Parlez-vous francais? A controversy over English store logos in French-speaking Quebec hints at broader cultural issues in Canada.

• Author: Smith, Patricia
• Position: INTERNATIONAL - Patti Quebecois

The Southern gentleman with the string tie above the entrance to a fast-food restaurant in Quebec is immediately recognizable to almost any American. But the name on the sign, PFK, might be more of a puzzle.

PFK stands for Poulet Frit Kentucky--or, as it's known in the U.S. and most places around the world, Kentucky Fried Chicken. KFC is an exception among American companies in Quebec in that it has translated its name into French.

But it may soon have more company. After decades of permitting a wide variety of English-language trade names on signs, the government in French-speaking Quebec is now insisting that stores and restaurants add French phrases or translations--or face fines or legal action.

It's the latest skirmish in a 300-year battle over Canada's cultural heritage. Quebec--the only one of Canada's 10 provinces that is predominently French-speaking--has long been a flashpoint. In the rest of Canada, both English and French are official languages. But Quebec made French its sole official language in 1977, and Quebec law requires stores to serve customers in French and post in-store displays and labels in French.

The current crackdown on signs has prompted six major American retailers to take Quebec's government to court. The companies--Walmart, Costco, Best Buy, the Gap, Old Navy, and Guess--say the province is unfairly changing the rules without formally changing the law.

The stores object to the cost of redesigning signs and also want to maintain worldwide consistency in their brands, says Nathalie St.-Pierre of the Retail Council of Canada, a group that represents stores.

"Our members in general feel that this is very unfair," says St.-Pierre.

Quebec's language agency admits that the province has until now "tolerated" signs containing nothing but trademarked English names. But an influx of U.S. retailers led the agency to take a tougher line recently.

Why so much hullabaloo over a few store signs? It has to do with Quebec's unique history within Canada.

"Every time there's a tussle over language, it touches a very sensitive chord," says Andrew Holman, a professor of Canadian studies at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts. "It's immediately interpreted as a symbol of a bigger threat that Quebecers have always faced."

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