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<h1 class="gmail-story-title">Hockey Canada's French-name policy criticized by Quebec-based politicians</h1>
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<h3 class="gmail-story-deck">Hockey Canada says players' names should be pronounced the way players say them</h3>
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<span class="gmail-spaced">The Canadian Press</span>
<span class="gmail-delimited">Posted: Feb 22, 2018 8:49 AM ET</span>
<span>Last Updated: Feb 22, 2018 2:03 PM ET</span>
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<img src="https://i.cbc.ca/1.4544140.1519169267!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/bourque-rene-18022018.jpg" alt="Hockey Canada said Tuesday it wants announcers at Olympics to respect anglophone pronunciation of names that appear French." title="" width="100%" height="349"> <p class="gmail-figure-caption">
Hockey Canada said Tuesday it wants announcers at Olympics
to respect anglophone pronunciation of names that appear French.
(Nathan Denette/Canadian Press) </p>
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<h3 class="gmail-story-internallinks-head gmail-story-internallinks-heading gmail-module-head gmail-module-heading">Related Stories</h3>
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<li> <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/pyeongchang/ice-hockey/canada-olympic-hockey-finland-germany-1.4545168">
Team Canada embraces its identity to advance to men's hockey semis </a>
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<p>Hockey Canada was widely criticized Wednesday after a news
report indicated a public address announcer at the Winter Olympics was
told by the national governing body to stop using French pronunciations
for the names of some Canadian players.</p>
<p>Federal Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said she was "extremely
surprised" by Hockey Canada's position, while Quebec Premier Philippe
Couillard called it "deplorable" and "ridiculous."</p>
<p>A story in Le Journal de Montréal said Sébastien Goulet, the
French-speaking PA announcer at the Gangneung arena at the Winter Games,
was told by a Hockey Canada official to stop using French
pronunciations for Team Canada players Derek Roy, Rene Bourque and
Marc-André Gragnani.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, Hockey Canada responded to the article with a statement
saying player names like Roy and Bourque should be pronounced the way
they say it them themselves, rather than using the French
pronunciations. Roy and Bourque are common names in Quebec.</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul class="embedlinks">
<li><strong><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/pyeongchang/ice-hockey/language-spat-olympics-hockey-name-pronunciation-1.4544114">Hockey Canada objects to French pronunciation of players' names</a></strong></li>
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<p>Roy, of Rockland, Ont., pronounces his family name in English, as
does Bourque, of Lac La Biche, Alta. It was unclear what issue the
organization had with Gragnani, of Île-Bizard, Que., who says his name
the Latin way — not pronouncing the second G.</p>
<p>Gragnani told the Journal he never asked for his name to be
anglicized but didn't want to dwell on it because he was preparing for
an upcoming game.</p>
<h2>Heritage Canada 'on the file'</h2>
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Joly said her office was "on the file" and would work with the office of Sports Minister Kirsty Duncan.
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<p>She said Hockey Canada's decision was "highly questionable" and added
that "we always have to affirm the importance of the French language."</p>
<p>Couillard said, "as francophones, we need to object to this and to protest this strongly."</p>
<p>"I am waiting for Hockey Canada to rectify the situation immediately. It just doesn't make any sense." </p>
<p>Pascal Bérubé, a Parti Québécois member of the legislature, said he was outraged.</p>
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<img src="https://i.cbc.ca/1.4546594.1519306220!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_620/fake-news-joly-20180221.jpg" alt="Fake News Joly 20180221" width="100%">
<p class="gmail-figure-caption">Federal Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said
she was "extremely surprised" by Hockey Canada's position said her
office was "on the file." (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)</p>
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<p>"It's insulting," he said. "It's a lack of respect. Especially as French is an official language at the Olympics."</p>
<p>Hockey Canada's statement also said the organization "respects all
players, their background and their culture and makes best efforts to
ensure that player names are pronounced as the player desires."</p>
<p>"At international events Hockey Canada provides a pronunciation guide
based on how players pronounce their names to both broadcast media and
the game operations personnel at the venues. The pronunciations are on
occasion reviewed with individuals when requested or required."</p>
<p>Goulet does hockey play-by-play on TVA Sports television in Quebec
and is the back-up PA announcer to Michel Lacroix at Montreal Canadiens
home games. He has been an announcer at three previous Olympics as well
as world junior championships and other events.</p>
<p>Hockey announcers from Montreal have been hired for Winter Games
since 1998 in Nagano, Japan, mainly because they can speak in the
International Olympic Committee's two official languages, English and
French, while a second announcer handles the local language.</p> </div></div></div></div>
<br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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