I wanted to be a social worker when I was younger so I guess charity is a key part of mamak KH the Pakistani restaurant Abdul Rashid Khan runs with his mother they gave out free meals during the 2023 ice storm they offer people meals for free during power outages we have an event today with the St Justine Foundation last year he started a Pay It Forward program where every time someone donates at least $5 one of these vouchers would go up on the wall for anyone to take it was very successful at today we have given out over 712 free meals but now the wal just has sticky tack where the cards once hung after he got a warning letter from the AA de my reaction was kind of surprised that uh we were reported to the government saying that we are not bilingual someone complained to the language Watchdog about English language social media posts made by mamak Khan and the oqlf sent him a warning letter reminding him commercial Publications in a language other than French are not allowed in Quebec I wasn’t aware too much of the law it’s my it’s my first time running a business it’s been a year and a half that I’m the owner the free meal vouchers are only in English so fearing a fine from language law enforcement authorities he took them down he has hundreds he never got to use it costed me around $400 to print them out to have them designed by a graphic designer I work 90 hours a week I have no time to do marketing myself uh it’s a family run restaurants my mother and I we’re a Duo unfortunately we have to remove the tickets on the wall after posting about his situation online Khan got an outpouring of support food blogger Jason Lee among those who spoke out I plan to head down there and add a few tickets of my own uh and sponsor a few tickets to him and and hopefully that you know helps the oqlf told Global News in a statement that it did not Target Khan’s free meal ticket program they only warned him about his Facebook and Instagram Pages after receiving a complaint the only thing I can do from here and moving on forward is just learn from our mistakes and make sure it’s in bilingual or in French he says if people are in need they can come to the restaurant and he’ll give them a free meal voucher or not Dan Spectre Global News Montreal
A Montreal restaurant owner who has given out hundreds of free meals as part of a “pay it forward program” says his initiative has been halted because of the so-called language police.
“It was very successful. We have given out over 712 free meals,” said Abdul Rashia Khan, owner of Mama Khan restaurant on St. Denis Street.
He started the “pay it forward” program last year, where every time someone donates at least five dollars, free meal vouchers would go up on the wall for anyone to take. Now the wall just has sticky tack where the cards once hung, after he got a warning letter from the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF).
Global’s Dan Spector has the details.
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Sorry, but it's his own fault for not learning the regs. He even admitted that he didn't bother to learn them.