MPs worried Vancouver's Olympics will be lost in translation


By Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service
April 28, 2009 4:01 PM

OTTAWA — The three opposition parties blasted organizers of the Vancouver Olympic Committee on Tuesday, expressing doubts about whether it was capable of ensuring the 2010 Games will respect both of Canada's official languages and its cultural diversity.

Appearing at parliamentary hearings, members of the Games' official languages advisory committee admitted they only had their first official meeting last week, but assured MPs that major efforts were underway to ensure that services, ceremonies, events and broadcasting would all be delivered both in English and in French.

"There is still work to do and we must be vigilant, but while being vigilant we must also be pragmatic," said Jacques Gauthier, the volunteer chairman for the committee.

Gauthier, who is a senior executive from the energy division of Kruger Inc., a paper products company based in Montreal, acknowledged that things got off to a shaky start following a ceremony marking the one-year countdown to the Games that was criticized because of a lack of French.

"There were some francophone activities that evening but not enough and effectively it has allowed us to increase our monitoring to ensure that it doesn't happen again," Gauthier said after his appearance at the official languages committee of the House of Commons.

He said members of his advisory committee, including former French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, are spelling out their expectations and have confidence that there will be positive results, starting with the opening ceremonies.

Gauthier said they recruited Raffarin because of his experience promoting the organization of francophone nations at the Beijing Games in 2008. He said they would also soon meet with officials from the International Olympic Committee regarding the opening and closing ceremonies. The official languages advisory committee will not be consulted regarding details of those two events, since they are traditionally kept secret by Olympic organizers.

MPs from the Liberals, the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democrats took turns criticizing the advisory committee for failing to meet and assess issues of concern prior to last week. The opposition MPs also expressed concerns about whether tourism information, signs and billboards in the city and broadcasting would be offered to francophones in town for the events.

"I don't even think that they (the advisory committee) are convinced (they will succeed)," said NDP official languages critic Yvon Godin after hearing the testimony. "If you look at tourism, for example, Tourism BC doesn't even have a website in French. So there's a long way to go."

Liberal heritage critic Pablo Rodriguez said he won't be satisfied if the advisory committee can only pledge to do their best.

"There's an obligation for (the Olympic organizers) to obtain results," said Rodriguez. "The Games must occur in the two official languages of Canada, period."

Francine Bolduc, the director of official languages for the 2010 Games, said that she is also working on putting bilingual volunteers to work throughout the event's locations to ensure that all athletes and visitors can be served in both official languages. She said the organizers are sorting through the applications of 11,000 people who say they are bilingual and hope to find positions for them to fill.

Steven Blaney, a Conservative MP from the Quebec City region who chairs the House of Commons official languages committee, said he was encouraged by the message from the organizers, but would continue to closely follow their progress.

"We want to avoid the missteps committed at the one-year countdown event for the Games and we could see the concerns of all members of the committee about the opening ceremony that is a showcase of Canada to the world and that also reflects the image that we have of ourselves."

Heritage Minister James Moore has stressed the importance of promoting Canada's official languages at the events, noting that nearly two-thirds of the Canadian athletes at the Games will be from Quebec.

The advisory committee also said it wants to ensure that the Olympic events will be broadcast in both official languages. But it said that RDS, the French-language sports network, must still negotiate agreements with about 200 separate cable providers across the country to ensure that coverage will be available across the country.

mdesouza@canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun


http://www.vancouversun.com/Travel/w...027/story.html



Bernito
April 28, 2009 - 6:28 PM
I am from the Ottawa Valley and am used to this bull. If you look at Quebec, they go out of their way to make things French only. Like check out their new advanced drivers license, Not a word of English on it even though there are hundreds of thousands of Anglophones in Montreal. So here we have more of this bull of the federal government promoting bilingualism outside of Quebec and allowing Quebec to have shite like Bill 101.



