CHELSEA, QUE.—The agency in charge of enforcing the primacy of the French language in Quebec apparently has a new target — social media.

Eva Cooper, the owner of a small retail boutique in Chelsea, Que., has been notified by the language agency that if she doesn’t translate the shop’s Facebook page into French, she will face an injunction that will carry consequences such as a fine.

“Ultimately, to me, Facebook has nothing to do with Quebec,” said Cooper, who uses the social media site to inform customers of new products in her boutique north of Ottawa. The shop — Delilah in the Parc —has an all-bilingual staff of fewer than 10 people.

“I’m happy to mix it up, but I’m not going to do every post half in French, half in English. I think that that defeats the whole purpose of Facebook,” said Cooper, who has requested the agency send her their demands in English.

Cooper’s case represents a new frontier for the language agency, the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF). The agency says probes of social media complaints, which started only recently, are “not frequent.”

This all comes amid election talk in the province. Diane De Courcy, Quebec minister of immigration and cultural communities, said earlier this week that if her party wins the next election, they will toughen language laws for small businesses. In particular, the Parti Québécois will crack down on bilingualism, such as the “Bonjour-Hi” greeting used in many areas, including Chelsea and Montreal.

Traditionally, the language agency has targeted non-francophone businesses that have signs or promotional material in a language other than French, but there have been some instances of small businesses’ websites being targeted as well.

In 2011, a smokehouse in Chelsea was threatened with a $1,000 fine if they didn’t translate their website into French, and earlier this month, a Montreal-based website called “Provocateur Communications” was told they must comply with the French language charter by translating their page.

Still, the question of how the agency is able to dictate what goes on social media in particular is “really murky,” said Cooper.

“Would I be able to do my text in English on (Pinterest or) Twitter?”

The notice to Cooper comes almost a year to the day when the “pastagate” scandal made international headlines after a Montreal restaurant was investigated for having the word “pasta” on the menu instead of the French word “pâtes.”

The fallout led to the resignation of the language agency’s president and the launch of a “triage system” for complaints to prioritize cases that had the most impact.

“This is not consistent with what the OQLF said after they evaluated their approach last spring around complaints,” said Sylvia Martin-Laforge, director general of the Quebec Community Groups Network, which represents 41 English organizations.

“She’s in Chelsea, (her Facebook page) has only 602 likes. There is no gravity to this. This is ridiculous,” said Martin-Laforge.

Jean-Pierre Le Blanc, spokesperson for the language agency, wouldn’t comment on Cooper’s notice but explained how Quebec’s language law applies to Facebook.

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Cooper has until March 10 to respond to the notice before she is hit with the injunction that could lead to a fine.

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