[lg policy] Canada: Vancouver Olympics highlight failure of federal policy

[Harold Schiffman]

Published Thursday November 26th, 2009
A11Marie-France Kenny


As the Olympic Flame crosses the country, French-speaking Canadian
citizens are still pondering to what extent they will be able to enjoy
this event in their language - one of the official languages of
Canada.  There is reason for concern: in September, Graham Fraser,
Commissioner of Official Languages, reported that our airports -
particularly in Vancouver and Toronto - are not prepared to welcome
visitors in both official languages. Security screenings, Air Canada,
shops and services, and the airport authorities themselves all get
alarming results in terms of their ability to serve the public in both
languages.

It is ironic that right on the heels of the 40th anniversary of the
Official Languages Act - a bill which was enacted to promote the
equality of French and English in Canada - Commissioner Fraser should
highlight such a blatant case of language inequality. It is also
baffling that four decades later, federal institutions such as these
airports should scramble at the last minute - because they are
suddenly under the spotlight - to devise quick fixes to comply with
their long-standing legal obligation to serve our citizens in the
official language of their choice.

How did it come to that? Part of the problem is that after 40 years of
weak political and administrative will to act on official languages
policy, several federal institutions have fallen into the habit of
doing only the strict minimum required by law - and often even less -
in terms of complying with their language obligations toward Canadian
citizens. Little by little, we have forgotten about the spirit and the
intent of the Official Languages Act: true equality between French and
English, the promotion of both official languages of Canada and the
development of official language minority communities. Those are the
very principles that are negated whenever citizens can't get services
from the federal government in the official language of their choice.

Any approach that loses sight of what the Official Languages Act
really intended is and always will be doomed to failure. This is why
the organization I represent, an organization which speaks on behalf
of more than a million French speakers in nine provinces and three
territories, will be releasing a proposal this week for a sweeping
reform of how official language policy is implemented in Canada. In
the Olympic spirit, we can do better. Instead of more quick fixes or
sticking to doing the strict minimum, let's go back to the spirit and
intent of what we were trying to do for this country when we adopted
the Official Languages Act four decades ago and resolve the issues
once and for all.

Marie-France Kenny of Ottawa is President of Fédération des
communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada.

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/869683

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
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.
(H. Schiffman, Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************

_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list