Toys "R" Us in Quebec refuses to sell English-only Daniel Tiger doll

[IluvMTL]

http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/canada/montreal/toys-r-us-in-quebec-refuses-to-sell-english-only-daniel-tiger-doll-1.3031253

 

Toys "R" Us in Quebec refuses to sell English-only Daniel Tiger doll

 

Montreal father says it should be up to parents, not province to determine what toys kids play with

 

Apr 13, 2015 8:13 PM ET

Kate McKenna, CBC News

 

A Montreal man is criticizing Quebec language laws after trying to buy a toy from a local Toys "R" Us — and being told by a clerk he wasn't allowed to purchase it.

 

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Nick Messina tried to purchase a "Daniel Tiger" plush toy for his infant daughter Carina after noticing her eyes "lit up" while watching the popular children's TV show Daniel Tiger's Neighbourhood.

 

Hoping to buy it as an Easter gift, he drove to his nearest Toys "R" Us, which didn't have the toy in stock.

 

Then he called another Toys "R" Us in Montreal where clerk informed Messina there were two of the toys in stock.

 

However, the clerk told Messina that he couldn't buy a Daniel Tiger because the toy is unilingual.

 

"It's kind of saddening."- Nick Messina, father

Daniel Tiger talks and sings 14 different phrases — but they're all in English.

 

Messina said the clerk thanked him for letting them know the toy only spoke English, and said it would be shipped back to Ontario.

 

"I kind of felt a little bit turned off. I felt it was discriminatory against the English-speaking community in Montreal. After all, Montreal is multi-ethnic, multi-cultural," he said.

 

Not giving up, the father tried to purchase the doll online — only to discover the Toys "R" Us website wouldn't ship the product to Quebec.

 

English-speaking toys illegal

 

Messina didn't know until a few weeks ago, but because of Quebec's language laws, it's illegal to sell a unilingual toy unless the toy has a French-speaking counterpart.

 

He says it should be up to parents to decide what toys they can buy for their kids, not the province.

 

"I don't understand why, when it comes to the choice of purchasing a toy for our children, that we have to be subjected to these kinds of rules and regulations," he said.

 

"It's kind of saddening."

 

Toys "R" Us admits mistake

 

In a statement to CBC News, a spokeswoman from Toys "R" Us apologized for the inconvenience, but said the toy shouldn't have been on the shelves.

 

"Toys 'R' Us shipped in error the English-speaking product to one of our Quebec stores and a customer tried to purchase it. Our store did not sell the product to the customer and we apologized for the inconvenience that this caused our customer. We immediately communicated to our store that this product cannot be sold," said the statement.

 

Happy ending for family

 

Messina's perseverance paid off. He did manage to buy the doll eventually; he bought it on Amazon for about $50 more than what Toys "R" Us was asking.

 

Though it was more than he planned to pay for the doll, Carina adores her new toy.

 

 

For Carina Messina, it was love at first sight for this Daniel Tiger doll. (CBC)

 

 

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[IluvMTL]

Ce genre d'événement donne l'impression que Montreal est une ville fermée et une province gérée par des fonctionnaires.

 

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[peekay]

They don't even ship it to your house! I've had this battle before with them in 2011.

Toys R Us doesn't even ship it to your HOUSE!!!

 

That's right, you can't buy something and have it shipped to your house via their website. It even has a "Shippable to Québec" clause on every item. Disgusting.

 

Fuck Toys R Us. They don't know how to apply the law.

[monctezuma]

Your kid will only be smarter Learning 2 languages instead of one.

 

All toys should be bi-lingual, even, trilingual. We will all have smart kids.

[andre md]

You're damn right.

Your kid will only be smarter Learning 2 languages instead of one.

 

All toys should be bi-lingual, even, trilingual. We will all have smart kids.

[peekay]

My kid will be quad-lingual (already is)

 

That is not the point. How is the government protecting the french language by doing this?

[begratto]

I'm surprised by the way they interpreted the law.

 

Tout ce que j'ai trouvé dans la loi concernant les jouets est:

 

54. Sont interdits sur le marché québécois les jouets ou jeux, autres que ceux visés à l'article 52.1, dont le fonctionnement exige l'emploi d'un vocabulaire autre que français, à moins que le jouet ou jeu n'y soit disponible en français dans des conditions au moins aussi favorables

 

Le fonctionnement de cette poupée ne semble pas exiger l'emploi d'un vocabulaire autre que le français.

[IluvMTL]

I don't think this doll spoke, so language wasn't the issue....

[denpanosekai]

They don't even ship it to your house! I've had this battle before with them in 2011.

Toys R Us doesn't even ship it to your HOUSE!!!

 

That's right, you can't buy something and have it shipped to your house via their website. It even has a "Shippable to Québec" clause on every item. Disgusting.

 

Fuck Toys R Us. They don't know how to apply the law.

 

This is also a problem with Best Buy.

[Rocco]

The kind of news the Gazette and the english community craves for. It gives them munition.. Hey! Look how were are treated in Quebec! Poor us! Crocodile tears.