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Canadians
with language barriers abandoned in the face of H1N1
OTTAWA - The Harper Conservative
government has left Canadians with language barriers to
fend for themselves without sufficient information about
the current H1N1 flu pandemic, Liberal Critic for
Multiculturalism and Youth Justin Trudeau said .
"The Harper government has failed in its duty to protect
all Canadians from H1N1 by neglecting to provide clear
information, responsible planning or adequate funding
support, but this failure is magnified for many
Canadians who have difficulty understanding English or
French," said Mr. Trudeau.
Mr. Trudeau was commenting on recent reports from across
the country that Canadians who are not proficient in
either of Canada's official languages are unable to get
H1N1 information from official sources and are confused
about what to do about the current pandemic.
"These Canadians have been left to piece together
information from family and friends - many of whom are
also confused," said Mr. Trudeau.
These concerns are being raised at the same time that
the government is being criticized for failing to
allocate $400 million promised in 2006 for pandemic
response. The Conservatives are spending $100 million of
public money to try to convince Canadians they are doing
a good job, but less than ten per cent of that amount on
a public information campaign about the H1N1 pandemic.
"This government should divert what is left of the
estimated $100 million of public money being spent on
partisan advertising to a new H1N1 public awareness
campaign," said Mr. Trudeau.
"This initiative must also reach out to vulnerable
Canadians facing language barriers with a comprehensive
multilingual information campaign to ensure all
Canadians receive the support they deserve from their
national government."
Updated : Nov 5,2009
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