English not required for strata council meetings: Ministry of Housing
Richmond News
Graeme Wood
14 September 2016
Andreas Kargut
is leading a class-action Human Rights Tribunal claim against his
strata council, which he claims has discriminated against non-Mandarin
speaking homeowners. Dec. 2015.
No amendments to B.C.’s Strata Property Act, to include English as the
mandatory language of record in strata council meetings, appear to be
in the works.
Following a spat over language between strata members in Richmond that
has garnered international attention, the Richmond News posed the
question—Is the Ministry of Housing working to amend the Strata
Property Act to make English (and/or French) the mandatory language for
strata council meetings? — to Richmond East MLA Linda Reid, who
deferred to the Ministry Responsible for Housing, which oversees the
legislation.
Reid had previously told the Richmond News in February she will be
advocating for language requirements in the B.C. Strata Property Act
—although, as Speaker of the House, she cannot table a motion in the
Legislature herself.
The Ministry responded by stating it was only aware of one strata corporation where language has been raised as a concern.
“We examine issues related to strata legislation on an ongoing basis,” stated Ministry spokesperson Lindsay Byers, via email.
The Ministry did have a suggestion
The Ministry did have a suggestion, however, for residents of
Wellington Court on Heather Street, who have squared off against one
another, with one side claiming it’s OK for council members to speak
Mandarin at meetings and the other side contending doing so is contrary
to their human rights in a country where the official languages are
English and French.
“We strongly encourage strata corporations to choose an inclusive
approach to provide accessibility to all strata members,” stated Byers.
“One option would be to provide interpretation services to other
languages; however, the technical requirements of strata legislation
can be difficult to interpret accurately and should only be
contemplated by a qualified official interpreter.”
According to Wellington Court resident Andreas Kargut, his strata
council has chosen not to hire a qualified official interpreter. Last
year, the council spoke Mandarin at the Annual General Meeting, leaving
non-Mandarin speakers feeling excluded.
The matter sparked a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal complaint that now
appears to be going to an official hearing, after an agreement to
settle the dispute fell apart in August.
Byers added that the Province of B.C. has no official language
requirements and Canada’s official languages only apply to federal
government business and services.
Kargut and a group of six, including some who are ethnic Chinese, claim discrimination by their council.
Wellington Court resides in the City Centre planning area, where only
38.4 per cent of residents speak English at home whereas 51.7 per cent
speak Chinese (16 per cent Mandarin), according to 2011 National
Household Survey data.
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