The National Capital Commission is facing a federal lawsuit for using yellow “caution” tape outside a building..The English-only tape breached the Official Languages Act, according to a complainant described in Federal Court as a frequent litigator who “deliberately searched for violations of the Act,” according to Blacklock’s Reporter..Michel Thibodeau, an Ottawa IT consultant, filed a court claim seeking $1,500 and a written apology for “the use of yellow” caution’ tape without the French equivalent.”.He filed a separate lawsuit against the Department of Public Works for $19,500 in damages after spotting various English-only signs like “danger due to work overhead,” “falling ice and snow” and “caution: wet floor.”.“I feel my rights have been violated with such a unilingual English or predominantly English display,” Thibodeau testified in a separate 2020 case..“It causes me frustration, stress and loss of enjoyment of life.”.Thibodeau earlier sued the Senate for $1,500 over a sign at a water fountain that read “push,” and sued the Bank of Canada for $6,000 over English-only “caution” signs at its Ottawa headquarters..“I am not really willing to talk about this,” Thibodeau earlier told Blacklock’s..Lawyers in a 2020 case against the St. John’s International Airport Authority called Thibodeau an “experienced self-represented litigant” who engaged in “improper, vexatious and unnecessary litigation steps.”.The Federal Court on February 12 noted Thibodeau “had about fifty complaints in reserve against the Edmonton Regional Airports Authority and that he would ask for $1,500 per complaint for a total of $75,000.”.Justice Sylvie Roussel said Thibodeau “deliberately searched for violations of the Official Languages Act.”.In the Edmonton airports case, Thibodeau testified he checked the websites of federally-regulated organizations for English-only content so he might sue for damages:.Question: “You weren’t visiting the airport website because you wanted to travel to the airport?”Thibodeau: “That is true. The context in which I did the research was to check and see if the Edmonton airport respected my language rights.”Question: “Okay, was that the one and only reason for your visit to the website?”Thibodeau: “In this case here, yes.”Question: “Then you expected to find violations of your language rights?”Thibodeau: “I presumed there would be.”.Thibodeau in 2017 testimony at the Commons language committee said he filed some 25 complaints just against Air Canada. Complaints included an unsuccessful 2014 Supreme Court appeal for $18,982 in damages after an English-speaking flight attendant misunderstood his French and served him a Sprite instead of a 7-Up..“It is difficult,” said Thibodeau..Conservative MP Bernard Généreux (Montmagny-L’Islet, Que.) questioned the point..“In France they use ‘exit’ instead of ‘sortie’ and it’s a francophone country,” said Généreux. “You understand the meaning of the sign but you believe it’s a violation of your rights because Air Canada didn’t do everything possible?” asked Généreux..“Yes, because it’s not written ‘sortie,’” replied Thibodeau.
