People's Alliance leader Kris Austin wants explanation for unfair removal of Commissionaire Wayne Grant
July 23rd, 2015
People's Alliance leader Kris Austin says there is an absolute injustice to the way in which Wayne Grant was treated by the Government Department head and the Official Language Commissioner's office.
Mr. Grant, a Fredericton Commissionaire, was ordered to be removed from his position after a complaint had been submitted to the office of the Language Commissioner.
While performing his duties, Mr. Grant (who is a unilingual Anglophone), was greeted by a member of the public who asked for service in French. Mr. Grant responded that he could not speak French but he would be happy to find another employee who could provide service in the requested language. The Commissionaire then proceeded to find a bilingual staff member to immediately assist the individual requesting service in French. Shortly thereafter, a complaint was filed to the Language commissioner’s office which resulted in the removal of Mr. Grant from the building.
Mr. Grant had been in the position for 12 years and is 10 months away from retirement (he has since been transferred). He now occupies a chair in the parking lot.
“The Official Languages Act's intent is to ensure government services can be provided, in either English or French in throughout the province,” says leader Kris Austin. “It is not a mandate to force each public service employee to be bilingual.
Mr. Austin says that this is another bad example of treating unilingual civil servants as second class employees, and is demanding that such unethical actions by our government be stopped.
“Someone within government owes Mr. Grant an apology and a complete reinstatement”, says Austin. “This witch-hunt against unilingual civil servants must come to an end.”
The People's Alliance leader says that as government, his party will make the necessary changes to return the Official Languages Act to its true intent of ensuring that government services can be provided in both Official Languages. He says the current way it is being implemented is egregious, unfair, and costly.
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