It this against my Charter of Rights?

Question

16. (1) English and French are the official languages of Canada and have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and government of Canada.

(3) Nothing in this Charter limits the authority of Parliament or a legislature to advance the equality
of status or use of English and French.

20. (1) Any member of the public in Canada has the right to communicate with, and to receive available services from, any head or central office of an institution of the Parliament or government of Canada in English or French, and has the same right with respect to any other office of any such institution where

(full charter at http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-15.html#h-38)

Now here's the thing:
I'm not against multiculturalism but I am against feeling as if I'm out of place in my own country.

I live in Vancouver BC and the one BIG thing that bothers me is the signage. There are many signs, stores and even malls in this city that only have Chinese (I know it's either mandarin or Cantonese) signage and no english whatsoever!
This makes a BOLD statement and is a form of discrimination, I mean I live in Canada...right?!
I feel that our national languages SHOULD be honored.
I find that Vancouver relaxing on the signage makes it easier for people to not have to assimilate into our culture, and in my opinion embracing culture should go both ways right? if we embrace yours you should make an effort to embrace ours...right?
I also feel that moving to Canada means becoming "Canadian" in a way, I mean if I moved to Germany tomorrow I would be expected to understand and learn German and assimilate, right?

But is this enough to go to city hall about it? apparently city hall just said that the shops and businesses will shut down due to lack of english/french signage and they'll just let it be, but it hasn't helped and I think city hall is just afraid of repercussions. I honestly don't feel comfortable when a very very high percentage of signs are ones that I cannot read, jobs insist that knowing mandarin or cantonese is an asset (even though we learned french as a second language), election signs being in english and chinese, and lack of enforcement on our national languages!

I am wrong? I mean really? It's not like I don't want other races to live here, and I love different cultures, it makes up our world, but it frustrates me when Im asked at my work "why don't you have someone here that speaks chinese?"....am I supposed to feel bad that I didn't learn a 3rd language because someone else doesn't want to learn a 2nd?

If I collect my evidence (photos, job postings, signage, my charter of rights, ect), and make an honest, educated case do you think I'd have a chance? and do you have any suggestions, input or opinions?

It's really hard to explain the situation unless you live here....but please, I want to make an educated plea with city hall about this. At the least I want our election signs in our national languages...

Sorry for the long post, thank you for your time! :)

Answer 1

Can you not read? Do you not know what the words "Parliament" or "government of Canada" mean?



Parliament means... any *FEDERAL* government office which serves the public. It doesn't mean provincial governments. It doesn't mean municipal governments. It doesn't mean private businesses. It certainly doesn't mean private citizens. It doesn't even mean all federal government workers. Nor does it mean that such federal offices can not offer services in languages other than English and French. Only that they must offer services in English and French.



It certainly doesn't mean private malls.



If you want to take pictures of federal government buildings (which provide services directly to the public) which don't have English and French signage... contact the agency and let them know and I'm sure they'll change it. If they don't... you can contact your MP or the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. I've yet to see a federal government sign in front of a public office which isn't bilingual. Their signs are remarkably consistent.



If you want to take pictures of malls, private homes, provincial signs, city offices, etc. and complain to someone they will simply tell you that they are not part of the federal government and that section of the Charter and the Official Languages Act does not apply to them.

Answer 2

It isn't a constitutional issue. The constitution (including the Charter) doesn't directly affect private business. It defines the government, and government powers, and limitations on government powers. To figure out the rights and obligations of private parties and businesses, you need to look at other laws.



There may be a cogent argument that linguistic exclusions violate human rights legislation. If I'm practically excluded from a service because I don't speak their language, then that probably constitutes discrimination against me on a number of prohibited grounds. In practice, if somebody brought a Human Rights Application against me on the basis that they were excluded from my business by my failure to offer services in Urdu, I'd probably have a pretty good 'undue hardship' defence. I'm less certain that this would amount to a justification for only offering services in given non-official languages.



Though, I've been to a number of Toronto-area Chinese restaurants, and most of them are capable of serving people who don't speak Mandarin or Cantonese. They typically have English-language menus, and servers with at least a passing understanding of the English language. Hence why I'm able to go to them. Which would incline me to be able to say I'm not actually suffering any discrimination.



(Mind you, my Chinese friends tell me that most of the English language menus are not actually the same as the Chinese menus. That could raise the prospect of a human rights violation, under the right circumstances.)

Answer 3

Actually today by seeing your such a bad case study,now I think that in your colony.We Indians just think that those countries especially the Caribbean countries are having a very good system and all those how live their are more living happy as it is among the world's top 10 most developed countries.When today i explained to my parents and my sisters,they thought totally against my views but i think that yes,wherever you go as seeing your case their should be some steps to be taken as English and French are the charter languages of your State and you should get your rights and equal importance as that of chinese language.As rightly said by my indian freedom fighters that "Swaraj is my birthright and I should have it.It is the right to each and every person of this world wheather he is a cobbler or a rich business man to receive as the god has given this as a gift to us." If the situation is such a critical that not you can't survive without knowing the chinese language then i think that two of either things should be amended:-(1) the constitution of your country in linguistic aspects or (2) the learning of english as their first language. Actually.seeing your conditions i really think that it is not so much easy to amend it as you can amend your government as the citizens like but you can't amend your citizens as you like with a very small majority. I think that you should know the first that how many people in you city are english speaking,french speaking,chinese speaking or others.if a clear majority has been passed by seeing that most are english and french speaking then you can practice rallies and chances are above 90% but if the case is that most are chinese or some others then if think that chances are below 50% as the constitution is based on people not the constitution is likely as the earlier mythological speaking.so,i think that first-of-all a surveyof it or by right to get information you have to get a report and then afterwords you should proceed further according you fell....



I think that this information will help you a lot in solving your problem. Thanks for reading it :).

Answer 4

After reading the first few paragraphs, I believe you have problems far more serious than the signs on stores that really do not want your business.



If you can't read the sign over the store, you most likely would not want shop there any where. So don't worry, have another toke, and stay away from the keyboard.