The Commissioner of Official Languages defending her position and the official Languages Act in the wake of controversy after commissioner Katherine D’Entremont launched an investigation into her own complaint.
We asked the leader of the People’s Alliance Kris Austin if the Commissioner has addressed any of his concerns and he says no. Austin tells us, “when we ask her anything relating to the Wayne Grant case we’re basically not given any answers because of an ongoing investigation, is what we keep hearing.”
A commissionaire in Fredericton, Wayne Grant, was filling in at a provincial government office building at the request of his supervisor. Austin says, according to the sign-in sheet, it was d’Entremont who filed a complaint after Grant told her he could only converse with her in English, which they did. Grant, who is nearing retirement, was later temporarily laid off, had his hours reduced, and was relocated to the parking lot outside.
Austin believes there’s too much secrecy shrouding the office of the Commisioner of Official Languages for NB and the Official Languages Act. He says they’re calling for the commisioner to either resign or have MLAs force her hand and remove her from office, for Wayne Grant’s hours to be restored and the Act changed so that this doesn’t happen again.
