Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 08, 2012, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A12 EDITORIALS WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2012 Freedom of Trade Liberty of Religion Equality of Civil Rights A 12 COMMENT EDITOR: Gerald Flood 697- 7269 gerald. flood@ freepress. mb. ca winnipegfreepress. com EDITORIAL T HE Lord Selkirk School Division is citing privacy in refusing to discuss details of how, last month, two students were convinced to eat moose droppings while on a school trip. There is justification, perhaps, for not releasing the names of teachers involved, but that should not excuse the board from addressing some details of the bullying, and the role and reaction of staff and senior administration at Walter Whyte School in Grand Marais. On the Grade 8 canoe trip in late May, a parent supervisor tricked two students into eating moose droppings he had in a sandwich bag and described, one student said, as chocolate- covered almonds. According to the parents of the two victims, three school staff were present, including the principal. The students, from the accounts, were humiliated as the adults laughed. One student vomited and got the feces stuck in her braces, and the other washed his mouth out in the lake. The division has confirmed all three staff members were aware the girl was given the moose poop. The school board refuses to say what disciplinary action has been taken, but all three staffers were at school this week. The parents are holding back their children; one said his son will not return next fall if the principal is still there. The parents allege students were warned not to speak of the moose poop incident. Much work has gone into local and provincial programs to battle bullying at school, which can have profound impact on victims. Some called this a poorly conceived joke, but it is more like a cruel prank and the details imply there was some premeditation involved. Aside from potential health effects, the victims faced real humiliation, a hallmark of classic bullying. That teachers watched the incident unfold is worrisome. The school board ought to confirm or deny publicly the claim students were told to keep it secret. Educators ought to have seen that as unethical and compounding the harm. Public campaigns have reassured parents the provincial and school programs on bullying are taken seriously. This disturbing affair speaks otherwise and suggests some in charge " don't get it." The board owes the community a robust explanation. Education Minister Nancy Allan should send that message now, so good reparations can start before summer break. M ONTREAL - The language critic of the Parti Qu�b�cois is " very worried" about the latest sign Montreal is being overrun by English. The head of the government's language watchdog agency, the Office Qu � b � cois de la langue fran�aise , sees it as at least a possible " irritant." And the minister of culture in the Liberal government is " concerned." So what is the problem against which these people have united? " Hi." That's it. That's the problem - that informal little English word hi, when it's used to greet customers in downtown Montreal businesses. And not even when it's used instead of bonjour. No, the people who are in charge of Quebec's language policy, or might soon be, are concerned even when it's used in addition to bonjour, as in " Bonjour/ hi." That's the greeting that, in Montreal's unique linguistic etiquette, is intended to let the customer know he or she can be served in either French or English. A new report, one of five published by the OQLF last Friday, shows an apparent rapid increase in the extending of this courtesy. The agency hired a private firm to send observers into 398 retail businesses in downtown Montreal this year, pretending to be ordinary Frenchspeaking customers. These undercover shoppers, or " mystery customers" as the report calls them, dutifully noted the languages in which they were greeted and served as well as those of all the signs, even the smallest ones. Their observations were then compared to those made in visits to the same businesses in 2010. The OQLF reports it received 4,067 complaints last year about alleged infractions of the language law, an astonishing one- year increase of 46 per cent, mainly about commercial signs. That's one reason its head, Louise Marchand, said the agency will soon send out its intrepid inspectors into downtown Montreal to search out infractions " street by street, business by business." But such a dramatic increase can be due to the efforts of a few zealots. For example, in April, three individuals filed a total of 850 complaints. Also, the OQLF's report contradicts a widespread impression the use of French in downtown Montreal is in decline. It says the observers found 18 per cent of the businesses they visited to be breaking the sign rules. But that could mean all the signs but one in any given business were legal. And of the businesses breaking the rules, 63 per cent were violating an obscure 19- year- old regulation on business names the OQLF itself ignored until recently. It requires a business to add a description in French to its signs if its name is a federally registered trademark in another language. Compare the consequences of that relatively small rate of non- compliance with those of what the government's auto- insurance corporation says is a majority of Quebec drivers who endanger lives by exceeding the speed limit. The OQLF's observers also reported that even in downtown Montreal, French was available in 95 per cent of the businesses they visited, if customers requested it ( which, another of the OQLF's reports showed, only 57 per cent of French- speaking consumers did). There had been a slight increase in the proportion of businesses where they were greeted in English only, from 10 per cent two years ago to 13 per cent this year. But - aha! - the proportion where they were greeted in French and English ( bonjour/ hi) had jumped from a suspiciously low one per cent only two years ago to 13 per cent this year. That is, in 87 per cent of businesses in downtown Montreal, customers were greeted in French. And as the head of the OQLF admits, it's always been legal under the 35- year- old language law to greet them in English as well. But apparently it's preferable the customer be ignored than greeted with the courteous " Bonjour/ hi" the head of the OQLF finds so potentially irritating to French ears. Because apparently even when it follows respectfully