At the February 7 council meeting, Council unanimously adopted a resolution to maintain its official bilingual status. With the coming into force of Bill 96, the Municipality no longer had the criteria to maintain its status since less than 50% of its population has English as its mother tongue. It had to adopt a resolution within 120 days of receiving the notice from the Office de la langue française. The Municipality of Chelsea received this notice in December 2022.
''Council believes that it is essential to maintain the status of bilingualism for the benefit of the municipality and its residents. This diversity is an asset and we wish to continue to serve our residents in their mother tongue." - Pierre Guénard, Mayor.
The 2021 census indicates that 47.8% of Chelsea's population has English as their first language. Therefore, the Municipality will have to adopt a new resolution to maintain its bilingual status with each letter sent by the Office de la langue française.
