www.thesuburban.com<\/a><\/p>\nLet\u2019s say that you found information you needed from the urban planning department on the web, or you\u2019ve received a letter from the city. Said service or letter is in French, and given the technical aspects, you\u2019re not sure if you grasp the exact meaning of it. What can you do? Juggling the province\u2019s language laws with the city\u2019s goodwill to offer service to all can be a difficult exercise, but Laval\u2019s municipal servants have managed to find a middle ground: You only have to ask. <\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough all our communications are in French, we do provide services and documentation in English upon request. Anyone who calls the 311 information desk can be served in English, and in most cases, we can provide translation services for specific documentation, given a few days,\u201d said Laval communication representative Nadine Lussier. \u201cWe do try and offer the best service possible to our non-francophone citizens, but we also have to comply with provincial language laws.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Office qu\u00e9b\u00e9coise de la langue fran\u00e7aise<\/i> and the Cities and Towns Act state that only cities that have been recognized as bilingual\u2014more than 50 per cent of the population identified as having English as its native language\u2014are allowed to send out bilingual documentation without request. The law states that one should not receive unsolicited printed communication in English. Communications regarding emergency and health services and protocols are exempt from this policy, are translated at once and readily available.<\/p>\n
This policy can make it difficult for English-speaking citizens to partake in social activities, as well as obtain crucial information regarding municipal services. <\/p>\n
\u201cOn the web site, we try to provide at least a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 of the information in English,\u201d added Lussier, \u201ceven though the city is not obligated to do so.\u201d A few pages of the city website offer English links, but The Suburban<\/i> found that many of those lead to a \u201cThis information is available in French only\u201d error page. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe did undertake an initiative a few years ago to distribute the city\u2019s Vivre \u00e0 Laval <\/i>newsletter in both French and English to selected neighborhoods. We were scolded by the Office qu\u00e9b\u00e9coise de la Langue fran\u00e7aise,\u201d<\/i> explained Lussier. \u201cWe found a compromise, where we encouraged people interested in receiving the brochure in English to request to receive it, free-of-charge. Nearly 2,000 people accepted the invitation.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Available, but little-known By Genevi\u00e8ve April www.thesuburban.com Let\u2019s say that you found information you needed from the urban planning department on the web, or you\u2019ve received a letter from the city. Said service or letter is in French, and given the technical aspects, you\u2019re not sure if you grasp the exact meaning of it. What<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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