Anti-French diatribe ‘unacceptable’, ACF says
It’s the unusual things that attract attention.
That’s the observation made by the president of the organization representing Saskatchewan’s francophones about an incident in which a francophone woman was verbally abused last week by a volunteer fire chief.
“For me, my perception is that it’s rare nowadays — really rare,” said Francoise Sigur-Cloutier, president of the Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise (ACF).
“To me, it’s totally unacceptable,” she added.
The town of Manor in southeast Saskatchewan has issued an apology to the woman, but by 10 a.m. Thursday, news items on the matter had generated 576 comments on the website of CBC’s English-language Service and 58 more on the site of its French-language arm, Radio-Canada.
Details remain sketchy as the woman involved has no land line phone listing, but the CBC story says it began one evening last week when Danielle Duperré called 911 to report she was worried about the size of a campfire or bonfire in the yard of a neighbour.
The village’s volunteer fire chief responded, said CBC, which added Duperré used her cellphone to record what came next: the chief yelling at her that the call was unnecessary, with a torrent of verbal abuse — some profane — including, “You know what? Why don’t you go back to f--ing Montreal, where you belong.”
CBC said an RCMP officer directed her to complain to the village council, which indicated it would consider her complaint at the end of this month, but agreed to meet on it Tuesday night.
In a statement read by
“THERE’S STILL SOMETHING DOWN THERE IN THE EMOTIONS OF PEOPLE ... IT’S REALLY STRONG.” FRANCOISE SIGUR-CLOUTIER
administrator Lisa Ironside on Wednesday morning, the village said it prepared a letter of apology to Duperré.
“The village of Manor would like to apologize on behalf of the Manor Fire Department in regard to the recent event between yourself and the fire chief,” it said. “Please by advised that the village is aware of the inappropriate reaction from the fire chief when you, Danielle, placed the 911 call.”
It added the council regrets the chief ’s comments and is “deeply apologetic”.
“Please be advised that the fire chief will be reprimanded for his inappropriate reaction toward you in regard to the recent event,” it concluded.
Duperré was reported to have said the fire chief, who has been unavailable for comment, can’t control his anger and should resign from his job.
The ACF’s Sigur-Cloutier said such confrontations seem rare. For example, she’s lived in Western Canada for 45 years and has been caught up in only one such incident herself, “in Calgary 30 years ago.”
“For me, it’s rare and that’s why it’s shocking,” she said Thursday, noting the online “chain reaction” and adding “there’s still something down there in the emotions of people ... it’s really strong.”
Meanwhile, Doug Lapchuk, president of the Saskatchewan Volunteer Fire Fighters Association, said his organization has no mandate for anything other than the training and support of volunteer firefighters and, as such, has no comment on the incident.
But he asked that Saskatchewanians remember that volunteer firefighters leave their homes at all hours and weather to help their neighbours, often receiving “nothing more than the satisfaction” of their unpaid work.