Bilingual Websites in Canada: English, French and the Rules

Canada has two official languages, but the rules about which language your website must use depend on where you do business and who you are.

Doing business in Quebec

Quebec's Charter of the French Language, strengthened by Bill 96 in 2022, requires businesses serving Quebec to make their commercial content, including websites, available in French. The French version must be at least as available as any other language. Fines for businesses start at $3,000 and can reach $30,000 per offence, and they double or triple for repeat offences.

Federal institutions

The federal Official Languages Act requires federal institutions to serve the public in English and French, including online.

Ontario

Ontario's French Language Services Act applies to provincial government services, not private businesses. Still, many Ontario organizations, especially those serving francophone communities, choose to offer French.

The real risk: half-translated sites

• French pages that fall behind when the English versions are updated.
• Menus in French that lead to pages in English.
• Pages tagged as the wrong language, which confuses screen readers and search engines.

A site that's partly translated can look worse than one that never tried, and in Quebec it can be a compliance problem.

This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. Monthly care checks that your English and French pages stay in sync, so you don't have to.