White Tape

Montreal, QC - CE - Friday, April 13th, 2007 : goo

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Before Bill 101 (the law that made French the official language of Quebec), street type indicators such as “street”, “avenue”, “road”, etc. were generally written in English in predominantly English areas and French in predominantly French areas. After the law was passed, it was required that all street signs in the province be in French and French only. Because replacing every offending sign in Quebec would have been a very costly affair, municipal workers were given rolls of white tape and ladders. Echoes of the past can still be seen around English areas of Montreal such as Mile End or NDG (where these pictures come from).

Some of the tape has since become weathered and thin causing the offending English to show through:

rue Sherbrooke, NDG, Montreal

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Peter: wow, so subtle... nice find!

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