The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

.7 WITY FREPRESS, WEDNESDAY, MARR 14,1990p PAUS 21 Region social servies budget mayices ,rse i n POM.etadatnpyet a atat-In February there, was a 4.4 services. In order té qualify for fi tn mlof mn sda "Wiwe fae ol a-b ted ta emporary lay-offs er cent increase over January's secal funding, a region must fitigdhte g 8pesnal pok- ,has happened," Diane Social Services was waiting for Igures, representing a 35.3 per hae'four per cent or more cf its etboksmayfore ti. ealh ad kamre told council last Wednes.. the February figures te etr- ent increase over last February. p o n social services committe. ta asc day.pulati on nsocial services. the 'Region for an additional ~ ,,., mine whetherte a aet h 'iu1n v fOl T.~ l To the. editor: I amn ratiier pleased ta see that someone in WhitbY' cares about the rights cf French Canadisus. I flnd that tii. Town council siiould be. recognized -as b.ing fair ta al minorities in the. area-. hose Who oppose bilingualism in the. country should think twice about abolishing French 'as on. of its officiai languages. Mhany çommunities actss the. province were established sud have flourisiied with the presence cf French Canadians.' How would youfeel if you lived in a smal community in tii. province cf Quebec sud lost ail your English services?- For as long as this ask for additional funds. country bas existed ]?rencii sud English have shared everything sud have net suffered at ail. To those communities wio have decided that Frencii is net an important language, your loss is greater than your vcoy Sincerely yours, Pascal D. Arpini French fligliSchol Student Grade 12 jLjLjkl-- q-Lotylau mi eu .ua y J.Uo~ was 4,126 while in February 1990 it rose to, 5,582. Ttiie number served in Febru- ar% 1989 was' 6,748 sud in February 1990, 9,342. Money spent for basic need in February 1989 tetalled $1,64-9,300 sud in February, 1990 tii. cost was $2»808,3001, representing a 71 per cent increase. "These figures add 3 per cent te the. (regional) budget (sud 13 per cent ta the. departmnent cf Social Services budget). W. are looking at an increase; cf $1.7- million net,» said Hamre. «Over haîf cf that is reiated ta, shelter costs.» Durham Region csu't ask for special assistance from the Pro- vince because only 2.4 per cent cf thei_ population receives social il rsU, u ner régions are hurting more than we are,» said Hamre. "Even 'people not laid off are not spen ding any money. It's a rippling effect. If we don'tbde for trends that seem te b. hap- pening, we have ta go te otiier Funds. it's a faIs. economy ifwe say weyre not going ta fund thus.» (Uhk ther budgets, if it has ta do with social assistance, it 15 iegislatad that social services must receive the' funds it aslcs for.) To handle the surge in social assistance, social services is look- ing at hiring 26 additional staff 18of them provided for in thé~ budget. They will aise need 4,000 square feet in additionai office spaoe, 1 450 sq. ft. cf which iiave already beeýn budgeted for. .4 t sl~*,~ skkè~avs adalo WAul AD is ug i tassis- LETTE Counc1 shows they care about right .."Misu'nderstandings droot Of 4language problem By Clare Ducharme L'ACFO O.Çham.wa-ttrbrog Bilingualism is a multi-faceted issue across Canada, and has Btaken!se=hu pomnence here in Ontario since the. advent of Bil8-~ ii.Frenh LngugesServices Act.' At the root of the. lagaeproblemi in this province is a number c misunderstandings and misconceptions by the population at large. For this reason, we take tuis opportunity to penhaýps clarif3r îand inform our fellow Ontarians concerning the varicus aspects of 'la francophonie ontarienne" and its general impact on every day life in tuis great province. First, historians have, well documented in numerous textbooks that the. province was founided, explored and developed by two pioneer groupe - the. English and the. French. It is important ta note that the settling of the. province by these two groups was simultaneous, aibeit, each group seemed to move within specific areas, thereby with time, dehineating the. eisting spirsof francophone communities throughout the province: NotenOntario, Ottawa Valley, Windsor-Esmex, etc. Secondly, it must also b. noted that in many centres and communities in Ontario, francophones ýform a clear mAjority of the. population - obviously, in other areas, they merely form a niinority. Nonetheless, as explained previously, at the. grass-roots cf the. provincial infra-structure, they, remain a pioneer group, sud onfly wish to b. recognized as such. The. provincial governient iias recognized this fact over tiie years sud accordingly, has chosen to implement a law that would,. ensure the preservation cf the. french culture sud its language by mntroducing Bill 8. Essentially, the. provincial governiment took it upon itself to provide services in frenchin i specifically, designated areas, (where francophones are prosent in sufficient numbers). The government's second agenda was also ta help preserve tiie unique niake-up of its