Languages Act Needs Revision
I am writing with regard to the position of the Language Commissioner in New Brunswick. Every New Brunswicker needs to know the inordinate amount of power wielded by this person. She was not elected by the public, and yet is making decisions that are detrimentally affecting the majority of citizens in this province. Her mandate is to promote both official languages. She fulfills only the French portion of her mandate. She and her predecessor have advocated for separate French and English day care, and for managers in government positions to be strictly bilingual. She is pushing an agenda of targeted immigration quotas for ethnic French speakers to this province. Further, unilingual paramedics, with years of experience, have been issued the edict to have bilingual ambulance crews everywhere in the province, and bilingualism is trumping seniority. With New Brunswick in dire financial straits, she had the audacity to spend fifty thousand dollars on a report about the economic benefits of bilingualism, without providing a cost-benefit analysis. You should be outraged.
Please educate yourself and read her annual reports online. You will be appalled. Please let your MLA know that you want equal representation— someone to advocate for your rights as a unilingual citizen. Katherine d’Entremont should be forced to resign. She should be replaced by someone, who is willing to work for all citizens or, since our government likes to duplicate, she could be the French commissioner and we could have our own advocate. I have written two emails, to all Members of the Legislative Assembly and the Premier, stating my concern with regard to the overt language discrimination in this province. We are being held hostage by the Official Languages Act, which was recently amended in secretive, closed door meetings. Please add your voice to the growing number, who are stating clearly, “enough is enough!”
Stephanie Haslam
