Released: September 16, 2009                                                                             

Vancouver - On September 16th, 2009 The Province ran an article by reporter Damian Inwood titled: $7.7m in bilingual funds slammed. The piece came on the heels on an announcement by heritage and official languages minister, James Moore, which will see the Federal Government committing $7.7million over the coming months to ensure the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games offer adequate bilingual services. Graham Fraser, commissioner of Official Languages, has recently released a string of reports harshly criticizing VANOC’s preparations to offer bilingual language services during the 2010 Winter Games.

The two official languages of Canada and the International Olympic Movement are French and English.

Following Minister Moore’s funding announcement the Canadian Taxpayers Federation responded with a strong rebuke born of petty regional politics. “I think they’re concerned about the vote in Quebec and they don’t want to do anything that might undermine that,” said Maureen Bader, B.C. Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. She continued, “It’s simply a vote-buying exercise because of the possibility of an election this fall.” Instead of embracing Canada’s unique linguistic duality and the efforts to present to the world during the Olympics our rich French-Canadian heritage the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation has chosen to fan the flames of national disunity.

“The Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation is completely out of touch with the realities of Vancouver’s Winter Olympic Games” said Robert Rothon, Executive Director of Canadian Parents for French BC & Yukon Branch.

“The two official languages of Canada and the International Olympic Movement are French and English. It would be a disgrace to our heritage and the Olympic movement if the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games did not adequately provide bilingual language services” said Mr. Rothon.
Canadian Parents for French-BC & Yukon is a non-governmental, parent-led organization promoting French-second-language educational and cultural learning opportunities for youth.  With almost 10,000 members, the BC & Yukon branch is by far the largest in Canada. 

For comment please contact: Robert Rothon, Canadian Parents for French Executive Director at (778) 329.9115 ext. 316