Protesters picket IGA that demanded employees speak only French

Courtesy of Antoinette Mercurio/Facebook

MONTREAL--The fallout from an IGA franchisee that had demanded employees speak only French continued with a boycott organized at the Saint-Lambert store.

Several dozen picketers stood in front of the IGA Marche Menard late Friday in protest after CTV reported the story of a former employee who was told the only language permissable for employees on the premises was French.

In a YouTube video posted by Charles Bosworth, picketers sang 'Oh Canada' and shouted slogans such as "IGA, No Way!" in front of the IGA on Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier Blvd. The video says the store manager called police rather than speak with protesters.

A Facebook group called 'Boycott IGA in St-Lambert' had nearly 1,400 members by Saturday afternoon.

CTV Montreal exclusively reported Wednesday that teenager Meaghan Moran was told she did not have the right to speak English at the store. On Thursday, owner Louise Menard suspended her director of human resources, who told Moran that the store risked being turned into a "ghetto" if languages other than French were spoken by employees.

Menard apologized to her English clientele but stopped short of offering an apology to Moran, who recorded the conversation with her superiors after quitting her part-time post. Moran said she would be filing a complaint with Quebec's human rights commission.

There is no provision in Quebec’s French language charter that prevents employees from speaking English to each other during the course of a workday.