'A matter of communication': Richmond city council steering away from bylaw to enforce English on signs

 

 

BY GORDON MCINTYRE, THE PROVINCE MARCH 23, 2015

 

English and Chinese are mixed on these signs at a Richmond strip mall.

Photograph by: Jenelle Schneider , PROVINCE

It’s said you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, and Richmond’s council seems likely to take that tack in the signage debate that’s swirling around the city.

In the next month or two, council will take into consideration its public meetings, inspectors’ reports, a citizens’ petition, inventory of signs and all other feedback it’s received on Chinese-only signs.

And council will probably hope shop owners voluntarily put more English on their signs without being coerced by a legally shaky bylaw.

“We want to work with our non-English-speaking community,” Mayor Malcolm Brodie said.

The city has sent inspectors to shops with no or little English on their signs, at least on signs that require permits.

“I’m told our inspectors are being received favourably,” said Brodie. “Often, if not most of the time, people simply didn’t know it was an issue.

“English on signage is not a thing that asks too much and I don’t think most people would be against it if it’s brought to their attention.”

While municipal officials seem to be leaning toward using the carrot, there are those who think the stick would work better.

Richmond residents Ann Merdinyan and Kerry Starchuk started a campaign back in 2010 to introduce a bylaw that would require at least half a sign be in English for a permit to be granted.

“It’s a matter of being able to understand what’s going on around your community,” Merdinyan said. “It’s a matter of communication.”

The city has taken inventory of shops that have non-English signage; there are exceptions, but by far the most common are in Chinese characters.

The result that may shock some people: Barely four per cent of commercial signs have no English, according to the city.

Understand, that applies to signs that require permits.

It does not apply to posters plastered in shop windows, banners, for-sale signs on lawns and the like.

But real estate companies and agents that have been contacted mostly seem willing to add English now that they’ve been made aware it’s an issue with some people, Brodie said.

Yes, a bylaw would be possible, he added, “but would be very hard to make it enforceable, in my view.”

In fact, the city’s legal counsel doesn’t think a bylaw forcing English signage would stand up in court — even though a handful of communities across Canada have such laws on the books.

Richmond Hill, Ont., introduced a bylaw insisting that 50 per cent of signs be in either English or French.

The mayor of Richmond Hill was away and not able to comment, but a staff member at city hall said the city has not had its bylaw challenged.

Which doesn’t mean it would stand up if it were.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association wrote Brodie in October to remind the Richmond mayor and council that the Charter of Rights gives everyone the right to communicate “in the language of their choice,” and cited a Supreme Court of Canada decision to back it up.

“The Charter also protects commercial expression,” the BCCLA said.

Forcing the use of English on signage in Richmond or any other B.C. municipality would “constitute an unwarranted and unjustified encroachment upon the freedom of expression of residents and people doing business in the city, and would be unconstitutional,” the association wrote.

“Individuals, businesses and private organizations have a Charter-protected right to express themselves in the language of their choice.”

Councils across the Lower Mainland have a “duty to protect this right,” the BCCLA added.

Asked about the issue last week, Josh Paterson, executive director of the BCCLA, said: “We stand by our position on this.”

Richmond Hill shares a lot more than a name with Richmond. The cities are roughly the same size, share many demographics, have dealt with massive influxes of immigrants and face language issues.

Daniel Hiebert, a geography professor at UBC, and Elanna Nolan, a doctoral student, recently presented Richmond council with a study called Living Well With Diversity, about learning from other cities with signage issues, such as Richmond Hill.

Sign language was a pressing issue in Richmond Hill, said Hiebert, an expert in the social and cultural changes that accompany immigration.

But as time went on following the bylaw, about five years of “de-escalation,” it petered out as an issue in the Ontario city.

Which isn’t to say once signage angst is assuaged, everything is flowers and lollipops.

“Signage represents deeper issues people are facing,” Hiebert said.

Those deeper issues include rapid change, traffic congestion and development.

“Long-term residents see the landscape changing in front of their eyes,” Hiebert said, “in ways they did not anticipate.”

Told that councillors have been advised an English-mandatory sign bylaw would likely be challenged, at the least, long-term resident Merdinyan was all for it.

“Well, good,” she said. “We’ve got to get this settled.