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But Richmond council votes to consult public, which could help boost case for bylaw requiring English on signs
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Signs of language debate have sprouted all across Canada
by Matthew Hoekstra Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter A bylaw requiring English on signs would violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but could still be enforced if the city makes a compelling case, Richmond council heard Monday. Lawyer Sandra Carter said it’s unclear whether such a bylaw’s infringement on Section 2b of the Charter—the right to freedom of expression—would be justifiable as a reasonable limit. “In order to be justifiable, the city would need to establish there is a compelling or sufficiently important issue to be remediated, that the city has the necessary legal authority to impose a restriction or condition on the content of signs, and that the proposed restriction or condition is both proportional to the issue to be remediated and only minimally impairs freedom of expression,” she said in her submission to council. Carter, a lawyer with Valkyrie Law Group LLP, provided the legal opinion to civic politicians following a council request last Tuesday initiated by retiring councillor Evelina Halsey-Brandt. Carter noted the courts would be more likely to support language restrictions if the city studied the issue and “engaged in broad public consultation.” “To be justifiable as a limit on a Charter freedom, the city would need to establish that compelling health, safety, economic or social welfare objectives are at stake.
Richmond has several businesses that post signs in Chinese only.
A strong factual basis would need to be established that requiring English on signs would correct or achieve a significant and important problem or purpose which is not being met in the absence of that regulation.” On Monday city council took its first steps toward making a case for a regulation. Pending a ratification vote, council unanimously voted to proceed with public consultation on a motion from Coun. Harold Steves. The motion also calls on staff to confront business owners with Chineseonly signs to encourage the addition of English, research the effect foreign-language signs have on “community harmony” and canvas community and business groups for input. The information could be used as part of Richmond’s defence of a bylaw—if it decides to move ahead with one. See Page 6
A bus shelter advertisement for a Crest product was entirely in Chinese.
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Some other Canadian cities have already stared down the issue of languages on signs. In Richmond Hill, an Ontario community with a population nearly the same as Richmond’s, a bylaw requires at least 50 per cent of a sign’s text to be in English or French. The most common ethnic origin in Richmond Hill is Chinese, at 17.5 per cent of the population. Phyllis Carlyle, general manager of law and community safety at the City of Richmond, said Monday she’s not aware of the Ontario bylaw being challenged in court. In Moncton, New Brunswick—which has a large francophone population—the language war involves English and French. The city of 124,055 people has long faced pressure to pass a bylaw to ensure signs are bilingual. But Moncton’s approach is to encourage bilingual signs through education and by offering free window signs. “Council wanted to encourage and foster the increased use of bilingual signage in our community,” said Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc in a statement on the city’s website. A brochure recently published by Moncton suggests bilingual exterior signs make “good business sense,” noting over 50 per cent of its residents speak both English and French. A neighbouring city of Dieppe, however, approved a bylaw in 2010 requiring exterior commercial signs— including billboard advertisements—to be in both official languages of Canada. According to the bylaw, lettering must be identical in French and in English—and French must be displayed first. The bylaw allows some exceptions, most notably the name of a business, which can be unilingual. See Page 6
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Richmond Hill has a bylaw requiring English or French, while Moncton focuses on education
by Matthew Hoekstra
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Sign bylaw would violate Charter, says expert
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