It’s been more than 25 years since the Montreal Canadiens had a French-speaking captain. Over the past quarter century, those wearing the “C” for hockey’s most storied franchise have often stuck to a simple “bonjour” or “merci.”
When Nick Suzuki was named captain of Montreal in 2022, he aimed to raise the bar. A few months after taking on the role, it was reported that the London, Ontario, native had joined the team’s voluntary French language program.
But while he’s shown off his growing vocabulary in a few local commercials, he remains far from fluent.
Montreal Gazette journalist Brendan Kelly brought up the touchy subject back in September with an X post expressing his disappointment in Suzuki’s lack of effort to improve his language skills.
“I continue to be disappointed that the captain of the Canadiens is not making any effort to learn the language spoken by the majority of Quebecers,” Kelly wrote in French.
Je continue d'être déçu que le capitaine des Canadiens ne fasse aucun effort pour apprendre la langue parlée par la majorité des Québécois.
— Brendan Kelly (@brendanshowbiz) September 16, 2024
Despite criticism from the bilingual journalist, who recently released a book called Le CH et son peuple (The Canadiens and Their People), members of the CAQ government don’t seem too concerned about Suzuki’s lack of bilingualism.
As per a recent article from Patrick Bellerose of Le Journal de Montréal, both Jean-François Roberge, Quebec’s minister of the French language, and Isabelle Charest, the minister of sports, expressed that fluency in French isn’t a requirement for the Canadiens’ captain.
“I don’t think it’s a prerequisite for a Habs captain to speak French,” Charest stated.
Roberge echoed the sentiment, saying, “I’d like to see players from professional teams learn the language, but I understand it’s extremely difficult. Their schedules are almost as busy as a minister’s.”
Kelly responded to the ministers’ comments on Thursday in an op-ed for The Gazette titled “Why doesn’t Nick Suzuki have to speak French?”
“Considering the government’s stance on language, the hypocrisy of Jean-François Roberge and Isabelle Charest’s comments is stunning,” he wrote, pointing to the CAQ members’ support for Bill 96 — a law that negatively impacts anglophone institutions in the province.
The author and documentarian concluded that their surprising stance comes from not wanting to antagonize the Canadiens, who are a beloved element of Quebec culture.
“I’d say a majority of anglophones feel this is a government that is openly hostile to our community,” Kelly added. “But they’re not hostile to the anglophones on the Canadiens roster because, I’d argue, they don’t want to get in a fight with the Habs, arguably the most popular and most influential organization in the entire province.”
Speaking with Daily Hive last July, Suzuki confirmed that he did not take any French lessons over the summer but stressed the importance of learning how to communicate better with fans.
“I think it is important for players to be able to communicate with people that maybe don’t speak English,” he noted. “There are big fans in Quebec that might not be able to understand us speak English. So, anything that we can do to reach out to them in French is really cool.”