Al Lunney

The following letter was sent to The Ottawa Citizen last night expressing my opinions on the current situation.

RE: Postmistress who knows no French loses job in all-English Pakenham by Tom Spears, Dec. 8, 2009
& Canada Post, Return this decision to sender by Kelly Egan ,Dec 9, 2009

When Bad Things Happen to Good Ideas

Policies are often based on good ideas, but seldom do the creators of the ideas concern themselves with the implementation of those good ideas. The decision to remove Jeanne Barr from her position as postmistress of Pakenham Post Office because she is not bilingual is an example of a good idea gone bad.

First of all, let me say that I believe in the basic principles of bilingualism. I believe that a Canadian has the right to government services in his/her language. But what qualifies a person to be bilingual? When I call a federal government department, I often speak with a “bilingual” person whose English is fractured. The nuances of the English language are often lost in these conversations regarding serious situations such as health, income tax, pensions, etc. Regardless, I accept this as I still believe that both our official languages should be available where numbers are warranted.

However, the implementation of bilingualism should be very different in the capital city than in a small virtually unilingual community. Of the 400 residents in Pakenham Village, I cannot imagine a single person who could not be served effectively by Jeannie Barr. She is known, well-liked and well-respected by the local community.

This latest move by Canada Post to relieve Ms Barr of her job has brought forth a multitude of negative reactions which only divide Canadians. I have heard more negative rhetoric in the last few days than I’ve heard in years. When a policy becomes more important than the people being served, it is time to change the policy. Pakenham is a closely-knit community in which people help people. I know this first-hand as my wife and I both grew up there.

I am proud to serve as the Mayor of Mississippi Mills, which includes Pakenham. Most of our residents are oblivious to the fact that we are in the National Capital Region and as a consequence fall under this bilingualism policy which ironically does not apply to our much larger neighbours in Arnprior and Carleton Place. Our Council will be seriously reviewing what, if any, the advantages are of belonging to the National Capital Region and investigating if there are other “zingers” waiting for us.

Al Lunney, Mayor, Town of Mississippi Mills

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 10:20 am and is filed under Almonte, Mississippi Mills, National Capital Region, Pakenham. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.