Tom
April 28, 2009 - 5:28 PM
Tourism BC is an agency of the provincial government, which is unilingual, just like every other province in Canada other than New Brunswick, and therefore does not publish in French. Vanoc has recognized the cultural importance of French to Canada, and the IOC's official languages also happen to be English and French, which creates some obligation. French will definitely play a role, but the politicians, as usual, are being hyperbolic about this issue. I hope Vanoc will be pragmatic and not waste hundreds of thousands of dollars on unnecessary translations that the vast majority of residents and visitors will not understand.

Mayor won't change Oval's English-only sign

ROD MICKLEBURGH

April 29, 2009

VANCOUVER -- Despite the status of French as an official language of Canada and the Olympics, in the Olympic city of suburban Richmond, English reigns.

As a result, there are no plans to add a francophone element to the large unilingual sign on the outside of the municipality's spectacular Olympic speed skating oval, Mayor Malcolm Brodie declared yesterday.

"If you go through Richmond, you will not find any French signage," Mayor Brodie said. "All our civic signs are in English. We've invested well over $100-million in the Oval, and we named it and signed it just as we would for any other civic building."

The mayor was responding to criticism earlier this week by members of the Senate Committee on Official Languages who said they were disturbed by the English-only sign on a venue to be used for the Olympics.

"You went after a small pizza company [Olympia Pizza], in existence before the Olympics went to Vancouver, and said they could not use that name," B.C. Senator Mobina Jaffer reminded VANOC representatives at the Senate hearing. "You cannot let Richmond use it either."


The sign reads "Richmond Olympic Oval." It sits underneath a huge depiction of the five Olympic rings, agreed to by the International Olympic Committee.

Even as the mayor stood firm, however, the controversy heated up again later in the day, as Vancouver Olympic organizers entered the fray, on the side of bilingualism.

In a statement, VANOC spokeswoman Renée Smith-Valade said the organization intends to discuss the matter further with Richmond officials to look for ways "to render the current exterior signage bilingual."

Although lengthy discussions took place between the IOC and Richmond over the right to use the Olympic rings on the Oval ahead of the Games, the language issue was omitted, Ms. Smith-Valade said. "This was an oversight."

She acknowledged that Richmond does not have to alter the sign, but added: "We can exercise our influence on the venue owner to consider bilingual signage."

During the specific period of the Olympics, VANOC will have control of the Oval, and all signs will be in both French and English.


Among municipalities, Richmond has the highest percentage in the country of residents whose first language is neither French nor English. According to the 2006 census, fewer than 1 per cent of those living in Richmond list French as their mother tongue.

VANOC has been taking its linguistic lumps in recent days over a perceived lack of bilingualism preparations for next year's Olympics. Official languages commissioner Graham Fraser issued a report last week, expressing concern that inadequate resources were available for full translation and interpretation at the Games.

This week, members of both the Senate and House of Commons' official languages committee have raked Olympic organizers over the coals on a number of issues, from local hotels refusing to post bilingual signs to the extent of French-language television coverage to the minimal Francophone content of VANOC's one-year Olympic countdown concert in February.

In a bid to do better, VANOC has now formed its own six-member advisory committee on official languages, headed by board member Jacques Gauthier. Among the members is former French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who attended the committee's first meeting last Friday. VANOC paid transportation and accommodation costs for both Mr. Raffarin and an assistant who accompanied him on the journey to and from France.

Mr. Gauthier told parliamentarians in Ottawa that he, too, had been offended by the countdown concert's lack of French-speaking performers. "I did rap [VANOC's] knuckles about it," he said, adding yesterday that Olympic organizers have learned their lesson. "I don't think the mistake will be repeated."

Liberal MP Jean-Claude D'Amours, however, was perturbed that it had taken so long to get anywhere on the issue of bilingualism.

"We've talked about this non-stop. Why has what we said carried so little weight?" Mr. D'Amours said. "This is a serious problem and it's deplorable we have had to wait so long [for action]."


