson said that each case is unique, so affected employees could consider obtaining an employment lawyer.

Details from an internal memo appear to list customer feedback or apparent reasons why the note was sent out. The memo was sent to staff at KFC stores in Saskatchewan.

The commissioner of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission was unavailable for comment Thursday.

Data recently released by Statistics Canada reports 12 per cent of Saskatchewan residents speak more than one language at home.

And of the province's 1.1 million people, 173,500 of them reported a mother tongue that's neither English nor French.