Speak To Me!
The mayor of Huntingdon, Quebec feels he is the mayor of all the people, all of the time, and in real time; those who speak both French and English. And, as such, when he issues an official communication, it is both languages that are represented. How perfectly quaint. How immensely courteous in an age when courtesy seems to have dwindled so that it can so frequently be absent from human discourse.
For his pains, in attempting to serve his citizens, the Office quebecois de la langue francaise has noticed and it is decidedly displeased. The province's language watchdog has forwarded a pointed, official and disgruntled email to Mayor Stephane Gendron pointing out the error of his ways. Accusing the town council in acute terms, that it "doesn't fully play the exemplary role expected of a public administration body in terms of the French-language Charter".
And that is quite simply unforgivable in unilingual Quebec which recognizes one language only, relegating the English spoken by birth and culture to a goodly proportion of its citizens to complete banishment from official notice. The town of Huntingdon is 40 to 44% anglophone. "I don't understand. Does it hurt someone to receive a bilingual publication?" Within a government that enacts legislation to brutalize cultural norms and the language of a minority, yes.
Well, it obviously affronted someone whom he and his town council serves, since someone alerted the language police. That someone would represent a francophone who obviously takes the paramount position of French as seriously as the provincial government. A written, bilingual publication from the city had obviously enraged someone sufficiently enough to lodge a complaint against the city.
Huntingdon's criminal misdemeanor is that it has made a practise of issuing official communiques bilingually. More or less inviting an official confrontation between itself and its misplaced priorities, and the provincial government which jealously guards its unerring priorities; the preservation of French culture and language above all other concerns. Minorities can go whistle their forlorn tune elsewhere.
However, the municipal council has now unanimously adopted a resolution referring to the "racist and discriminatory" policy it means to refuse having anything to do with, in reference to the OQLF's demands that it cease and desist. In the process recommending that the National Assembly and the government of Quebec alter its French-language charter to enable municipalities to serve residents in their official language of choice.
In other words, that Quebec adopt the official bilingualism criteria reflecting the federal government's. That suggestion will not be taken into advisement. A spokesperson for Quebec Culture Minister Christine St-Pierre responded, unsurprisingly, that there was no reason to anticipate that the province would re-visit their long-standing position on 'protecting' the French language from English proliferation.
For his pains, in attempting to serve his citizens, the Office quebecois de la langue francaise has noticed and it is decidedly displeased. The province's language watchdog has forwarded a pointed, official and disgruntled email to Mayor Stephane Gendron pointing out the error of his ways. Accusing the town council in acute terms, that it "doesn't fully play the exemplary role expected of a public administration body in terms of the French-language Charter".
And that is quite simply unforgivable in unilingual Quebec which recognizes one language only, relegating the English spoken by birth and culture to a goodly proportion of its citizens to complete banishment from official notice. The town of Huntingdon is 40 to 44% anglophone. "I don't understand. Does it hurt someone to receive a bilingual publication?" Within a government that enacts legislation to brutalize cultural norms and the language of a minority, yes.
Well, it obviously affronted someone whom he and his town council serves, since someone alerted the language police. That someone would represent a francophone who obviously takes the paramount position of French as seriously as the provincial government. A written, bilingual publication from the city had obviously enraged someone sufficiently enough to lodge a complaint against the city.
Huntingdon's criminal misdemeanor is that it has made a practise of issuing official communiques bilingually. More or less inviting an official confrontation between itself and its misplaced priorities, and the provincial government which jealously guards its unerring priorities; the preservation of French culture and language above all other concerns. Minorities can go whistle their forlorn tune elsewhere.
However, the municipal council has now unanimously adopted a resolution referring to the "racist and discriminatory" policy it means to refuse having anything to do with, in reference to the OQLF's demands that it cease and desist. In the process recommending that the National Assembly and the government of Quebec alter its French-language charter to enable municipalities to serve residents in their official language of choice.
In other words, that Quebec adopt the official bilingualism criteria reflecting the federal government's. That suggestion will not be taken into advisement. A spokesperson for Quebec Culture Minister Christine St-Pierre responded, unsurprisingly, that there was no reason to anticipate that the province would re-visit their long-standing position on 'protecting' the French language from English proliferation.
Labels: Canada, culture, Human Relations
posted by Pieface @ 2:49 PM
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