Language Issue Heats Up

Former Péquiste politician turned commentator Jean-Pierre Charbonneau asks if the bilingualism question would even be asked at Ottawa city hall.

He’s right. The only French words Ottawa mayor Larry ‘O’Brien is saying these days are “non coupable.” He’s facing fraud and influence peddling charges. The cops allege that O’Brien offered a cushy government job on the parole board to a political rival in return for dropping out of the last mayoralty race.

Some things are more important than bilingualism.

Over on Parliament Hill the big language debate last month was over whether the judges of the Supreme Court should be bilingual.

Eight of the current nine judges are. Only Marshall Rothstein, appointed by Stephen Harper two years ago, is unilingual.

The Constitution gives every Canadian the right to be heard in the Supreme Court in either official language. But it says nothing about the right to be understood in either language.

New Democrat MP Yvon Godin, a proud Acadian, wants to change that. He has a private bill before the Commons. The debate picks up again in the fall, with all three Opposition parties in favour of having obligatory bilingual judges. The Conservatives are against it. Talk about a split.

Retired Supreme Court judge John Major put in his two cents recently, saying the judges don’t have to be bilingual because there’s “excellent” translation at the Supreme Court.

That prompted Official Languages Commissioner Graham Fraser to reply: “I don’t think someone who is unilingual is in the best position to evaluate the quality of interpretation.” The debate starts up again in the fall.

Some issues disappear on their own. Remember the Bill 101 days in Quebec when there was a big debate over whether “The T. Eaton Co. Ltd.” should become “Eaton.” Finally it did. Then Eaton stores disappeared altogether. End of debate.

All across Canada Francophone communities are trying to give themselves more of a French face by resorting to obligatory bilingual business signage.

In Dieppe, a New Brunswick town that is 80 % French-speaking, fully 30% of the signs are in English only. A Common Front for bilingual signage has sprung up. MP Godin has joined in and so has Liberal MP Brian Murphy, who proclaimed Moncton a bilingual municipality when was mayor. It’s getting political, folks.

Same sort of thing is happening in Russell Township, east of Ottawa where the Francophone majority recently passed a bylaw ordering future private business signage to be in both official languages.

The Anglo recalcitrants are howling, and have recruited Howard Galganov (of Bill 101 fame) as their defender. The whole thing is going to Ontario court next March 22.

Meanwhile across the country Francophones are complaining that Harper is cutting off their government funding. “It’s a national problem,” says Lise Routhier-Boudreau, president of the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities. “We’ve been told not to spend any more money,” says Cyrilda Poirier, spokesperson for the struggling Newfoundland and Labrador Francophones. “If we do, it’s at our own risk.”

Is the language issue heating up?

You better believe it!