{"id":15312,"date":"2016-09-21T21:59:04","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T01:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=15312"},"modified":"2016-09-21T21:59:04","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T01:59:04","slug":"bilingual-signs-would-promote-inclusivity-say-councillors-and-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/bilingual-signs-would-promote-inclusivity-say-councillors-and-residents\/","title":{"rendered":"Bilingual signs would promote \u201cinclusivity\u201d say Councillors and residents"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aurora signs should include at least 50 per cent of its text in either English or French in a bid to promote \u201cinclusivity,\u201d according to Councillor Harold Kim.
\nCouncil last week approved looking into the feasibility of changing the Town\u2019s sign bylaw requiring business owners to have signs containing at least 50 per cent of its text in either of Canada\u2019s official languages.
\nThe study, which will be carried out consulting local businesses, is the result of a motion from Councillor Kim, who said signs with text in neither English nor French could be seen as \u201cexclusionary.\u201d
\n\u201cIn the end, this motion is about building community and there is a fundamental question that we\u2019re servicing here: What does a community look like and how do we want to get there?\u201d he said. \u201cThere seem to be three critical questions. One, does asking a business to have dual language signs necessarily represent intolerance? In my mind, on the contrary: it represents tolerance on both sides of the fence. Are businesses that deliberately install signs and have no English representation represent intolerance or insensitivity on the part of the business owner that they only care to service those who understand the sign? [And finally] is choosing [a language] that all parties understand unreasonable?\u201d
\nIt is not unreasonable for residents who spoke at Council last week in favour of going ahead with the study. In their view, ensuring English \u2013 or French, for that matter — on a sign is something that will unite the community.
\n\u201cAs someone who is undecided, yet leaning in favour of the law, I completely support the motion to look into this and encourage Aurora to do so,\u201d said resident Kevin Riddell. \u201cI grew up in Scarborough so I do know what it is like to come from a multicultural community, especially one which does have certain regions with ethnic groups and languages. I believe that the proposal is not discriminatory. It is not exclusive. I believe it is inclusive as the overall goal is to ensure all members of the community feel included and welcomed throughout the entire Town of Aurora.
\n\u201cI realise that not everybody speaks English, but I believe that is too narrow a focus to look at it that way. I don\u2019t believe anyone here could name any language that everyone in Aurora speaks and I think English is our best chance to find common ground and find the commonality that will draw all of us together.\u201d
\nAnother resident citing the uniting factor was realtor Eric McCartney. For Mr. McCartney, it is a matter of fairness.
\n\u201cIt is my belief that every resident should be treated fairly and equally in order to receive the same opportunity,\u201d said Mr. McCartney. \u201cThis is what will not happen if we are unable to read the sign. Currently in Aurora some well-known national chains and contractors, independent stores, and even sales representatives are posting offers and services in languages unknown to me. Shouldn\u2019t every person be given the same opportunity? If signage such as this is allowed to continue in the future, is it possible that it may segregate areas in our Town?\u201d
\nSpeaking to Council in favour of his motion, Councillor Kim said this was an issue brought to him by a concerned resident. Looking at the matter, he said he came to believe English and French \u201care fundamental characteristics of Canadian identity.\u201d
\nLanguage is \u201cone of the human pillars that bond people\u201d and having a common language is \u201ccritical\u201d in building communities.
\n\u201cIt can be said that it would not be welcoming to force businesses to include English on the sign but, on the flipside, to some passers-by and potential customers, having a sign that does not include English in it could be construed as exclusionary as well and this perspective, who is offending who, can come from both sides,\u201d said Councillor Kim. \u201cFor businesses, having a sign that includes one of the official languages can only be good for business.
\nThe motion to look into the matter received the unanimous support of Council, although Mayor Geoff Dawe was not at the meeting.
\n\u201cIt is not something I particularly would have thought of but I think it is important,\u201d said Councillor Wendy Gaertner.
\nAdded Councillor Michael Thompson: \u201cI certainly look forward to getting that report back from staff. I support the motion and I also think it is an opportunity for us to engage with the business community, the Chamber [of Commerce] and get that feedback from those business owners to get their perspective as well.
\n\u201cI share the perspective of the resident who spoke at Open Forum that really it is about being inclusive and being open for business for all, and I look forward to staff\u2019s report when it comes back later this term.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora signs should include at least 50 per cent of its text in either English or French in a bid to promote \u201cinclusivity,\u201d according to Councillor Harold Kim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-3YY","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 10:04:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}