<span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">Chief forced to step in to protect worker’s right to speak Mi’kmaq</span><br style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><br style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">Published on August 5th, 2010</span><br style="font-family: georgia,serif;">
<span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">Staff ~ The Cape Breton Post</span><br style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">Quebec</span><br style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><br style="font-family: georgia,serif;">
<span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">MEMBERTOU — It was the kind of memo to staff that Chief Terry Paul thought he would never have to write.</span><br style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><br style="font-family: georgia,serif;">
<span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">In a directive issued last week, Paul and his council instructed all staff that speaking Mi’kmaq was not only acceptable but encouraged at all enterprises operated by the band council.</span><br style="font-family: georgia,serif;">
<br style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">The memo further states that no employee shall be disciplined or in any way chastized for speaking their native language and that all staff has a responsibility to help preserve the language.</span><br style="font-family: georgia,serif;">
<br style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">The memo was sent in reaction to a somewhat shocking incident at the band’s Membertou Market in which a non-native manager instructed workers not to speak Mi’kmaq while on the job.</span><br style="font-family: georgia,serif;">
<br style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">Access full article below:</span><br style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia,serif;"><a href="http://www.capebretonpost.com/News/Local/2010-08-05/article-1653785/Chief-forced-to-step-in-to-protect-worker%26rsquo%3Bs-right-to-speak-Mi%26rsquo%3Bkmaq/1">http://www.capebretonpost.com/News/Local/2010-08-05/article-1653785/Chief-forced-to-step-in-to-protect-worker%26rsquo%3Bs-right-to-speak-Mi%26rsquo%3Bkmaq/1</a></span><br style="font-family: georgia,serif;">