Sault mayor wants to make amends with Francophone community

Sault Ste. Marie's mayor is using the 34th anniversary of a controversial city council decision to make amends with the city's Francophone community. Although the often referred to "English-only" resolution was short-lived and an official apology was issued in 2010, Mayor Matthew Shoemaker says it is an issue local Francophones still think about today.

"A lot of publicizing of the fact in French media that Sault Ste. Marie had a mayor who spoke French," said Shoemaker.

"It seemed like it was something of note, and it made me come to the conclusion that there was still old wounds that needed to be healed."

It was on January 29, 1990, that the council of the day passed a resolution making English the official language of business at the municipal level. CTV Northern Ontario’s Tony Ryma was a news anchor in the Sault at the time and said he has vivid memories of the fallout from that decision and the resulting national headlines.

"I still remember to this day the large media presence, national media, at that Sault city council meeting," he said.

"The decision had far-reaching implications. I remember that Premiers David Peterson and Bob Rae refused to meet with the mayor at that time to discuss any types of issues."

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This week, a motion before council aims to formally correct that decision made 34 years ago, by making it easier for French-speaking people to access municipal services.

"Right now, if someone who was Francophone came into the building and looked to speak to anyone in French, we might have someone available, (as) there are a number of staff here who speak French," said Shoemaker.

"This would formalize a process to make sure that, of all the staff that we do have here that speak French, there would always be one available."