Should Montreal’s city council pass a motion supporting the rights of municipalities to retain their bilingual status?
That’s not the important point, said Alvaro Farinacci, city councillor for the Cecil-P.-Newman sector in the LaSalle borough and a member of Union Montreal. What’s important is making sure that citizens get the information they need in a language they understand.
“Those cities that have bilingual status should fight to maintain that right,” he said. “For those cities that don’t have it, I don’t think it would be good to challenge the status quo.”
Farinacci was one of only three city councillors from Verdun, LaSalle and the Southwest boroughs who responded to a request for their position on an issue that has been discussed in the back rooms of city hall ever since the Union of Quebec Municipalities passed a motion to support bilingual municipalities on February 15. The Suburban has learned that some city councillors want to introduce a similar resolution in Montreal, but others say that the city doesn’t need its own motion because, as a member of the Union, it is covered by the one already passed.
So far, the nays seem to be winning. Although the possibility of a motion was discussed prior to the February 28 and March 18 meetings, it hasn’t yet been introduced. And councillors are reluctant to state their positions on the issue publicly.
Of those we called, only Farinacci responded personally. A spokesperson for LaSalle Mayor Manon Barbe said she hasn’t seen the resolution in question. A spokesperson for Verdun Mayor Ginette Marcotte responded that she “does not wish to comment on the subject.”
Three executive committee members—Alain Tassé, a newly independent councillor who represents the Desmarchais-Crawford district of Verdun, Richard Deschamps, a Union Montreal member who represents the Sault-Saint-Louis district of LaSalle, and Southwest mayor Benoit Dorais with Vision Montreal —haven’t yet returned calls or emails. Nor have two councillors in the Southwest responded. They are: Daniel Bélanger, a newly independent councillor who represents the Saint-Paul Émard sector, and Véronique Fournier, a Vision Montreal councillor who represents the Saint-Henri La Petite-Bourgogne Pointe-Saint-Charles sector.
Farinacci says that the issue of bilingual services has been discussed in Quebec for years. “I was elected in 1983 and that subject came up when the Parti Quebecois raised it then. LaSalle was not one of the ones recognized then, nor would it be now. Since 1983, despite the fact that LaSalle doesn’t have bilingual status, we’ve decided to publish information bilingually. The status quo works because we’re giving people the bilingual information they need. The only time we can’t give the information is with resolutions, but we do translate those that are personal for people.”
Verdun also used to distribute bilingual information for residents until the OLF sent them a letter warning against the practice last year. They’ve since stopped.
Priority for French-language services in both boroughs mean that neither Verdun nor LaSalle has yet had a chance to update the English version of their newly-designed websites. The South-west borough no longer operates a website in English.
Note: This article appeared on page 10 of the city edition of The Suburban on March 20.
