September 25 and the City of Ottawa
Firstly, I would like to wish a great September 25th to all Franco-Ontarians! So many remarkable initiatives are being put forward across the province on this occasion, which I find to be truly exceptional. One of them is the video for a distinctive song that was released by L’Écho d’un peuble (see below).
On another hand, I would like to comment on the question of the Declaration of Official Bilingualism that is much desired by a lot of people including myself, involving the City of Ottawa. As the Commissioner, I took position over this question as it would have been rather incongruous not to! Furthermore, it would have been even odder for me not to be in favour of a Declaration of Official Bilingualism! The Legislative Assembly of Ontario missed out on this opportunity in 2005; this is unfortunate but not new.
A Declaration of Official Bilingualism would reinstate the unique place that is held by Ottawa on the Canadian scene. It is still the national capital! Moreover, not only it would reinforce all Francophone citizens’ sense of belonging and their equal status, but it would also send a positive message to visitors coming from across the nation and all over the world. Who knows, perhaps this could even make merchants more generous and respectful towards Francophone consumers. A menu can easily be translated into another language for instance.
This being said, there is a regulation that enshrines the Bilingualism Policy; it should simply be applied. I am not saying it is not currently the case. Only investigations could lead me to take position over this question. That is why I invite residents of the national capital region to file complaints with us and contact us should they observe any failures to comply with the Bilingualism Policy. You can also continue to express your concerns to the City. Indeed, what I suggest does not mean a repudiation of the City’s internal work. I am letting you know that you have different options: file complaints with us or with the City by cc’ing the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner (flsc-csf@ontario.ca).
As to the provincial civil servant title that was used to describe me, I would consider it as a compliment if I were one as I know how hard civil servants work for the province’s common good. However, I am not a civil servant. I am a Commissioner. And (almost, although this is a different story) independent.
Where I agree with the Mayor of Ottawa is that there is no crisis. We have gone through linguistic crisis in Ontario and we know that this is not one of them. In this particular case, it is rather about knowing how we can work together to insure that we offer quality French-language services to the population.
I am counting on the municipal administration’s good faith – which I have no doubt about – in the complaints resolution process by which we have already started to receive complaints.
Imposing bilingualism upon a vast majority of English speaking Citizens simply imposes a tyranny of the minority. I already feel disenfranchised in my own city as many/most meaningful City jobs now require French, and many of these positions are filled by Citizens of Quebec to the detriment of the abused majority of taxpayers. Your work is counterproductive and racist. You say Francophone. You mean French.
It would be a serious mistake to make Ontario and Ottawa Officially Bilingual. I’m from New Brunswick and look at the mess Official bilingualism has created in this Province. Most all government jobs require bilingualism and most of them are held by Francophones. Bilingualism is just another word for Francophone so the Anglos become second-class citizens.76% of the jobs go to Francophones and 23% to Anglophones. Official Bilingualism must be scrapped as it is tearing our country apart.
NO ! No ! No !
Non ! Non ! Non !
I wish that you would just stay out of Ottawa business. If I had my way, you would no longer have a job and Ontario would only be English.
I will be writting to my Mayor and telling him that Ottawa should be English and that jobs for the City only be filled be people living in Ontario and not Kbec.
Thank you for your comments, some more productive than others. Franco-Ontarians have been here, in Ontario, for the last 400 years and they are not about to leave just yet. Fortunately, in our democracy, majority has power to enact bills, regulations and policies while minorities enjoy rights to protect them. Some of your comments demonstrate quite clearly the need for minority protection. I therefore stand by my position on this issue.
Francois, protecting the minority against abuse from the majority is one thing but using your minority status and the minority language as a weapon against the majority is quite a different matter. The City of Ottawa hires a large number of Quebec residents because of the policy that bilingualism is needed for many of the positions and we all know that the bilingual ones are mainly French first. This is not only unfair to the tax-payers of Ottawa who are not only robbed of these jobs but they also lose on the taxes that are not paid to Ottawa. This policy benefits mainly Francophones. Your pro-French stance will not be tolerated for much longer. Ontario is already bankrupt – we cannot afford to continue spending our scarce financial resources giving you special status.
Monsieur le Commissaire, Depuis 1970, en parcourant le pays et en prenant compte des multiples éléments couverts par la presse écrite et électronique, J’ai entendu et entendu les déclarations, bonnes et mauvaises, de centaines de Canadiennes et de Canadiens au sujet du des langues officielles et du bilinguisme officiel au Canada, et plus rien ne me surprend. En général, la vaste majorité de celles-ci m’ont inspirées et mon données espoir en l’avenir de mon pays, de son gouvernement, de son drapeau, de ses peuples fondateurs et plus récemment de sa capitale canadienne, alors que d’autres m’ont profondément attristées et déçues.Plusieurs, pour toutes sortes de raison, souvent basées sur la peur, l’inquiétude ou la francophobie ont critiqué les langues officielles de notre pays mais ils n’ont surement pas tenu compte que le français et l’anglais sont deux des langues transcontinentales les plus utiles et utilisées sur la planète; qu’elles sont reconnues presque partout à travers le monde; et qu’elles regroupent plus de 750 millions d’anglophones et 250 millions de francophones, soient plus d’un milliards de citoyens de la terre qui lorsqu’ils travaillent main dans la main, assurent une force unique et incontournable pour assurer l’avancement de l’humanité. Ceci dit, et malgré une certaine opposition minoritaire normale dans une démocratie comme la nôtre, des deux côtés des barrières de la dualité linguistique, je suis assuré que la grande majorité des Canadiennes et Canadiens demeure généreuse, éclairée et ouverte; qu’elle aime profondément et est fière de son histoire et de sa dualité linguistique; et enfin, qu’elle demeure profondément attachée à ses deux langues officielles et à son pays..