Here's a lawsuit I support...

I hadn't noticed this until now - a class action lawsuit from Federal government employees regarding bilingualism.

On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the Quebec referendum, civil servants are uniting to challenge Ottawa's new OFFICIAL LANGUAGES POLICY.

Many dozens of federal workers have put their name to a first - ever "Class Action" complaint to the office of the Official Languages Commissioner.

The 12 page complaint completes a lengthy process to draft a reaction to the commissioner's first annual report on the new 2004 Official Languages Policy in March of this year.

The complaint claims that the policy breaches the Canadian Constitution and the Official Languages Act by overstepping the intent and language in the statutes by fast-tracking mandatory bilingual job requirements for the civil service while at the same time drastically reducing language training. Statistics in the document show that senior unilingual civil servants and minority federal workers are now denied career opportunities until they speak a second official language despite being guaranteed work in the language of their choice under the Official Languages Act.

It is felt that this offends the very fundamental civil rights of Canadians. It is time for civil servants to stand up and be counted on this before it is too late.

The class action complaint document filed today, includes a confidential annex of names. The list will be enlarged and refiled regularly over the coming months with the office of the Commissioner while the investigation is active.