Dieppe approves bilingual sign bylaw
Dieppe's new bilingual commercial sign law is a better reflection of the city's linguistic makeup, according to the city's mayor.
Dieppe council unanimously passed the bylaw at its Tuesday meeting, meaning all new commercial signs will have to be bilingual in the southeastern New Brunswick city.
Dieppe Mayor Jean LeBlanc said French will have to be put first on the signs and he sees no issue with that.
"New Brunswick is a bilingual province. Any road sign that you go through in our beautiful province will have English first. English will be on the left and English will be on top. I hardly see that as a problem or discriminatory so the fact that the way the language is placed on the sign really reflects more the municipality," LeBlanc said.
The bylaw states that French will have to be either at the top of the sign, above the English text, or on the left of the sign with the English text on the right.
The bylaw will not apply to existing signs or the signs of chain stores.
The only groups that would be allowed to ask council for the right to put up French-only or English-only signs would be cultural or educational institutions, such as a school.
Dieppe is the fastest growing francophone city in the province with a population of roughly 18,000.
Dieppe and Moncton have become a retail hub for the Maritimes and even with that recent growth. However, the majority of commercial signs in Dieppe are still in English only.
Officially bilingual
New Brunswick is officially bilingual, but the province's language law does not cover the private sector. Any regulation over the language on signs in municipalities must come from the local government.
Municipalities are covered under the Official Languages Act, if they are designated as a city or have an official language minority that forms 20 per cent of the population. That would require local bylaws to be published in both official languages, but it would not cover commercial signs.
The debate about bilingual signs in Dieppe began in November 2008, when Martin LeBlanc-Rioux, a resident, started a petition requesting a bylaw to force businesses to put up bilingual signs.
About 4,000 people in the area signed the petition, which was submitted to council early in 2009.
LeBlanc had hoped to persuade businesses to voluntarily switch to bilingual signs through education, but announced the proposed bylaw last November.
Some residents voiced opposition to the bylaw in January during a special meeting to discuss the reforms.