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“If we permit languages other than French to be spoken, what will happen in the employees’ room?” a woman is heard asking in the recording. “We’ll have a ghetto. We’ll have a small group of Spanish, a small group of English.”

Ms. Moran is told the rules reflect the wishes of the franchise owner, Louise Ménard: “Mme. Ménard is a French-Canadian, she signs the pay cheque. What she asks is that within these walls, people speak the language of the workplace, which is the language of Quebec. It’s the law.”

Mr. Poulin, a Quebecer who graduated from Université Laval, said the company respects Quebec’s language laws in the workplace but the franchise owner in Saint-Lambert went too far.

“What’s unacceptable is the fact that we tried to constrain the liberty of language of the employees,” he said. “It’s clear that in the relationship with the customers, we’ve got to respect the customers first and the laws that are applicable in every jurisdiction in which we do business.

“On their own time, obviously, it’s for the employees to deal in the language of their choice.”

Ms. Ménard, who operates several IGA franchises in the Montreal area, could not be reached for comment Thursday morning.

Our relationships with our franchisees are on a one-to-one basis, and we will deal with Madame Ménard in the appropriate fashion, within the context of our contractual relationship with her

Mr. Poulin said the president of Sobeys’ Quebec division contacted Ms. Ménard after seeing the news report about her store. Mr. Poulin did not want to specify what, if any, action would be taken against her.

“Our relationships with our franchisees are on a one-to-one basis, and we will deal with Madame Ménard in the appropriate fashion, within the context of our contractual relationship with her,” he said.

On the CTV web site, a commenter named Bianca said she had been fired from her cashier’s job at another of Ms. Ménard’s franchises in 2007 for speaking English to a customer. Bianca said the customer in question was her teacher at a local English high school.

National Post

ghamilton@nationalpost.com