Cornwall, Ontario: Councillor wants at least one biligual employee per department

[Harold Schiffman]

City must talk the talk; Councillor wants at least one bilingual employee
per department Posted By Kevin Lajoie

A city councillor wants to see changes made to city policy to ensure every
department and outside agency has at least one bilingual employee. Coun. Kim
Baird believes every city department and agency should be equipped with at
least one person who is able to communicate in both English and French.  The
councillor acknowledges there are many bilingual employees working for the
city now, but there's nothing in the city's bilingualism policy to indicate
the need for bilingual employees in every department. Adding it to the
policy would ensure the issue is addressed if and when there are retirements
or job openings in the future, Baird said. The way Baird sees it, the city
has to be able to offer services in both English and French, especially if
Cornwall is trying to promote itself in Ottawa and Quebec.

"We have to be able to service them (in their language of choice)," she
said. Baird said the city has done a good job in trying to cater to both
English- and French-speaking residents.  The city's official website is
bilingual, and the city advertises in both the English and French
newspapers, she said. The change to the bilingualism policy would only build
on that, she added.  Baird's thoughts served as music to the ears of
Cornwall resident Jean Lecompte, the president of the Society for the
Promotion of Bilingualism. Lecompte said equal recognition of Canada's two
official languages at city hall is at the top of his Christmas list. "That's
all I want for Christmas, my two official languages," he said. Given the
large francophone population in Cornwall, the society believes every
receptionist in every city department should be bilingual, Lecompte said.
Lecompte said Cornwall is a microcosm of the country, and it can use
language to unite the entire community.

"The city should be a leader. We've got the right demographics (to be a
bilingual city)," he said. Under the current city policy, there are three
different positions that must be staffed by someone who is bilingual - the
receptionists at city hall, the receptionists in social services (both at
the Cornwall office and at the satellite offices) and the mayor's
administrative assistant.  Under the French Services Language Act, the
social services and social housing departments must provide a certain level
of French service as they are considered provincial services.  City clerk
Denise Labelle-G‚linas said although it's not written in the policy, most
city departments try to offer service in both languages. For example, the
clerk's department is almost entirely bilingual, she added.

Although the city tries to provide service in both French and English, it
has never officially declared itself a bilingual community, Labelle-G‚linas
said. Doing so would mean all city correspondence, reports, bylaws and the
like would have to be translated in both languages.  That would be a major
undertaking and would likely require the hiring of translators just to keep
up, Labelle-G‚linas said.  Lecompte agrees becoming an officially bilingual
community would come at a cost, but to him, it's a question of fairness.

"I think francophones and anglophones deserve equal treatment," he said.

"Which ones are you going to leave out? You've got to be fair."

tax reduction?

Lecompte suggested francophones should see their taxes reduced if they're
not served in their own language since they are not getting the same level
of service.

Lecompte said he believes the current council is open-minded and he's
confident more headway will be made towards having services offered in both
languages.

Two years ago, Lecompte brought a number of requests to council in hopes of
improving bilingualism at city hall.

They included introducing a five-minute "French only" discussion period to
every council meeting, designating a city employee to oversee the delivery
of services in both languages, and naming a street or building after the
late Coun. Huguette Burroughs.
No action was taken on the proposals, although the city did move ahead on
two other suggestions - to display signs indicating accessibility to both
languages outside city departments and to have the major headings on council
agendas printed in both English and French.

http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=795335&auth=Kevin+Lajoie

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