Brenda O’Farrell
The Advocate
About 43 per cent of La Financière agricole du Québec’s English-speaking clients will soon be informed that they will no longer receive information from the financial services agency in English.
The reason is La Financière’s requirement to implement provisions of Bill 96, the provincial government’s update of the Charter of the French Language.
Of La Financière’s approximately 23,000 clients, only 517 were categorized as receiving information and communications from the agency in English, said Cynthia Byrne, director of communications for the agency.
Of that subset, however, only 301 are registered individuals. The rest are companies. And under the provisions of Bill 96, only eligible individuals will be able to continue receiving information from the provincial agency in English.
Byrne said only 293 of the 301 registered individuals will be offered the courtesy of communications in English. Eight have been deemed not eligible, she said, because they registered as clients of the agency after May 13, 2021, the cut-off date stipulated in the regulations of Bill 96.
The changes will not be made immediately, however, Byrne explained. La Financière is launching a pilot project by early May, whereby only 80 clients will be informed that communications will be sent to them in French only. These clients are in the Montérégie area surrounding Châteauguay, including the towns of Candiac, Mercier, St. Remi and Beauharnois, and a few in Rigaud. The rest will be informed later this year.
La Financière will continue to offer information about its programs on its website in both languages. Information on the site that deals with provincial programs for agricultural producers offered through provincial ministries, however, will be in French only.