The village of Memramcook is making moves to protect the French language within its boundaries.
At their meeting Tuesday night, the village council passed a new policy declaring French as the official language of the village. Mayor Maxime Bourgeois says the policy confirms French as the working language for staff, council and committees, and also requires an effort be made to have contracted services delivered in French.
At the same meeting, the village council also passed first reading of a new commercial signage by-law which will require the presence of French on new commercial signs in the village.
Bourgeois says the by-law could bring about changes to the linguistic landscape of the community, which will help people “recognize the Francophone and Acadian characteristics of our community.”
Right now, says Bourgeois, “most of the signs are unfortunately in English only, even though all the business owners are Francophone.”
The by-law will take some time to have an effect, as it will apply only to new signs, and signs being replaced for other reasons. But the village will also offer a temporary financial incentive to encourage existing businesses to add French to their signs sooner rather than later.
Bourgeois says the demographics of the town have been shifting slowly to include more Anglophones, with the 2021 census counting 23% of residents identifying English as their first language. But the recent shift is not necessarily the motivation for the proposed by-law. Bourgeois says he’s long thought that a commercial sign by-law was a good idea for the village.
“When I was at university, Dieppe was talking about having a by-law to regulate their commercial signs,” recalls Bourgeois. “I thought Memramcook, my hometown, should have done that at that point.”
Bourgeois says the by-law and policy come out of discussions surrounding the village’s strategic priorities in 2023, when the celebration of Acadian identify was chosen as one of the main pillars.
The sign by-law is similar to those in other majority Acadian communities, and Bourgeois says there hasn’t been much controversy over its proposal. “The biggest discussion was around whether or not we forced this on current businesses within the next five years,” says Bourgeois. But councillors considered the high cost of some commercial signage, and decided “we don’t want to impose that financial burden, until they decide to change their own signs.”
Bourgeois says businesses with English names won’t face an issue, as the French rule will apply to descriptors and not company names. There’s also a grandfather clause, which allows current businesses to continue using their established signs.
The by-law will now go through a public hearing process before council approves second and third reading. The mayor says that he hasn’t heard any negative feedback so far.
“I hope that there won’t be any backlash or any anybody against this,” says Bourgeois. “I mean, if you are living in Memramcook, and you move here, I would assume that it’s one of the reasons, that maybe you appreciated the notably Francophone and Acadian culture and characteristic of our community.”
“It’s really just that we want to be able to drive in Memramcook and say, okay, we’re in a French community,” says Bourgeois.
