Like me, you have probably read or heard about the comments made by the Mayor of Richmond and members of the city council with respect to the Richmond Olympic Oval. This has been a concern of ours right from the start. We are talking about an Olympic site that was built partly with federal funding. In addition, the International Olympic Committee has given permission to use the Olympic rings as well as the word “Olympic”; however, the main signage at the site is in English alone.
People say it is an irritant. However, I think we could certainly use that same term to describe a situation where the mayor of a municipality says that linguistic duality is not important to him when, in fact, we are talking about an event of national scope connected to the organizing committee of an international entity—namely, the International Olympic Committee—whose two official languages are French and English.
We are currently taking steps to do some education and awareness-raising among officials at the City of Richmond, which appear to be urgent. There is a Francophone association in Richmond. It is surprising to us that the mayor would be unaware of that. So, there is still some work to be done in that regard.
This also illustrates the fact that VANOC and the Government of Canada have a responsibility to inform VANOC partners, on a urgent basis, of their responsibilities with respect to linguistic duality. They should be concerned not only with what will be happening during the competitions per se, but also the entire legacy of the Olympic Games.