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090429.BCOLYMPIC29ART2213/TPStory/National (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090429.BCOLYMPIC29ART2213/TPStory/National)

Some signs in Richmond are in neither English nor French. I wonder if the Senate language committee will go after them as well.

I would more concern about the weather than the usage of language. :D

^^ Quick, someone create a committee!!! :cheers:

English and French are official languages of the IOC, and therefore both have to be used at Olympic events regardless where they are held. it has nothing to do with Canada's language policy.

I think we don't have to blame Quebec when they want to separate from Canada..

Nobody wants Quebec to leave Canada, but if they really want to become a separate country, what can you do but let nature run its course. Nobody would blame Quebec and it definitely won't be the rest of Canada's fault either.

I think Quebec separating would be brilliant for national unity. A sovereign Quebec would be bankrupt within a few years and would be forced to accept their role as a province of Canada. Think of the enormous cost of establishing a sovereign government, printing your own currency, establishing defense and police forces. The separatists haven't thought their whole plan through and maybe we should just stop trying to convince them and let the bubble burst on its own.

At this point leave canada
is impossible .......... moreover lose both

I think this is disgraceful. I had already noticed over the last few years how any knowledge of French is almost non-existent in BC, even on Air Canada flights originating from Vancouver the flight attendants can't speak proper French

I think we don't have to blame Quebec when they want to separate from Canada..

Then who do "we" blame?

I think this is disgraceful. I had already noticed over the last few years how any knowledge of French is almost non-existent in BC, even on Air Canada flights originating from Vancouver the flight attendants can't speak proper French

All the new signs and maps installed by the City of Vancouver have French on them. Even though Canada's official language is French, it's important to note that there really isn't that much French speaking citizens within Vancouver. Really, other languages like Chinese, Japanese/Korean, and Punjabi are needed as it represents most of the cultures living in Vancouver.

All the new signs and maps installed by the City of Vancouver have French on them. Even though Canada's official language is French, it's important to note that there really isn't that much French speaking citizens within Vancouver. Really, other languages like Chinese, Japanese/Korean, and Punjabi are needed as it represents most of the cultures living in Vancouver.

But they are not official languages, and I do not speak them. There are already issues in Richmond, BC where signs are all in Chinese and nothing in English or French. This should not be allowed as Chinese is not an official language of this country. This is a "slippery slope" that needs to end immediately.

But they are not official languages, and I do not speak them. There are already issues in Richmond, BC where signs are all in Chinese and nothing in English or French. This should not be allowed as Chinese is not an official language of this country. This is a "slippery slope" that needs to end immediately.

I don't even know how to respond, especially to the first sentence. First of all, just because you don't speak it doesn't mean they shouldn't be up. If that's the case, then the entire nation, not just specifically Richmond, has that problem.

Businesses are required to have English on their front store sign.

French will be available to all VANOC controlled events as it is the official language of Canada and the IOC.

richmond has added a french language sign to the oval

I don't even know how to respond, especially to the first sentence. First of all, just because you don't speak it doesn't mean they shouldn't be up. If that's the case, then the entire nation, not just specifically Richmond, has that problem.

My point is that if there are signs for stores in this country that aren't either in english and/or french, our national languages, I have problems with that. I don't go to foreign countries demanding them to communicate in either english or french. That is MY problem for my lack of ability to communicate in THEIR country, not theirs. The same should be expected in Canada.

My point is that if there are signs for stores in this country that aren't either in english and/or french, our national languages, I have problems with that. I don't go to foreign countries demanding them to communicate in either english or french. That is MY problem for my lack of ability to communicate in THEIR country, not theirs. The same should be expected in Canada.

But see that's not valid because store front signs must have English on them. Businesses aren't recognized by their foreign language name, they are recognized in English and thus, they must have English on them. Whether or not there is English inside is something else to debate about.