Legault Debuted A New Mask So You Can See His Lips & Asked Quebecers To Wear Them Too

It's called a "smile mask."
Staff Writer

On Monday, Quebec Premier François Legault debuted a new face-covering. In a meeting with designer Jean Airoldi and artist Rosalie Taillefer-Simard, he showed off his smile through the windowpane mask — a mask designed to allow people to read lips. 

The Premier praised the ingenuity of these local designers and their creation — dubbed "les masques sourire" (smile masks) — in an Instagram post.

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I am very sensitive to their reality. I invite Quebecers to get one of their masks and wear it out of respect for them.

Premier François Legault

"[These are] beautiful masks with a clear window to allow deaf and hard of hearing people to read lips," wrote Legault. 

After many experts from across Canada have proclaimed the benefits of these window-masks, the Quebec government embraced them and lists them among its suggested designs.

In Quebec, you can wear any mask that has "a clear window in order to promote communication with hearing-impaired people, people learning the language, people with intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorder or cognitive impairment."

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  • Teddy Elliot
  • Teddy Elliot was a Staff Writer for MTL Blog. He was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec and has a B.A. in Literature. Teddy has been a journalist for three years and was once an English teacher. His creative work has appeared in The Blasted Tree and Parenthetical Magazine. When he's not chasing scoops, Teddy can be found cheering on Aston Villa and listening to 80s power ballads. He was shortlisted for a Digital Publishing Award in 2021.

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