Ottawa Citizen

Francophon­e group pitches ‘Ottawa-specific’ bilinguali­sm

- JON WILLING jwilling@postmedia.com twitter.com/ Jonathan Willing

A group trying to convince the national capital to embrace official bilinguali­sm in Canada’s 150th year has been ramping up meetings with city council members, hoping lawmakers make the necessary legislativ­e changes in 2017.

Most of council has now heard from the group of francophon­e organizati­ons and its pitch to strengthen the current municipal bilinguali­sm policy by making changes to the provincial City of Ottawa Act and a city bylaw.

The Movement for an Officially Bilingual Capital of Canada knows the linchpin issues when it comes to the debate — budgets and municipal jobs — and it believes its proposal protects French-language services without creating bureaucrat­ic headaches for city hall.

Last year, legal experts working with the francophon­e group began hashing out potential legislativ­e changes.

“We wanted to leverage what already exists and tweak a few things and clarify a few things,” lawyer François Baril said. “We wanted an approach that was Ottawa-specific, something custombuil­t for Ottawa.”

The group doesn’t want to slap the federal version of official bilinguali­sm on the city because the current municipal policy works well, Baril said.

First, the group wants the City of Ottawa Act to recognize city’s bilingual character and status as the capital of Canada, confirming people can receive services in English and French. Second, it wants the city to amend the current bilinguali­sm bylaw to recognize the change in the provincial act.

These changes would make bilinguali­sm in Ottawa “official,” the group says.

The city’s bilinguali­sm policy, which dates back to 2001, says the municipali­ty “recognizes both official languages as having the same rights, status and privileges.” It sets out the responsibi­lities of the city government, including making sure the quality of services is equal in both official languages.

The notion of making Ottawa officially bilingual comes up regularly, but never gains much steam at city hall.

According to Baril, making the proposed changes at the provincial and municipal levels to make Ottawa officially bilingual would have no effect on the city budget or workforce.

In many ways, it’s just a symbolic gesture that would safeguard the current recognitio­n of French services from council to council, he said.

“The current level of service in French we enjoy we only enjoy because of the goodwill of city council,” Baril said.

Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury is working closely with the group and recommendi­ng advocates meet with all council members by autumn to gauge the political appetite.

He knows it can be a divisive subject and he doesn’t want to pursue the matter at council if there isn’t at least a majority in favour of the group’s proposal.

Fleury, who is also the co-chair of the city’s Ottawa 2017 task force, likes what the group is pitching.

“This is not the old battle of antiFrench or anti-English. This is a modern approach,” Fleury said. “This group is saying, let’s be pragmatic about this.”

However, Mayor Jim Watson has been consistent­ly opposed to an official bilingual status for the city. Watson’s spokespers­on said the mayor “holds his position that the City of Ottawa is in fact bilingual, as stated in our bylaws.”

But Bernadette Sarazin, one of the francophon­e advocates, said official bilingual status would give more people a chance to celebrate their heritage, plus it would attract more visitors to Ottawa.

“It just makes business sense as well,” Sarazin said, arguing there would be a boost to tourism.

David Luxton, the volunteer chair of the Canadian Tulip Festival, agrees that tourism would prosper in an officially bilingual Ottawa. “It does give the city in general, a G7 capital, a certain sophistica­tion that it’s able to be a dual-language G7 capital,” Luxton said.

The 2011 census for Ottawa listed 522,980 people with knowledge of English only and 12,915 with knowledge of French only. Another 324,690 indicated they knew both official languages and 11,860 said they didn’t know either language. When it came to language spoken most often at home, 652,455 people said English, while 86,035 said French.

The top five wards with the highest rate of French as the first language spoken, based on the 2011 data, are Cumberland, Innes, Rideau-Rockcliffe, Rideau-Vanier and Orléans.

Orléans Coun. Bob Monette said the city already provides good services in both official languages, but he’s open to hearing the francophon­e group’s proposal, even if constituen­ts haven’t been raising official bilinguali­sm as a major issue.

“When I campaigned at the doors during all my elections, that was not something that came forward as a number-one priority,” Monette said.

“I am open to have the dialogue and see what it is they’re asking for.”

The francophon­e group’s proposal shouldn’t be controvers­ial since it simply makes the existing policy more official, Baril said.

“That policy has been in place for 15 years, it has been working relatively well in 15 years, and look, the sky has not fallen,” Baril said. “It’s time to take the next step.”

This is not the old battle of anti-French or anti-English. This is a modern approach ... This group is saying, let’s be pragmatic about this.

 ?? JUSTIN TANG ?? Lucien Bradet, left, Bernadette Sarazin, François Baril and Alain Dupuis of Movement for an Officially Bilingual Capital of Canada.
JUSTIN TANG Lucien Bradet, left, Bernadette Sarazin, François Baril and Alain Dupuis of Movement for an Officially Bilingual Capital of Canada.

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