nds76
05-19-2006, 2:46pm
The City of Ottawa is violating the rights of thousands of people by denying them jobs because they can't speak French, a lawyer for a lobby group said in court Thursday.
Canadians for Language Fairness is suing the city over its bilingualism bylaw, which came into effect in January 2004.
It calls the bylaw a "form of social engineering" that unfairly favours the French-speaking population.
CLF lawyer Arthur Cogan said in an Ottawa court that the bylaw violates the freedom of expression provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by discriminating against job applicants who speak only English.
Cogan also argued that the bilingualism policy does not properly reflect the character of the city.
Citing the last census, Cogan said 61 per cent of Ottawa's anglophone population is unilingual, while 98 per cent of the city's francophone population is bilingual.
Lawyers for the city were scheduled to make opening statements in the case Friday.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/05/19/language-fri.html
Canadians for Language Fairness is suing the city over its bilingualism bylaw, which came into effect in January 2004.
It calls the bylaw a "form of social engineering" that unfairly favours the French-speaking population.
CLF lawyer Arthur Cogan said in an Ottawa court that the bylaw violates the freedom of expression provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by discriminating against job applicants who speak only English.
Cogan also argued that the bilingualism policy does not properly reflect the character of the city.
Citing the last census, Cogan said 61 per cent of Ottawa's anglophone population is unilingual, while 98 per cent of the city's francophone population is bilingual.
Lawyers for the city were scheduled to make opening statements in the case Friday.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/05/19/language-fri.html