University denies blind man and dog entry

[Shenanigans]

This is a very ridiculous story, enough to get the blood warmed up in the morning.

Basically the University of New Brunswick is denying a blind man entry to their English Immersion course because his guide dog responds to French commands. The guy will use english at every possible moment, however it will take 8 weeks to retrain the dog with the english commands, and the guy understandably is probably a bit nervous on this one. What a horrible abuse of the university's power.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/07/06/canada/guidedog_040706

[xavierandrea]

That is crazy. I hope the guy follows through with the Human Rights Case. Also what does English have to do with the dog??? The dog is not the one taking the class. I don't understand. :-?

[__crazy_canine__]

I dont get it either... that doesnt make sense.

[cheekymunkee]

You're right, unless I missed something.............this story makes NO sense whatsoever!

Debby

[__crazy_canine__]

[quote name='Mei-Mei']I think what's happening is that the guy is taking an immersion course, which means he has to speak only English in class and when they're out on field trips. But he would be speaking French to the dog, so that disqualifies him for the course.

That is, without a doubt, the stupidest, dumbest, most idiotic, asinine rule I've ever heard of in my life! :x

OMD!!!!! Thats so dumb! Thanks for pointing that out because I couldnt figure it out. Thats so unfair to the dog to have to re-learn all its commands. Poor guy, too, thats a lot of stress and he really should see if theres anything he can do legally about this.

[Guest Anonymous]

how stupid! i hope this guy doesn't back down and does soemthing about it.. that is so freakin' stupid.. :evil:

[mouseatthebusstop]

he should complain the dog does not need to study enlish he is not enroled on the course

[Guest Anonymous]

Oh no, another thing to fuel the fire between the english and french citizens of New Brunswick.
The french have been sueing english shops and agencies through out the province. It is getting scary.

This is really going to cause ALOT of tension in this province. :(

[Guest Anonymous]

that is stupid

[courtnek]

It's also probably contestable. The dog isnt taking the course. If he spoke english at all other times, I would say they have no case. It takes almost two years to train a guide dog for the blind. changing his commands from french to english will be very time consuming. the college is just throwing a
political log on the fire over this. They are trying to keep him out of the college because he speaks french, possibly more easily than english, although thats speculation on my part. that's pride taken a step too far. The man is willing to abide by all of their language speaking rules, which should be enough for them. It's not easy to train a guide dog. in any any language. good lord, this mans life is already hard enough as it is. he CANT SEE......you'd think they'd bend a little under the circumstances.

here in the states, the college would be in violation of Federal Law. You cant deny access to a Guide Dog anywhere, even in a food establish, no matter WHAT language he's trained in.

:evil: :evil: :evil:

[Guest Anonymous]

You don't have to live in New Brunswick. The French break violations all the time due to supposedly being a minority, which is not true. I would not be able to attend a University in Northern New Brunswick and expect to have any of my english language rights taken into consideration.
The difference is, the english don't speak up for them selves and the french go around looking for problems to start.
I am going to look into this further tomarrow and find out all the details. I am sure its not as bad as this article is making it out to be.

Here is an example of how bad they can be, I was working in an office which employed 2 french speaking staff members. I was working reception and speak only english. A gentleman called the office speaking french I gave him my usual "je ne sa pas le francis" or what ever, I advised him we have a french rep who could help him. He kept speaking over me in french then he started getting louder and louder. I finally advised him I would transfer his call. He started speaking in fluent english that our company was in violations of his right as a french speaking person for not having the phone answered in french. I finally got him through, and as an employer in my area you only require 2 french speaking employee's. The gentleman worked for dist 1 school board in northern NB. He protested and made such a big deal of my not being able to speak french. I lost my job as the company feared being sued. Some french citizens have made spot checks at companies and demanded to be served in french. When the receptionist went to get the french speaking person they left, they also sued and won.

So, this is my reason for feeling there is alot more to this than what is in the paper.

[courtnek]

ok, I'm sorry. I realize that french-canadians and English-canadians are often at odds, but that's ridiculous. I have clients in French Canada, and if I tell them in French that I dont speak English, they are usually ok with it.
Of course, if they want help they have no choice but to speak a compatible language. you cant really discuss technical computer problems in a language you dont understand. I tend to agree with you. If I walk into a
mexican restaraunt where no one speaks english, I cant expect them to pander to me. I have heard this before from other people as well. I still think this guy has a case, since the dog isnt taking the course. and retraining him will be very difficult, and probably expensive. sometimes people just need to "get over it"...

[Guest Anonymous]

sometimes people just need to "get over it"...

courtnek,
You do not live here, you don't know what is going on! It's alot worse than you would think.

Did you know that french canadians would have nothing to do with Celine Dion when she started singing english songs. She was crushed, they really gave her a hard time.

[courtnek]

yes I know I do not live there. and I feel for the people that DO, believe me. this is such a simplistic thing to be fighting over. I dont speak Spanish, but there are a lot of Mexicans here who dont speak good english either. we still try to talk to one another as best we can. I can say please and thank you in spanish. not alot, but they appreciate it. they try to get their points across as best they can in english. there are always those who make an issue out of it, and I consider them troublemakers, since english is the national language here. If I was going to go live in Mexico, or spain, I would do my best to learn Spanish. I think TOLERANCE is the key word here, and its apparently not being practiced very well. pride can be a very bad thing. and what I see here is pride. "my way or the highway"....from BOTH sides. people at some point will need to learn to get along. language does not have to be a barrier unless you let it be. I think both sides are wrong, same as here. IF you can speak the language of the people you are trying to deal with, then JUST DO IT. why is that so hard for people to understand?

not yelling at you, I know youre caught in the middle. its just that is is such a SILLY conflict. The french canadians can mostly speak English.
Some of the english canadians can speak french. can we all just not get along and get over it?

[Guest Anonymous]

Hey let's not turn this in a to "war" Guest.. can we bring it back to the topic of the guy and his dog please?