Service Canada’s front-line staff
must “use gender-neutral language or gender-inclusive language”
to avoid “portraying a perceived bias toward a particular sex or
gender,” out of respect for the country’s “diverse”
population according to recent reports. Such terms as “sir, madam,
mother, father,Mr., Mrs., Miss.” etc are not to be used for fear of
offending transgender or individuals who may be 'offended' by being
addressed incorrectly by their appearance. Well folks I am offended
by a small segment of our society dictating how I can be addressed
when dealing with government, 'What is the name of parent number
one?' is totally meaningless and confusing.
I have no problem with anyone asking to
be addressed in a particular way and indicating that if / when some
other pronoun is used, in many cases just omitting the pronoun
entirely, whilst perhaps frowned on by some older users, would be
preferable to some of the convoluted alternatives suggested by the
politically correct crowd and some government departments. Apparently
such pronouns have been removed from some government forms so how one
identifies themselves is gender neutral, not a problem in most cases,
putting down John Doe instead of Mr John Doe makes little difference
on such documents. When addressing individuals face to face its more
of an issue IMHO!
It appears to be a lot of confusion
about this since the directive first came out and the latest from
Jean-Yves Duclos, Canada’s minister of families, children and
social development, defended the guidelines, noting they had been
drafted in response to public complaints (really?). He stressed that
Service Canada would continue to use Mr and Ms when interacting with
clients. “We are only confirming how people want to be addressed as
a matter of respect.” I imagine Service Canada employees are
equally confused!
I have a few words for those that
thought up this 'directive' but since they are not 'politically'
correct or suitable for use in polite company I will leave it up your
imagination as to what they are!
No comments:
Post a Comment