Official Multilingualism Creates 'Sign Language' Dilemma

Canadian Justice Throws Out Ticket, Declares Traffic Law Unenforceable

The prospective cost of government multilingualism took an attention-grabbing turn in Toronto on Monday when a judge ruled that because a "No Left Turn" sign was not in both English and French, it could not be enforced. According to the Toronto Sun and CBC Toronto, Justice Alice Napier threw out a ticket issued to a motorist who failed to obey the English language sign, putting the future of Toronto’s signage — and the prospects of collecting on other traffic tickets — in peril.

"Official multilingualism creates many more problems than it solves," explained Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of the Board of U.S. English, Inc. "What makes this case especially disturbing is that the motorist who committed this violation admitted that she doesn’t even speak French." The lack of multilingual signage was, according to the defendant’s lawyer, the only basis on which she fought the ticket. "We didn’t dispute she turned left and we didn’t dispute she didn’t see the sign. What we said was the sign itself was null and void," said Daniel Brown, lawyer for the defense. Justice Napier agreed and tossed out the infraction.

Despite continued clamor against official bilingualism, Canada continues to move further into this costly and divisive endeavor. On Tuesday, Dyane Adam, Canada’s Official Languages Commissioner requested that the Canadian government spare the program’s $750 million annual budget. The request came as the national government is looking to pare $12 billion in non-priority government expenditures over the next five years. The budget for official languages, amounts to more than $24 CAD ($19.23 USD) per Canadian resident annually. If the United States government were to spend that sum per resident per year on official bilingualism, the estimated cost would be approximately $5.67 billion USD annually.

"The monetary cost would only be the tip of the iceberg," said Mujica. "What is not included in that figure are the levels of bureaucracy and numerous legal challenges that come with instituting such a program. Our funds should be spent on helping immigrants learn English, not contributing to disunity through multilingual efforts. We should learn from the mistakes of other nations and embrace our common language, English, the unifier for our diverse society."

## U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. (www.usenglish.org) now has more than 1.8 million members.