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<h1 itemprop="headline" class="entry-title">Faced with increased complaints, City Hall cites progress in French services</h1>
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<a itemprop="name" class="author" href="http://ottawacitizen.com/author/afeibel"><img alt="" src="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/4318cbed06d188761d6a5e6bd141ea9f?s=33&d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D33&r=G" class="avatar avatar-33" height="33" width="33"> <span class="name">Adam Feibel, Ottawa Citizen</span><br> <span class="author-more">More from Adam Feibel, Ottawa Citizen</span></a> </div>
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Published on: August 6, 2015 | Last Updated: August 6, 2015 6:25 PM EDT </div>
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<img itemprop="url" class="wp-post-image" alt="Bilingual sign announces closing of the Cyrville transit station." src="http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2015/08/cyrville-station-june-22-2015-as-part-of-our-coverage-le.jpg?quality=55&strip=all&w=840&h=630&crop=1" height="630" width="840">
<p><span class="img-caption">Bilingual sign announces closing of the Cyrville transit station.</span>
<span class="img-author"><span itemprop="creator">Jean Levac</span> / <span itemprop="copyrightHolder">Ottawa Citizen</span></span> </p>
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<p>The City of Ottawa ramped up its French-language services in 2014
yet received more complaints than the year before, according to the
city’s annual report on services in French.</p>
<p>The number of complaints was 34 per cent greater than in 2013. The
city attributed the increase to greater visibility of the online
complaints form.</p>
<p>The city’s stated language policy is a commitment to providing
services equally in both official languages, although the city is
not officially bilingual. (A recent effort to legally establish official
bilingualism in the capital ahead of the 2017 celebrations
went nowhere.)</p>
<p>According to the report, tabled earlier this year, 34 of last year’s
French-language services complaints were about OC Transpo’s website,
social media and signage. Public works and the parks and recreation
departments each received about a dozen complaints about signage. There
were 13 complaints about French-language content on the city’s website.</p>
<p>Still, the city’s report says it made strides last year in expanding its French-language offerings.</p>
<ul><li>100 per cent of OC Transpo’s information channels, including its
automated phone and email greetings, are in both official languages</li><li>94 per cent of phone and email greetings are in both official
languages among designated bilingual positions (16 per cent of full-time
city positions are designated bilingual)</li><li>Public events and consultations are now close to 100 per cent bilingual</li><li>Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services added 174 more French
programs, resulting in 200 additional participants over a six-month
period</li><li>French summer camps throughout the city increased by 18 per cent</li><li>The number of camps for francophones in Ottawa’s west end increased by 50 per cent</li><li>Two new francophone spring preschool programs are now in development at two different sites</li><li>Le maison de la francophonie, housed in a city-donated former school
building valued at $2 million, will over the next year offer more
French services in Ottawa’s west end</li><li>Six community hubs now serve francophones by grouping programs and resources in areas where French services are in high demand</li><li>The number of students who participated in the Shenkman Arts
Centre’s school visits and workshops increased 66 per cent to 402
student in 2014 from 242</li><li>Audiences grew by 930 people at the MIFO Presents series at the
Shenkman Arts Centre, featuring 47 shows with a total audience of 13,950
in 2014.</li></ul>
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