behind bonjour, the word hi sends the wrong messages. It says Montreal is becoming " anglicized" - a myth, since the proportion of Montreal Island residents who most often speak English at home has remained stable at about 25 per cent. And it says it's still OK to use English in public in Quebec - behaviour that is apparently to be discouraged. Don Macpherson is a columnist for the Montreal Gazette. - Postmedia News B RISBANE - When Ferret the tattooed biker lectured the Australian media on the constitutional dangers of anti- association legislation, we knew we were witnessing what you Canadians might call a " game changer.'' Biker violence has flared in Australia again this week as gunshots echoed around suburban Brisbane early Monday morning. Media reports suggest a new biker war is simmering in this northern state similar to the one that left Hells Angel associate Anthony Zervas dead in 2009 - bludgeoned with a bollard in a Sydney airport terminal then stabbed to death in the chest and abdomen. But those cultural anthropologists who monitor the progress of social phenomena such as bikers can detect a distinct shift in their narrative in recent years. From louts to lobbyists, the past decade has seen the emergence of a sophisticated biker tutored in media relations by public relations firms and prepared to make his case inside, rather than outside, the law. Queensland journalists pursuing gang members over alleged drug peddling this year were startled to be threatened with something arguably more intimidating than physical violence. " I do hope you people have a good solicitor,'' delivered in a low and menacing purr, can be more threatening than " I am going to whip your skull with a rusted bike chain.'' Where all this began no one is certain, but the Hells Angels attempt to sue Walt Disney in March 2006 for use of the gang's distinctive logo in a movie without permission might be a useful point of reference. It's also possible outlaw motorcycle gangs started losing their mojo when teenage girls began using their official acronym as text speak. Taking " OMG'' and transforming it into a squeal of delight might have been a challenge to gang morale. Whatever the cause, the charming " Ferret'' from the " Finks'' who addressed the national press club in Canberra on August 2009 did more than most of his colleagues to project a more elevated public image of the biker. Ferret, a gang office holder of two decades in good standing, stood on a podium in his club's colours before a room full of journalists and made a coherent and at times good- humoured case against the dangers of anti- biker laws. Australian states in recent years have introducing anti- biker laws modelled partly on Canada's anti- biker regime, labelling some gangs criminal organizations and forbidding members to associate. The laws were responding to disturbing allegations that Australian biker gangs had become players in organized crime, including international drug- running syndicates. Following up on Ferret's theme, " Camel," exjail inmate and dedicated bikie, decided to run for the Australian senate in 2010. A member of the Outcasts Motorcycles Club, Russell " Camel'' Wattie gathered some support on a platform that included prison reform as well as " democratic rights for bikers to congregate.'' Camel pointed out, with incontestable logic, his two- year stint in both Australian and Dutch jails on prohibited- importation and kidnapping offences provided him with a unique ability to formulate a more effective national prison policy. Sadly, he did not enter the nation's upper house but has not ruled out another tilt at public office. Australian bikers are not all criminals, even hardened police officers who have tracked their activities for decades concede that point. But those who are involved in criminal activity, and turning big profits, may have come to realize habeas corpus packs more power than Harley Davidson, and physical violence is just costly overhead. In the wise words of Virgil " The Turk" Sollozzo in The Godfather : " I'm a businessman. Blood is a big expense." More importantly, like thousands of corporate titans and highly successful politicians before them, it may have become apparent to criminal bikers that to be truly corrupt in this world, it's best to first build an edifice of respectability. Michael Madigan is the Free Press correspondent in Australia. He writes mostly about politics for the Brisbane- based Courier Mail. DON MacPHERSON New low point in Quebec's language wars Bikers shifting from louts to lobbyists MICHAEL MADIGAN Confirm or deny allegations M ANITOBANS who suffer a death in the family as a result of an auto accident cannot sue for compensation under the province's no- fault insurance system. Nor can victims sue who lose a limb or suffer other catastrophic injury. When this system was introduced in 1994, some lawyers complained it was a denial of justice, since victims could not have their individual cases determined in court. The problem with the old system, however, was that it was time- consuming and expensive, which was often a denial, or at least a delay, of justice itself. Plaintiffs could wait years for compensation, often for sums that weren't much greater than what the new system provides. The no- fault system relies on financial tables and other data to determine benefits based on the age and income of the victim. It's fast, efficient, affordable and frequently reasonable. As the case of Steve Cancilla and Kendall Wiebe illustrates, however, the system can result in judgments survivors believe are unfair. Ms. Wiebe was working at a Portage Avenue hair salon when a car crashed into the business, then struck and killed her. The couple had one daughter together, and were raising two of his children from another marriage. To Manitoba Public Insurance, her death was worth about $ 57,000, which seems light for a woman who others depended on for love and affection, and who still had years of earning potential. The children get roughly $ 30,000 each, and funeral costs are covered, for a total benefit of about $ 150,000. Mr. Cancilla can test the fairness of the total benefit by appealing to the Automobile Injury Compensation Appeal Commission, where officials can take fuller account of the facts he believes haven't been considered. A life's worth? ROB GRIFFITHS / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES Australian bikers have become far more sophisticated in media relations. A_ 12_ Jun- 08- 12_ FP_ 01. indd A12 6/ 7/ 12 7: 58: 21 PM ;