A Montreal restaurant must halt its free meal system because it's not in French

Montreal restaurant Mama Khan — known for its delicious Pakistani cuisine — has fallen victim to Quebec's language police after receiving a letter from the OQLF.

The Plateau restaurant, located on rue Saint-Denis, recently posted a series of updates to its Instagram page following a letter demanding that its online and social media services and initiatives be made available in French, according to article 52 of the Quebec Charter.

The online initiative in question? Mama Khan says the OQLF is gunning after its 'Pay It Forward' system, which provides free meals to members of the community.

Mama Khan began the 'Pay It Forward' project in 2023 and has since given away over 700 free meals to hungry Montrealers via its voucher system.

Every $5 donation adds a free meal voucher to a designated wall inside the restaurant. Mama Khan welcomes anyone and everyone in need to grab a voucher from the wall in exchange for a warm meal.

The initiative has been widely shared across social media and promoted on Mama Khan's online pages. The only problem, according to the OQLF, is that the initiative isn't promoted in French.

Mama Khan shared the letter from the OQLF, which mentions that they received a complaint regarding Khan's social media page.

"The Charter of the French Language contains rules concerning commercial publications. We would therefore like to inform you that, according to section 52 of the Charter, it is against the law to make a commercial publication available to the public on a website or social media in a language other than French when the French version is not accessible under at least equivalent conditions," the letter said.

The OQLF went on to state that they are requiring Mama Khan to make "any necessary corrections."

Mama Khan contacted the OQLF regarding the letter for further clarification, and despite claiming to have had a respectful exchange, the restaurant says it must now halt the 'Pay It Forward' free meal system to print out French vouchers.

"I am very upset that we spend our own money and time to create initiatives that help the community, only to receive a letter from those in power telling us we are not doing it right," Mama Khan wrote in an Instagram post — both in French and English.

"As a small local restaurant, we sacrifice all that we have to do something for the community, but in the end, it feels like we are being told we are doing things the wrong way."

The restaurant said they spent roughly $400 creating the free meal vouchers, which must now be tossed out and replaced with French vouchers.

"We apologize for stopping our program until we can afford to print out coupons in French," the restaurant said. Nevertheless, the initiative will be returning.

MTL Blog reached out to Mama Khan, who made it clear that they do plan on bringing the 'Pay It Forward' initiative back. However, the restaurant will need some time (and additional funds) to re-print the free meal tickets.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.