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Ability, not language, most important in fire chief search
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<a class="" href="http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/11/17/ability-not-language-most-important-in-fire-chief-search#disqus_thread"><span>94</span></a>
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By
<a rel="author" class="" href="http://www.ottawasun.com/author/jon-willing">Jon Willing</a>, <span class="">Ottawa Sun</span>
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First posted:
Monday, November 17, 2014 05:38 PM EST
| Updated:
Monday, November 17, 2014 09:41 PM EST
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<img src="http://storage.ottawasun.com/v1/dynamic_resize/sws_path/suns-prod-images/1297509718323_ORIGINAL.jpg?quality=80&size=420x" alt="Fire" title="" class="">
Fire Chief John deHooge will be saying goodbye to the Ottawa Fire Services in January 2015. DOUG HEMPSTEAD/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
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<p>With John deHooge leaving the fire service, a burning question
returns to City Hall: Should Ottawa's fire chief be able to speak both
English and French?</p>
<p>Orléans Coun. Bob Monette said the candidate with the "best
qualifications" should get the job. If two candidates have the same
abilities and one can speak both languages, "then definitely go with the
bilingual one," Monette said Monday.</p>
<p>Monette, who has been council's representative on the French language
services advisory committee, said it's valuable to have a fire chief
who can speak both languages when there's a crisis.</p>
<p>The city announced last week deHooge will retire at the end of January.</p>
<p>His appointment in 2009 (in the previous term of council) sparked
some controversy because he wasn't bilingual, even though the city's
hiring policy for the job doesn't make full bilingualism mandatory. At
the time, two councillors sounded the alarm.</p>
<p>The current chairman of the committee that oversees fire services
doesn't think the next chief needs to be fluent in both languages.</p>
<p>"I don't believe it's mandatory right now," Bay Coun. Mark Taylor said.</p>
<p>"I think we should be looking for the best qualified candidate for the job in terms of the fire service."</p>
<p>Taylor said it would be "value added" if the next chief can communicate in both languages.</p>
<p>The issue of managers being able to speak both official languages is
part of a larger narrative on bilingualism in the nation's capital.</p>
<p>During city council and committee meetings, senior managers have been
making noticeable efforts to communicate in both languages.</p>
<p>The City of Ottawa is not officially bilingual, although it
recognizes both languages equally and promotes the "bilingual character"
of the city.</p>
<p>Monette said he agrees with the city's current language policy but he wants a "clear definition" of what bilingualism means.</p>
<p>Firefighting is specifically addressed in the city's bilingualism
policy, which says a "special effort" is made to allow francophones in
the fire service to work in French when serving francophone communities.
The policy also calls for a bilingual person always on duty. The
section doesn't apply to volunteer firefighters.</p>
<p>The 2011 census had 62% of Ottawa residents identifying English as
their mother tongue and 14% as French. When it came to the language
spoken most often at home, about 75% said English and 10% said French,
while just over 10% said another non-official language.</p><p><a href="http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/11/17/ability-not-language-most-important-in-fire-chief-search">http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/11/17/ability-not-language-most-important-in-fire-chief-search</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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