Posted on 15 September 2009
Ottawa, September 15, 2009 - The Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages tabled a follow-up report in the Senate today on compliance with language requirements in the organization of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler. This is the Committee’s third report on the subject since 2007.
That report, entitled Reflecting Canada’s Linguistic Duality at the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games: A Golden Opportunity, set out the steps that had been taken and issues that remained unresolved if linguistic duality is to be reflected at the Games. The committee made a number of recommendations to help the various partners involved in organizing the Games achieve the objectives they have set for themselves in relation to promoting English and French.
The committee Chair, Senator Maria Chaput, said: “The organizers still have a lot to do if the 2010 Games are to be a model of respect for linguistic duality. Some progress has indeed been made, but the partners will have to redouble their efforts if they are to succeed in showing Canada’s bilingual face to the whole world.”
Senator Andrée Champagne, Deputy Chair of the Senate committee, said, “The Senate committee repeatedly pressed the Consortium to provide coverage of the Paralympic Games in both official languages. The committee’s efforts have paid off, as the Consortium announced on June 17, 2009, that it would provide 50 total hours of Games coverage in English and in French.”
The committee thanked all of the witnesses for being so generous with their time and praised their commitment to achieving the common objective, reflecting Canada’s linguistic duality at the Games. The committee noted, however, that we must remain on guard until February 2010, when the Games will be officially opened.
For more information on the work of the committee, please visit www.senate-senat.ca/OL-LO.asp. For more information or to set up a meeting, please contact the following people:
Media Relations:
Jean-Guy Desgagné
Senior Communications Advisor
613-944-9162
desgaj@sen.parl.gc.ca
Danielle Labonté
Committee Clerk
613-949-4379
labond@sen.parl.gc.ca