Park parity

During a visit to Komoka Provincial Park near London, Ont., a Francophone man noticed that many of the signs were only in English, while others were bilingual.

Among the nine prescribed measures for ensuring an active offer of service in French in Ontario Regulation 544/22, Measure 5 says that signs identifying an agency’s services “shall include the written text in both English and French in equal prominence,” or “a sign containing the equivalent French text shall be placed next to the sign containing the English text, and both signs must be of equal prominence.”

Result
Our research indicated that the easternmost portion of Komoka Provincial Park adjoins the City of London, which is a designated area under the FLSA. We referred the issue to Ontario Parks, which is part of the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. Following our intervention, the Ministry committed to installing bilingual signs throughout the park to avoid confusion for visitors. The man thanked our team for their “great work.”