Back to SearchDIEPPE, N.B. — The City of Dieppe reached a settlement today in provincial court with Pattison Outdoor and CBS Outdoor regarding exterior commercial signage. The companies pled guilty to the 41 charges against them. In exchange, the City of Dieppe consented to a joint request that the court impose the minimum $140 fine per charge.
By pleading guilty to all charges laid against them, the companies have ended their constitutional challenge.
The regulation is important to the City of Dieppe which wants the municipality’s linguistic landscape to reflect the reality of its residents.
“We are very happy with how things went this morning,” said Dieppe Mayor Yvon Lapierre. “We adopted a bylaw in May 2010 and have enforced it in the same manner as all other municipal bylaws. Today’s result shows that Pattison Outdoor and CBS Outdoor understand our linguistic reality and that they respect the municipality’s intent to reflect its culture.”
“I must point out the work of the previous city council which put in place a framework that allows the City of Dieppe to clearly reflect its linguistic makeup,” said Mayor Lapierre. “The current council recognizes the efforts of the former council and will ensure compliance with this bylaw.”
“I hope that other bilingual and francophone municipalities see this result as a reason to no longer be shy in wanting their two linguistic communities to be respected,” he said.
Both companies also agreed to be fully compliant with Bylaw Z-22 by July 31, 2012, at the latest.
Bylaw Z-22 deals with exterior commercial signage and was adopted in May 2010. It stipulates that messages on all exterior commercial signage must be bilingual with French appearing first. As well, all lettering (font, size, style) must be identical in both languages. Signage in place prior to May 2010 is protected under a grandfather clause.
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Media contact:
Isabelle LeBlanc
Director of communications
City of Dieppe
(506) 877.7918
isabelle.leblanc@dieppe.ca