Dieppe council discusses sign bylaw amendments
Published Tuesday February 9th, 2010
Council debates changes to controversial proposed bylaw
There was no lack of opinions at Dieppe City Council last night, as Dieppe's contentious signage bylaw was a primary topic of a discussion.
Although yesterday was originally slated as the date which might see the bylaw enacted and put into motion, in actuality it moved further away from being adopted as council continued to juggle a variety of public input, as well as their own thoughts on the details of the bylaw.
The bylaw's original form would have mandated that all new commercial outdoor signs in Dieppe be either bilingual or unilingual French.
By the end of last night's council meeting, Mayor Jean LeBlanc had put forth four sets of recommendations for amendments, to be drawn into official motions by city staff to be discussed and voted upon at a future council meeting.
The first, put forth by Councillor Jody Dallaire, was to permit businesses to have French-only signs, allow cultural institutions who want to have English-only signs to be able to apply for an exemption and allow other cultural businesses or groups to have signs in a third language if they so chose.
Dallaire said that although French is the majority in Dieppe, in the region and country it is a minority language and they must still fight to keep the language on the same level as English in their city.
"We promote ourselves as a francophone community, we offer bilingual services in our community and I'm proud of that," she said. "I think we should leave that option for businesses to advertise in French if they choose to."
Councillor Paul LeBlanc voiced his opinion on ensuring that English speakers in Dieppe are allowed their rights as well. He requested an amendment that all signs should be bilingual and to have no signs purely or strictly in French. He also, like Dallaire, spoke in favour of allowing signs in a third language for cultural reasons.
LeBlanc said he spoke to many constituents on the issue and that in attempting to represent all his constituents, some of whom are only English, French-only signage shouldn't be permitted.
Another similar option put forward would permit French-only signs for businesses, but would also allow for signs in another language.
Councillor Jean Gaudet also threw his opinion into the mix and stated that he would like to see bilingual signage permitted, but French always displayed first.
Gaudet specified that he wants the "linguistic landscape" of Dieppe to be reflected in its signs and he believes that could be achieved by having French as the language you would first notice on a sign, while still having English present for people to be served in both languages.
"It's a question of respect of the linguistic composition of the community, the vitality of the French language depends on it," he said.
For his part, Mayor LeBlanc threw forth his support for the original proposed bylaw, before turning over the floor to his councillors for debate.
The proposed Bylaw Z-22 comes after Dieppe spent 20 years offering advice and financial help to businesses to encourage them to use more French, and better French, in their commercial signs. Yet, after two decades of prodding, only about 52 per cent of commercial signs in the municipality that calls itself the world's biggest Acadian city are in French or bilingual.
The point of the bylaw is to better reflect the linguistic reality of Dieppe, city officials say.
The City of Dieppe is unilingual French, but prides itself on offering all services in both official languages. But anyone who drives through the city would think, based on the language of outside commercial signs, that it is a bilingual city, or one that operates mostly in the English language, bylaw proponents argue.
The vast majority of Dieppe residents either cite French as their mother tongue or are comfortable speaking the language.
Bylaws under the provincial planning act must go before the Greater Moncton Planning District Commission for their opinion, and that applies as well to amendments. From the amendments suggested, LeBlanc requested city staff draw up motions to be discussed at a future council meeting.
That means the proposed bylaw will be delayed until at least the Feb. 22 meeting of Dieppe city council, and possibly later than that.
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Comments (22)
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Just let the business owners run their own business, if people aren't attracted to their business then the business will suffer.
The article is also WRONG: Dieppe is NOT "unilingual" - I live own a house in Dieppe and myself and 4,999 other Dieppe anglophone residents disagree with this statement. If one non-French speaking person resides in Dieppe then it is not unilingual - the Transcript is also ignoring 5,000 Dieppe residents. Please be factual in your stories!
For my part, I will continue to NOT patronize businesses in Dieppe. It has been tough and I really do miss some businesses there but I refuse to support anyone who does not support me. It must be a two way street.
Your not being any better than these extremists with your attitude Lobester. Its Shediac, a French community, chances are most shops will be French and you should expect that. If they are able to communicate in English then great, if not then you can a) leave or b) attempt to speak they're language.
...So their solution is to FORCE private businesses to have French signage? The only way some of the Francophone extremists seem to be able to promote and preserve their culture is to get laws passed to force others to speak it (bilingualism). No other culture, not even those of UK descent, the majority of Moncton, NB and Canada, get the publicity, funds, etc to promote their culture like Acadians and Quebecers do. Of course, none of the federal governments of the last 40 years have done anything to correct the bilingualism mess for fear of losing the French vote.