Westmount, QC. – The Bank of Montreal(BMO) has been served a complaint over its policy of discriminating against its English-language customers in Quebec.
“They shouldn’t treat customers as second-class citizens in Canada,” says Jack Locke who launched the complaint yesterday. “All clients should be treated equally, whether English in Quebec or French-speakers in other parts of the country.”
The BMO has displayed an English welcome sign in its Sherbrooke Street branch by making the English-language welcome sign half the size of the French “Bienvenue” signage.
Banks are federally-registered organizations chartered under the Government of Canada and are not subject to the Quebec provincial Charter of the French Language, says Locke.
“I was told by a customer representative that the signage was acceptable because ‘This is Quebec.’ ” And while geographically-correct, the explanation fails to acknowledge the other reality–that the bank is in Canada, an officially bilingual nation.
“It’s a sad day in Canada when my bank treats me as a second-class customer,” concludes Locke.
Lokshtanov 