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| “It's becoming too restrictive.” |
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and yet with all the thousands of inspections by OQLF thugs who employ intimidation and threats to subdue their targets, nobody has had the guts to film or record the encounter and publicly expose the truth about language intimidation.
Shame on us all.
It fell to a young part-time grocery employee, Meaghan Moran, to record a conversation with her boss, who demanded that she cease speaking English on her breaks with other English employees, or anywhere else while on the premises.
The bilingual young lady had no problem speaking with customers and other francophone employees in French, but drew the line at being forced to speak French to English customers and co-workers .
She then turned over the recording to the media who ran with the ball.
If you speak French, listen to the rough ride the bosses give the young lady over French. The later denial by the store owner tht the girl was never ordered not to speak English is nonsenses. By the way, the two bosses outright lie about the law;
"All she wanted was a part-time job, but what a South Shore teenager got was a hard lesson about language in Quebec.
Meaghan Moran, 17, got a job working at an IGA on Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier Blvd. in Saint-Lambert. She was told that she didn't have the right to speak English at the store.
A fluently bilingual Anglophone, she told CTV Montreal she picked up on some language tension one day.
“One of the guys I was working with is English and I knew him and he said, ‘No, talk to me in French because we're not allowed speaking English on the floor,” she said, adding that she quickly heard what her friend and ex-employee Alex Caldwell knew: employees don't feel comfortable speaking English anywhere in the store.
“I was warned by a friend in the lunchroom to watch what I say and keep my English down, because the management didn't like it and she got a warning,” said Caldwell.
That didn’t sit well with Moran.
“It's just about the principle. You should be able to speak whatever you like. I understand if they want to impose (some rules) -- I'm not going to talk to clients in English, I would talk to them in French -- but if I want to talk to my friend on my break in English, I should be allowed,” she said. “It's becoming too restrictive.” Watch a video report and read the story at CTV
The OQLF, sensing another public relations disaster, immediately responded that the assertion that English could be banned was false.
And so like David facing off against Goliath, it took a 17 year old girl to show us all up as the gutless and spineless toads that we are.
Yes I said it.
The fact that we are collectively too afraid to record incidents between the OQLF and ourselves, in fear of retribution, speaks to the lack of resolve that our community displays in defense of our rights.
I hear it often enough from businesses and bosses.
"Ooh, we're afraid of the legal costs, afraid of a boycott by francophone customers and afraid of the fines."
So we suck it up and take it up the rear end.....Again, sorry to be graphic, but Meaghan dished out a monumental lesson in civics.
Without sacrifice and commitment, evil cannot be overcome.
Our English community has for too long rolled over and played dead because it was just too damn inconvenient to fight.
If we are to protect English language rights in Quebec we are going to have to do so ourselves.
Truth be told, the OQLF and language militants are paper tigers, we've seen them cave whenever real pressure has been applied.
I am hopeful that a young, brave girl can inspire us to resist, otherwise, let's turn out the lights on English as a respected and essential part of Quebec life.
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And so the manager on the tape has been suspended and it won't be long before a humbling public apology is offered. Link
Listen to this:
After initially denying that Meghan was ordered not to speak English and that the matter was closed, the owner of the IGA has been forced to rethink her position.
Meghan has contacted the Quebec Human Rights Commission with a view to laying a complaint.
The bad publicity and the damning recording has got Soebys, the owner of the franchise involved, ordering the franchisee to get into full damage control mode and end this thing before further damage is done.
"Our relationships with our franchisees are on a one-to-one basis, and we will deal with Madame Ménard in the appropriate fashion, within the context of our contractual relationship with her." Marc Poulin, CEO Link
Sounds Madame Menard is in for a first class ass-kicking!
And so the manager on the tape has been suspended and it won't be long before a humbling public apology is offered. Link
Another ex-employee has come out and confirmed that she was fired for speaking English and so it is time to offer a settlement in order to put this thing to bed, as the bad publicity in having this case heard at the Human Rights Tribunal will be traumatic for the company, sure to lose anyways.
At any rate the decision is out of the hands of the franchisee, as the reputation of the entire IGA is at stake.
I predict this thing will be settled quietly by the weekend, with a cash payment and a non-disclosure agreement.
I think $20,000 is appropriate.
But you never know, Meaghan might hold out for a better offer or milk the publicity for all it's worth!
******************** UPDATE #2 *******************
The story has finally crossed over to the French press, which can no longer ignore the growing firestorm.'About 50 Anglophones demonstrated outside an IGA in Saint-Lambert on the South Shore, to demand respect for their language on Friday night. This effort follows a linguistic conflict that shook the business community on Sir Wilfrid Laurier Boulevard these last few days." Link
Listen to this:
