OttawaA sign on the city’s Highway 174 alerting drivers to the exit for Orleans, rather than Orléans, is bringing back feelings of disrespect for some in the east Ottawa community.Community fought to have accent officially added in 1994CBC News · Posted: Aug 11, 2025 10:38 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoA sign on Ottawa’s eastbound Highway 174 the afternoon of Aug. 10, 2025 is missing the accent aigu over the e. (Nicolas Legault/Radio-Canada)A sign on the city’s Highway 174 alerting drivers to the exit for Orleans, rather than Orléans, is bringing back feelings of disrespect for some in the east Ottawa community.Last week social media users spotted and called out the sign without the accent aigu, which is on the highway’s eastbound lanes approaching the Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard.”For us it’s an attack on our identity,” said Orléans resident Camille Mercier, who posted about the mistake on Facebook and contacted Orléans East-Cumberland Coun. Matthew Luloff.”This accent isn’t just about spelling — it’s a mark of respect for our shared heritage,” Luloff wrote on Facebook Monday morning, saying he’s received several complaints.1994 official changeWhat is today a significant east Ottawa community was once a small, predominantly francophone agricultural village.A francophone registered the community’s first official plan in the 1850s and by the 1880s, there were about three francophones to every anglophone family there, according to the Société franco-ontarienne du patrimoine et de l’histoire d’Orléans.A strong francophone presence remains.The matter of the accent in the community’s official name came to the forefront in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the community rallied to have it added to recognize its francophone character. Notre Place, a song composed in 1989 by Paul Demers, included a line about putting accents where they belong.The Ontario Geographic Names Board officially added the accent in 1994, before the community became part of the City of Ottawa. People then started painting accents on some community signs.A look at a sign for Orléans not long after its name change from Orleans in 1994. Someone added an accent aigu in white paint. (Radio-Canada)Luloff said he first thought the accent had fallen off the sign, but later spoke to a city general manager who said it was installed that way by crews working to extend light rail service along the highway.”I’ve been assured the sign will be corrected very shortly,” Luloff said.With files from Radio-Canada’s André Boisjoli
Missing accent in Orléans sign no small typo to some
