Does my Canadian business website need to be in French?

If you do business in Quebec

Quebec’s Charter of the French language requires commercial publications, which includes websites, to be available in French for businesses operating in Quebec. Bill 96 strengthened these rules and their enforcement. In general, a French version can’t be less available or less complete than versions in other languages.

The details, such as how they apply to an out-of-province business with Quebec customers, or exceptions for certain trademarks, are exactly where a lawyer earns their fee.

Outside Quebec

Private businesses in Alberta and most of Canada aren’t generally required by law to offer a French website. Federal official languages obligations apply mainly to federal institutions and certain federally regulated organizations, not to a typical small business. New Brunswick is officially bilingual, but that mainly governs public bodies.

Industry rules can add requirements. If you’re regulated federally or provincially, check what your regulator expects.

When French is worth it anyway

A Calgary immigration consultant with francophone clients, a tour operator in Canmore welcoming Quebec visitors, an Ottawa-area contractor. For these businesses, French pages can win work competitors miss. Search works by language too. People searching in French get French results, and a well-built French version can rank for searches your English site never will.

Doing it properly

Use a human translator, or at least a fluent reviewer, rather than raw machine translation. Give each language its own URLs (for example /fr/) with proper language tags so Google can show the right version to the right person. Translate the details that matter: forms, error messages, buttons and meta descriptions, not just the body text. Partial translations tend to frustrate more than they help.

For most Calgary clients, I build in English and structure the site so a French version can be added cleanly later, with the right URLs and language tags. For anyone doing business in Quebec, I’d plan French from the start.

Whichever way you go, I’d avoid a translate widget bolted onto the page. It rarely reads well, and search engines don’t treat it as a real French site.