It’s hard to believe that freedom of speech is even a debate in North America in 2023. Sure there are a few grey areas but speaking the language of your choice should not be one of them.

As a businessman, small businesses that are privately owned and operated should be able to operate in any language that they want. French English Spanish Mandarin etc. They are free to cater to their local clientele or exclude a bunch of them by not supporting their language of choice.

It is then up to the customers to choose whether they want to do business with them and vote with their dollars. If you require a service in a certain language and they don’t offer it, just go elsewhere. It’s not okay to leave a one-star review because you had to get your French on when you wanted English and vice versa. It is however okay to give a bad review if they are genuinely rude to you over it. If they are trying, better to try back or just move on with no negative feedback.

I live near a town named Hawkesbury that is very bilingual and has lots of French. I noticed the new pizza place is basically all French which was a bit surprising but no big deal. The big deal part is that 10 minutes away across the river, the same business operating in English would have language police showing up, fines with an eventual forced closing if they didn’t comply. They even control internal communications and report the number of non French speakers in larger companies. Language laws have gotten worse under the CAQ government and they have zero intention of backing down.

A federally run corporation that has locations in every province can have things like language requirements forced on them, the price you pay for providing services to an entire country. To force an independently owned private business has been and always will be completely unacceptable. The market chooses whether a business survives, it shouldn’t be based on a government’s language policy.

I think it’s better to try to work with the person you are communicating with. There are lots of options these days including translators and apps. Despite being unilingual, I am flexible and functional enough in general to get what I need service wise. You just sometimes need more patience, understanding, tech know how and to put in a little extra effort.