news 2010 organizers seek to soothe tension over French language at Winter Games

[rwilli1]

2010 organizers seek to soothe tension over French language at Winter Games



Tue Apr 28, 9:40 AM





By The Canadian Press


OTTAWA - Vancouver's Olympic organizers are working to ease tension over the use of French during the 2010 Olympics by unveiling some of the acts for next year's Cultural Olympiad.

Organizers told a House of Commons committee on official languages that five of the 20 projects already lined up for the cultural program feature Francophone artists. The organizing committee is in front of both MPs and senators this week to answer concerns about the use of French during the 2010 Games.

One sore spot has been the lack of French during the one-year countdown celebration program last February.

Earlier this week, senators also voiced concerns over unilingual signs at the speedskating oval and the refusal of some hotels to commit to providing services in French.

Organizers say they're working with all their partners to ensure full service in both official languages during the Games.