English-only sex toys???

Illegal in Quebec....

Quebec’s language police have cracked the whip on a Montreal sex-toy emporium.

Distribution Percour Inc., owner of Boutique Séduction in Montreal North, has been ordered by a Quebec Court judge to pay $500 for selling an item called Sleeve Super Stretch whose packaging was in English only.

The April 19 ruling came after a failed six-year effort by the Office québécois de la langue française to get the store to stick French labels on Sleeve Super Stretch boxes.

Acting on a citizen’s complaint, an OQLF inspector visited the store in 2004 and photographed the packaging of the sex-toy accessory worn by men.

Subsequent meetings between OQLF officials and store manager Mireille Gaudreau aimed to force the store to produce French labels to conform to the law.

Though court records show that the store agreed to translate the packaging, it never followed through.

In his 10-page ruling, Judge Gilles Michaud slammed the defendant’s claim that the device is exempt under Quebec’s law on the language of commerce and trade.

For safety reasons, Michaud said, it’s important for consumers to be able to understand written instructions on the items they buy.