Richmond Strata Sued Over Mandarin-Only Meetings

[whatnext]

I wasn't aware Mandarin was an official language of Canada. Appalling that every other ethnic group who might be unfortunate enough to live in this condo complex are being excluded from proceeding by those who refuse to adapt to Canadian ways:

A group of condo owners in the Vancouver area have filed a human-rights complaint against their all-Chinese strata council after its members refused to conduct meetings in English.

Andreas Kargut, who lives in a 54-unit townhouse complex in Richmond, a city where roughly half of residents identify as Chinese, filed the complaint on behalf of himself and three other owners at Wellington Court. A new strata council – made up entirely of Mandarin speakers – was elected in July. Mr. Kargut said he and a neighbour asked to observe a strata council meeting earlier this month amid concerns the council had been excluding English-speaking residents from the decision-making process....http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle27917646/

[Klazu]

Interesting case, but as per rest of the article not the first one. There has been other cases (presumably also in Richmond), but it sounds like there a translator has been successfully used or they have changed their practices.

Such a situation would really suck if you're an owner.

[geotag277]

It is interesting and not really a new issue in Canada in general. There is a similar issue in Montreal for example where condo board meetings can be run in either English or French, potentially posing a language barrier for a good percentage of owners.

The key thing here in this case is that Mandarin speakers bought a majority of units in the townhome strata. I don't necessarily see an issue with the AGM being run in this or that language, as the AGM is not a very important meeting when it comes to actual participation, and all requests for information are legally protected under the language laws.

If there were issues with communications/translations being poor and/or not accurate, the owners would have a legal basis to correct that problem.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by geotag277

It is interesting and not really a new issue in Canada in general. There is a similar issue in Montreal for example where condo board meetings can be run in either English or French, potentially posing a language barrier for a good percentage of owners.

The key thing here in this case is that Mandarin speakers bought a majority of units in the townhome strata. I don't necessarily see an issue with the AGM being run in this or that language, as the AGM is not a very important meeting when it comes to actual participation, and all requests for information are legally protected under the language laws.

If there were issues with communications/translations being poor and/or not accurate, the owners would have a legal basis to correct that problem.

The complaint was regarding regular council meetings.

It really doesn't matter whatever lingustic minority owns the most units in a complex. The dealings should be conducted on one of Canada's official languages, as they are living in Canada.

[LowerLonsdaleMike]

It should be common sense. If the official language of our country is English (or French), then these meetings should be in English (or French). If the Mandarin speaking people cannot understand, then they should 1. bring in a translator, and 2. learn our official language.

[logan5]

Must make for some awkward moments in the elevator. This all Chinese strata council must realize the optics of all this. This is obviously a touchy subject but the intent here is clear. The non chinese residents are purposely being forced out of their own homes.