Hockey and Language: Part Deux
About three weeks, my colleague and fellow blogger Genevieve Lay wrote a post about the brewing storm in Montreal regarding the Canadiens’ appointment of the unilingual Anglophone Randy Cunneyworth as head coach. Perhaps because it was posted shortly before Christmas, Genevieve’s post did not garner any comments. However, the debate has intensified, both in the “blogosphere” and in Montreal.
In short, many Québecois feel that the Canadiens should appoint only a bilingual or Francophone coach. Local Québec papers got in the act, calling for the Canadiens’ General Manager’s head for his insentive decision. In response to the furor, the Canadiens responded on December 19 with a statement basically apologizing (as reported by the Montreal Gazette):
“Although our main priority remains to win hockey games and to keep improving as a team,” Molson’s statement read, “it is obvious that the ability for the head coach to express himself in both French and English will be a very important factor in the selection of the permanent head coach. … We would like to thank all our fans for their understanding.”
On January 3, the GM took it a step further (also as reported by the Montreal Gazette):
“I’m sorry if we upset people,” Gauthier said Monday, during one of his media chats which are as rare as a visit from Halley’s Comet, “because that certainly wasn’t our intention.”
“What will happen in the future, at the end of the season, is that we will reevaluate the whole file. As (owner Geoff) Molson said in his communique a week ago, it’s very important that our head coach be bilingual. So that will be part of our decision at that point.”
It would seem, rightly or wrongly, that the Canadians will favour a bilingual coach. Politics aside, there are legal issues involved in this debate. If Randy Cunneyworth is let go solely because he speaks French, is that discrimination based on language? If so, is it justifiable under the Québec Charter of Rights?
Prof. David Doorey and I engaged in an interesting debate via our respective blogs and there is no need to summarize them on Slaw. See here for Prof. Doorey”s original post and here for mine responding to his. His final (and eloquent) retort is here.
Time for you all to weigh in: Is it discriminatory? If so, is it justified?
Having lived in Montreal for 9 years, I am sensitive to the language issues there but I feel that when the issue has a fairly easy solution which is to hire a translator, then I feel that it’s perfectly reasonable and acceptable to hire the best person for the job. If Cunneyworth is more qualifed than a francophone or bilingual coach (and I’m not saying he is), then it makes sense to hire him.