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<h1 class="">Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens upsets French community</h1>
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<h3 class="">'If we were look at other languages spoken in the community, we'd find others we should support,' Dilkens says</h3>
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<span class=""><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/cbc-news-online-news-staff-list-1.1294364">CBC News</a></span>
<span class="">Posted: Dec 09, 2015 9:29 AM ET</span>
<span>Last Updated: Dec 09, 2015 11:23 AM ET</span>
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<img title="" alt="Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens seemed to downplay whether the City of Windsor should offer services in French when asked by a Radio-Canada if it should do so." src="http://i.cbc.ca/1.2797869.1413296265%21/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/drew-dilkens-mayor.jpg" height="349" width="100%"> <p class="">
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens seemed to downplay whether the
City of Windsor should offer services in French when asked by a
Radio-Canada if it should do so. (Drew Dilkens Campaign) </p>
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<div style="" id="sharecount" class=""><div id="yui_3_11_0_3_1449776886345_11" class=""><table id="yui_3_11_0_3_1449776886345_13" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td style=""><div class=""><div class="" id="sharecount-reaction0" title="" alt=""><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td id="sharecount-reaction0-left"><br></td><td id="sharecount-reaction0-icon" style="vertical-align:middle;text-align:left;background-repeat:repeat-x"><br></td><td id="sharecount-reaction0-text" style="vertical-align:middle;background-repeat:repeat-x"><br></td><td id="sharecount-reaction0-right"><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></td></tr><tr><td style=""><div class=""><div class="" id="sharecount-reaction1" title="" alt=""><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td id="sharecount-reaction1-left"><br></td><td id="sharecount-reaction1-icon" style="vertical-align:middle;text-align:left;background-repeat:repeat-x"><br></td><td id="sharecount-reaction1-text" style="vertical-align:middle;background-repeat:repeat-x"><br></td><td id="sharecount-reaction1-right"><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></td></tr><tr><td style=""><div class=""><div class="" id="sharecount-reaction2" title="" alt=""><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td id="sharecount-reaction2-left"></td><td id="sharecount-reaction2-icon" style="vertical-align:middle;text-align:left;background-repeat:repeat-x"><br></td><td id="sharecount-reaction2-text" style="vertical-align:middle;background-repeat:repeat-x"><br></td><td id="sharecount-reaction2-right"><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></td></tr><tr><td style=""><div class=""><div class="" id="sharecount-reaction3" title="" alt=""><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td id="sharecount-reaction3-left"></td><td id="sharecount-reaction3-icon" style="vertical-align:middle;text-align:left;background-repeat:repeat-x"><br></td><td id="sharecount-reaction3-text" style="vertical-align:middle;background-repeat:repeat-x"><br></td><td id="sharecount-reaction3-right"><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></td></tr><tr><td style=""><div class=""><div class="" id="sharecount-reaction4" title="" alt=""><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td id="sharecount-reaction4-left"></td><td id="sharecount-reaction4-icon" style="vertical-align:middle;text-align:left;background-repeat:repeat-x"><br></td><td id="sharecount-reaction4-text" style="vertical-align:middle;background-repeat:repeat-x"><br></td><td id="sharecount-reaction4-right"><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></td></tr><tr><td style=""><div class=""><div class="" id="sharecount-reaction5" title="" alt=""><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td id="sharecount-reaction5-left"></td><td id="sharecount-reaction5-icon" style="vertical-align:middle;text-align:left;background-repeat:repeat-x"><br></td><td id="sharecount-reaction5-text" style="vertical-align:middle;background-repeat:repeat-x"><br></td><td id="sharecount-reaction5-right"><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>French-speaking Ontarians, including the province's
high-ranking minister of francophone affairs, are lashing out at Windsor
Mayor Drew Dilkens for comments he made at an event celebrating French
history.
</div><div class=""><div class=""><p>At the opening of the museum exhibit entitled Windsor's French Roots,
at Maison Francois Baby House, last week, Dilkens acknowledged French
"absolutely is" one of Canada's official languages.</p>
<p>But he seemed to downplay whether the City of Windsor should offer services in French.</p>
<p>"The challenge in a city like Windsor is you have the fourth-most
diverse community in Canada, so we have lots of languages that are
spoken here, too. If you start going down the road and doing one over
the other…," Dilkens said before a Radio-Canada reporter interrupted and
reminded him French is one of Canada's official languages.</p>
<p>"But I bet if we were look at other languages spoken in the
community, we'd find others we should support as well," Dilkens said.</p>
<p>You can listen to the exchange in the play below:</p>
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<span class="">Dilkens and Francophones</span>
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<span class="">08:46</span>
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<p class=""><strong class="">Dilkens and Francophones</strong>8:45</p>
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<p>The city's language policy doesn't contravene any law.</p>
<p>The French Language Services Act of 1986 guarantees an individual's
right to receive services in French from Government of Ontario
ministries and agencies in 26 designated areas of the province.</p>
<p>However, municipalities are not required to offer French-language
services, even in the designated areas. The municipalities themselves
are responsible for deciding whether or not to provide their services in
French.</p>
<p>Still, the mayor's remarks led Ontario Attorney General and Minister
Responsible for Francophone Affairs Madeleine Meilleur to speak out.</p>
<h2>'I was disappointed'</h2>
<p>Unsolicited, Meilleur contacted Radio-Canada.</p>
<p>"I was disappointed to read the answer of the mayor. We have a school
board, a campus of the College Boreal, so the francophone community of
Windsor are proud of their origin and proud of the culture," she said.</p>
<p>In 1749, the French established a mission called L'Assomption or
sometimes called Petite-Cote, on the Detroit River. The first parish was
established in 1767 and a school followed in 1786. The settlement
eventually became part of Windsor.</p>
<p>"This incident happened at an event where they celebrating the 400th
anniversary of French presence in Windsor and Ontario," Meilleur said.</p>
<p>She suggested Windsor's French community and the mayor have a conservation about French heritage.</p>
<p>According to Statistics Canada, 72.9 per cent of the Windsor
population reported English only as mother tongue, while 3.3 per cent
reported it as French and 21.5 per cent reported only a non-official
language as its mother tongue.</p>
<p>In the same year, 84.1 per cent of the population spoke only English
most often at home, while 0.9 per cent spoke only French and 11.1 per
cent spoke only a non-official language at home.</p>
<h2>'Unfortunate' statement</h2>
<p>Jean Sauve is a Windsor resident and high school teacher who didn't like what the mayor said.</p>
<p>He called the statement "unfortunate" and "a mistake."</p>
<p>"The mayor is obviously intelligent and an educated man. As a
politician responsible for such a great city he should understand the
past, history and heritage and the place of the language and culture in
the city," Sauve said. "If we keep putting French aside like that I
believe slowly it will erode.</p>
<p>"French is not a second-grade language. It's in the constitution. It's in our Charter of Rights. It has to be respected."</p>
<p>Sauve said the city shouldn't be required by law to offer services in
both languages but he would like to see more French-speaking employees
working for the City of Windsor.</p>
<p>"Linguistically and culturally our country is built on the respect of
the two founding cultures and languages. And we have to provide proper
respect and services to all the citizens of the country," Sauve said.</p>
<p id="yui_3_11_0_1_1449776886345_28">CBC has reached out to Dilkens but hasn't yet heard back from the mayor.</p><p><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-mayor-drew-dilkens-upsets-french-community-1.3356948">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-mayor-drew-dilkens-upsets-french-community-1.3356948</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/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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