The Suburban, July 12, 2006, p. 9.
A tourist or foreigner not yet accustomed to the curious ways of Quebec’s language police might have found the act of painting over the English on the Town of Mount Royal’s street signs a tad on the strange side. Fortunately, anyone who has had the opportunity to live in Montreal any length of time will hardly find the OQLF’s latest legal threat to a bilingual community out of the ordinary.
Defacing signs in order to cover up English words passes as normal fare in this province. T.M.R. Mayor Vera Danyluk is right in observing that most residents of her officially bilingual municipality speak two, and often three languages. This reality, however, should be expressed on all public signs and in all public places. Even if the OQLF fails to appreciate and value Montreal’s multilingual character, local municipalities should not hesitate to give expression to the linguistic and cultural diversity of their community.
Christopher Adam
N.D.G.