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Apr 22, 2004 22:56

So a woman working for Heritage Canada is being asked to quit her job because in her spare time she heads a seperatist organization ( Read more... )

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pfloide April 23 2004, 11:20:37 UTC
Since Canadian law (as interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada) accepts that provinces have the right to leave Confederation under certain conditions, I don't see that laws regarding treason could have anything to do with this case. Organizing for Quebecois (or Albertan, etc.) separation from Canada can't be treason if it's done through PR and referenda. It would be treason if she and her organization were stockpiling weapons and planning some sort of coup d'etat in Quebec and war of independence from Canada. That seems not to be the case.

Whether it's a conflict of interest is another question. The article and the one linked to it say:

Canadian Heritage would not say what it thinks "Le Quebec, un Pays" does.

and

No one has yet explained what her conflict of interest is and how that affects her duties.My reading of the article is that her job is to manage official languages grants for Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. How exactly this bears on the question of whether Quebec is a member of Confederation (or whatever the ( ... )

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pfloide April 23 2004, 11:37:21 UTC
Just to tack on a rider to my previous comment, regarding language policy - if Quebec were to leave Confederation, the Fed would no doubt have to reconsider the "English and French" version of its official languages policy. On the other hand, anyone who's ever been in Vancouver has reason to doubt that policy even now. And if Quebec were to leave, Cantonese would have more speakers in Canada than French, even counting big groups like Franco-Ontarians, and New Brunswick - I'd bet money on it.

Of course, the NWT has nine official languages, and if we're racking up points, the EU will have twenty starting in a week.

The US has NO official languages, by contrast, but my phone company's help desk offers service in over a hundred and fifty.

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finalcut999 April 23 2004, 16:46:40 UTC
Ah only in Canada would there even be a discussion over whether someone who is fighting to break up the country could work for the government of said country.
Personally I'd fire her ass but then Im not a very nice person.

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dextra April 24 2004, 10:23:57 UTC
i listened to the article on the radio yesterday (huzzah! for the cbc and an hour-long drive to work!), and the implications made me squirm ( ... )

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