multi-cultural moeaic. -Furtiier to the above, another misconception amongst Ontarians at large is the. idea that francophones r.present an ethnic group. Again, in couniter-point ta this misconception, we must bear in mind that the. country and the. province were botii founded by two foundingmiember groups. . Atii French sud tii. English. rWith respect to Bill 8, here again misunderatandinge abound. More specificaliy, many bave read sud heard horrar stories rabout prospective governiment employees being denied job opportunities because tiiey cannot speak Frenchi or existing civil servants losing their jobs because theirpusitions have now been deignated 'billingual" as a result of the. implementation cf this new law. lIn fact,, as a result cf Bull 8, a very smail portion cf the. provincial civi service has- been desfignated bilingual - *approimiatée1y three per cent witii many cf these positions being filied by existing bilinguai governiment employees.- For those P poitions designated bilingual, only wiien the. incuxnbent leaves, r il it b. ffiled- by a bilingual ýemployee. More importantly, however, is the..fact that. many of these positions are allocated ta governiment-offices where there is a high concentration cf * fancphoesand, acordinigly the. need for providing services in French 18 warranted& Thirdly, penhapstii eats misconception is the. fact that our linguistic -issue cany b. compared ta tiie Quebec situation, but merely in reverse. Quit. the. contrary, in many respects the. situations -a ré very different. For one, goverrnment services in English have been provided ta Quebec's anglophone minority for over 65 years ý-including a complet. English sciiool system. For msu'y, this emerging problemi can hest be reeÃ"lved by 1moving ahi francophones ta Quebec. Notwitiistanding that this measure 'is, both ludicrous and narrow-minded, we muet remember that PFranco-Ontàrians are first sud foremost, proud Canadians,:and second proud Ontarians. We are merely *attempting ta pr eserve our culture and mother tongue. r In closing, we hope that municipalities in Ontario will corne ta recogniuze tiie need ta hbelp preserve this culture sud help harmonize the exstence cf two founding memibers cf this unique WANT TO APPEAL. YOUR ASSESSMENT?- You stili have time to appeal your 1989 assessment if you feel your home or business property has been improperly assessed. Your assessment is important because the amount of property tax you will pay in 1990 depends on it. The assessed value of your property is multiplied by the municipal and school miii rates to determine your property taxes. Notices of Property Valuation were mailed to property owners and tenants whose assessments have changed since last year. Open house information sessions were held in, your area to give you the opportunity to ask questions and correct any errors. The Assessment Roll was delivered to your municipality on February 27, 1990 and will be used to calculate the taxes you will pay in 1990. You can review the Roll at your municipal office during regular business hours. If you b elieve your prop- erty has been improperly assessed and you have not yet registered an appeai, you stili have until March 20, 1990 to mail or deliver your appeal to the Assessment Review Board. And remem ber, even if you did flot receive a Notice of Prop- erty Valuation, you stili have the right to appeal. Appeai deadline: Mareh 20, 1990 The Assessment Review Board is an independent tribunal under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General. It is intended to provideyou with an additional opportunity to have your assessment reviewed if, in your opinion, it is not fair and equitable with the assessment of similar properties in your area. The Review Board is more informai and relaxed than a regular court of law. You may present your own case, retainj a Iawyer, or ask ea relative or friend to speak as your agent. To help you in fiiing your appeai, Notice of Appeal forms are availabie from the Assessment Review Board, your Regionai Assessment Office, or your municipal office. You can aiso use the reverse side of a Notice of Property Valuation, or write a letter giving the property address and roll number along with your reasons for appealing. Appeals should be forwarded to the Regional Registrar of the Assessment Review Board at the address shown below. If you appealed your previous assessment, it wiII bè niecessary to lodge an appeal against your assessment with the Assessment Review Board each year, if the appeal against your previous assessment has not yet been settled, or your 1989' Notice of Property Valuation does flot reflect the most recent decision. of the Board. In those parts of Ontario designated for French Language Services, you can appear before a bilingual (English/French) Appeal Board. Please check the space provided on your appeal form if you wish to use this service. Ministry Fiegionai Registrar 9uof As sessment Review Board '&VID277 George Street North. Suite 207 Revenue Peterborough, Ontario Ontario K9J 3G9