Alert to parliament in Ottawa: message in French sent eight minutes later

An operation is conducted to deal with a possible threatcan we read, in English, the email sent to staff and elected officials. A sheltering order was issued for the City […]. The Hill was evacuated.

It will take another eight minutes, or up to 1:06 pm, for the same message to be sent in French.

This is completely unacceptablesaid Conservative Senator Claude Carignan, especially since we are talking about security elements here. It could be a shooter, an attack taking placehe describes.

According to Mr. Carignan, the authorities assume, with this difference, that all Francophones understand English. Sorry, but that’s not the case. Then, even if it were, they could understand it 75%. And 75% of a warning message to hide because there is a crazy shooter is not enough. You need to understand this 100%, because your life may be in danger and you need to act right away.

Ottawa police have so far released very few details of the operation they conducted on Saturday.

Organizers of a Sikh event scheduled to take place that day near Parliament Hill said two members of their group had been arrested and briefly wrongfully detained in connection with a bomb threat that occurred that day. . turned out to be untrue. Moreover, no one has been charged so far.

A complaint to the Commissioner

Senator Carignan chose to file a complaint with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages ​​in connection with this incident, believing that the law that should ensure equality between English and French in the country has been ignored.

Mr. Carignan also invited commissioner Raymond Théberge to make recommendations to the two official languages use simultaneously when talking to parliamentariansmore of an emergency. It is important to rectify this situationhe believes, for we are ready if there is a real alert.

We are talking here about automated messages that must be written in advance, added Claude Carignan. This is an easy item to fix.

In a response sent in writing, Minister of Official Languages ​​Ginette Petitpas Taylor acknowledged that the publication of the alert in French was later than the English version is extremely worried. It is important, the Minister added, that both notifications are sent simultaneously. This is a matter of security.

In its part, the Parliamentary Protective Service (PPS) indicates, in a press release, that some factors that may cause a slight delay in the delivery of notifications are beyond our control. It could be, for example, a latency time related to service provider of the employee. The PPS he determines strives to reduce delays to a minimum in collaboration with [ses] partners.