Officials retract English plaque at MRC offices

2018-08-14 Liz Draper 299 Views topstory

A historic plaque commemorating the first sitting of Pontiac County council was removed from a monument outside the MRC Offices in Campbell’s Bay following a complaint from the public to the Office québécois de la langue française. MRC officials say the monument will bear a bilingual plaque in the “near future”, a promise they also made in Dec. 2017 when it was installed.

CALEB NICKERSON
CAMPBELL’S BAY
Aug. 15, 2018
The MRC Pontiac received a warning from the Office québécois de la langue française due to a plaque on a historic monument inscribed only in English.
The monument in question was unveiled in its new location in front of the MRC offices by Warden Jane Toller in December of 2017, to mark Pontiac Council’s 170th anniversary. The monument - a sizable stone sitting on a concrete slab with a metal plaque bolted to its face - was created in 1947 to mark the 100th anniversary of Pontiac county council’s first sitting on Dec. 13, 1847.
MRC Pontiac Director General Bernard Roy said that the representative from the language office gave the warning about two weeks ago.
“He said he came because ... someone made a complaint to the organization,” Roy said. “He said we have to communicate in both languages.”

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