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<div id="gmail-div1195" style="width:100%;float:left" class="gmail-asset-header gmail-act"><div><h1 class="gmail-ar-title">Duclos defends gender-neutral language policy</h1>
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<span>Mar 22, 2018</span>
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Families, Children and Social
Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos rises in the House of Commons in
Ottawa on Friday, May 6, 2016. Families Minister Jean-Yves Duclos
defended Service Canada's decision to ask its employees to adopt
gender-neutral language when interacting with the public, as members of
the opposition mocked the policy mercilessly. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian
Wyld - The Canadian Press, 2018 </p> </span></span></span></div></span>
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<p>MONTREAL — Canadian activists praised Service Canada's
decision to ask its employees to adopt gender-neutral language when
interacting with the public as a step toward greater inclusivity, while
members of the political opposition mocked the policy mercilessly.</p>
<p>Families Minister Jean-Yves Duclos defended the federal
institution's internal directive Wednesday, saying it was a matter of
respect and an effort "to adapt to the reality of 21st-century
families."</p>
<p>According to the directive issued to managers and team
leaders in January, Service Canada employees are asked to use
gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language to avoid "portraying a
perceived bias toward a particular sex or gender."</p><div id="gmail-fsk_splitbox_2825_onscreen" class="gmail-fsk_splitbox_2825_onscreen gmail-sb-opened" style="background-color:initial"></div>
<p>Workers are instructed to use a client's full name or ask how
they would prefer to be addressed instead of using honorifics such as
Mr., Mrs. or Ms., which "can be seen as gender specific by a client,"
reads the memo, which was first obtained by Radio-Canada.</p>
<p>They are also being asked to eschew the terms "father" and "mother" in favour of "parent."</p>
<p>Some members of the opposition were quick to criticize the
directive, including Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, who described it
as "ridiculous."</p>
<p>Rheal Fortin, the former Bloc Quebecois MP who now sits as an Independent, concurred, saying, "it's bordering on harebrained."</p>
<p>"I almost want to say I'm glad they don't have any bigger problems than that at Service Canada," he joked.</p>
<p>But Duclos told reporters that Service Canada's policies are a matter of respect.</p>
<p>He specified in a tweet the government department is not eliminating the use of Mr. or Ms.</p>
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<p>"Let us be clear, @ServiceCanada_E will continue to use Mr/Ms when interacting with Canadians," he wrote on social media. </p>
<p>"We are only confirming how people want to be addressed as a matter of respect."</p>
<p>Two prominent activists praised the initiative, describing it as a positive step toward inclusivity.</p>
<p>Helen Kennedy, executive director of national LGBTQ human
rights organization Egale Canada, praised the directive as "a good first
step" but said it needs to be accompanied with more awareness training
and education around non-binary and gender-neutral language.</p>
<p>"Some people may be very well-intentioned but they may not
have the understanding or knowledge that they need in order to ask the
right question in a manner that's not going to be offensive," she said
in a phone interview.</p>
<p>The backlash from the opposition is a sign of how far Canadian society still has to come when it comes to inclusion, she said.</p>
<p>"Issues around gender-neutral language are extremely
important, and they may not be important to the opposition but I can
tell you they're very important to members of our community," Kennedy
said.</p>
<p>Gabrielle Bouchard, the first transgender president of
Quebec's main women's federation, called the move a step toward "making
sure all Canadians can start an interaction with civil servants in the
right way."</p>
<p>In a phone interview, she said neither she nor the policy
were advocating for an end to the use of gendered pronouns, noting that
some transgender people prefer to use "Mr." or "Ms." as a way of
reaffirming their gender.</p>
<p>"What we want isn't the elimination of choice, what we want is to add more choice," she said. </p>
<p>Duclos' press secretary, Emilie Gauduchon-Campbell, said the
directive was issued in response to requests from members of the public
who criticized Service Canada for a lack of inclusivity, including
same-sex parents who complained about the mother/father designation.</p>
<p>She added Duclos did not see the internal directive before it was circulated Jan. 18.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to respond Wednesday
morning to the initial Radio-Canada report, saying he needed more time
to look into the matter.</p>
<p>-- With files from Melanie Marquis in Ottawa</p>
<p>By Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press</p>
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<br clear="all"><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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