Moncton man warns against bilingual signs

A Moncton man says he will mount a legal challenge to a bylaw that gives prominence to both official languages on all signs in Dieppe, N.B.

Barry Renouf, a city business owner, made a presentation to Moncton city council outlining his concerns on Monday.

The neighbouring city of Dieppe passed a bylaw in May that all new commercial signs must be in French and English. Moncton's city council is being pressured to enact a similar sign bylaw.

Renouf said Dieppe overstepped its power.

"Their bylaw is unconstitutional. They wrote their own bylaw. They're going against the Canadian Charters [of Rights] and Freedoms," he said. 

A group calling itself Canadians Against Forced Bilingualism protested outside city hall on Monday. The group is opposed to having city politicians pass laws impacting their businesses.

So far, Moncton politicians have been open to the idea and the city's assistant manager has said councillors and staff have been looking at the idea of adopting a bilingual sign bylaw for two years.

The city council has hired BBM Analytics to survey business owners for their opinions on the importance of bilingual signs and whether the city should have its own bylaw. The results are expected later this month.

Moncton is trying to decide whether to pass a bylaw or look at ways to encourage businesses to put up more bilingual signs.

It is estimated that 80 per cent of all commercial signs are English.

Greater Moncton's population is 124,055 and according to the city's website 62 per cent of its citizens identify themselves as anglophones and 32 per cent as francophones.

Dieppe's sign bylaw only applies to new commercial signs. In the neighbouring city, signs must have French on either the top of the sign, above the English text, or on the left of the sign with the English text on the right.

The city's 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.