Cara Loverock
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, July 9, 2008

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - An NWT Court of Appeal ruling on French-language rights in the territory, released Thursday, gave both the territorial government and the Federation Franco-Tenoise a small victory.

In April 2006, the NWT Supreme Court ruled that the territorial government's French language service was not up to par, a decision that was appealed by the GNWT.

The lawsuit was launched by the Federation Franco-Tenoise in the fall of 1999.

Fernand Denault is the president of the federation, representing francophones in the Northwest Territories. He said at the heart of the legal battle is to "make sure that French-Canadian citizens, that their rights are assured in the NWT."

He said the French speaking community in the territory did get some validation from the ruling.

The GNWT was ordered to pay the federation's legal bills and the appeal judges in this case ruled that the federal government will offer French language services without delay, but only in areas of confidentiality or security.

Otherwise there will be services and communications available in French through a toll-free automated telephone line.

"It's a bittersweet victory," said Denault.

He said the federation is considering its options to appeal the case in the Supreme Court of Canada and will make a decision in the coming months.

He said the governments have a responsibility and an obligation to properly deliver French language services.

"Can a French-speaking citizen actually feel that he or she belongs in Canada?" questioned Denault.

The legislative assembly will also not be required to publish its Hansard in French, which was one of the main concerns for the legislative assembly according to Speaker of the House, Paul Delorey.

"As it pertains to Hansard, that was what we wanted to get clarified through the courts is our independence to control that," said Delorey.

"We have ... not only two languages in the Northwest Territories, we have 11. We like to treat them all as equally as possible."

He said that to produce the Hansard in French would have been very costly, upwards of $300,000.

He added that the legislative assembly is still going over the court ruling and will be looking at other ways to promote French and other official languages of the territory.