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Ottawa not French-friendly
language czar: New commissioner says capital fails to welcome francophones
Jack Aubry, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Friday, October 13, 2006
The new federal language czar has slammed Ottawa for not embracing its responsibility as the nation's capital by being more "welcoming" to francophones, instead adopting a "resistant" attitude toward their demands.
Graham Fraser, a former journalist who will officially become the country's new federal language commissioner this month, told the Citizen the city is, essentially, a unilingual English community that has a tradition of resisting a greater French presence.
He said there are four million unilingual francophones in Canada for whom the capital city, while offering them a welcoming atmosphere on Parliament Hill, does not do so a few blocks away.
"You put yourself in the shoes of a French-speaking Quebecer who has come to Ottawa and you think: 'There is not a lot of outreach here, there is not a lot of welcome, not a lot of indication that this is my capital city ... that it's welcoming me'," said Mr. Fraser.
He said the city's private sector is missing out on promoting tourism and attracting more francophones.
"Commercially, it doesn't make sense for Ottawa to pretend there is not a French-speaking society on the other side of the river for which this is the capital city."
Mr. Fraser quickly points out he isn't being critical of the city's municipal government, but rather the private sector, over which he will have no jurisdiction.
Mr. Fraser made the remarks when asked about his recent comments before a House of Commons committee reviewing his appointment.
He told the committee: "I am sometimes astounded to see that, as far as language goes, Ottawa is not very welcoming to francophones. I think that it is a tradition in Ottawa to be resistant to francophones' demands. I think that businesses in the capital should realize that in strictly commercial terms, there is a market of francophones, who are unilingual and much more comfortable in French in this city.
"People should not find themselves in a unilingual city, to all intents and purposes, once they leave Parliament Hill. As a resident of Ottawa, I sometimes find it ridiculous that Ottawa does not offer a more welcoming face to francophones."
The remarks echo a chapter in Mr. Fraser's recently released book, Sorry, I Don't Speak French, in which the former Toronto Star reporter wrote unilingual English Ottawans view francophone demands for French signs and services as "a threat" rather than an obligation of the country's capital city.
Mr. Fraser tempered his recent writings by adding it would not be useful, once he is commissioner, to embark on "a finger-wagging exercise" in Ottawa and he does not think the current situation is due to "overt hostility," but simply people not thinking about it.
Mr. Fraser says he is starting off in his new job, which he landed after one interview obtained by simply applying for the federal posting, offering "more questions than answers."
"Here's a community in which we have invested, as a community, an enormous amount into teaching French, either to public servants or school children ... every time anybody talks about this, there is a natural tendency on the part of anybody who hears that talk, to recoil and to think in terms of regulations, of tests and of obligations," said Mr. Fraser, "and I would prefer people were talking in terms of a language of welcome, a language of communication as opposed to a language of testing."
© The Ottawa Citizen 2006
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