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N.B. university insists guide dog learn English
CTV.ca News Staff
A Quebec man is filing a human rights complaint against the University of New Brunswick, after being told that his guide dog would have to learn English.
Yvon Tessier is in Fredericton this summer to attend a five-week English immersion program at the university to learn how to speak English. He's also visually impaired and uses a guide dog, named Pavot, who's trained in French.
The university won't allow Tessier to bring the animal into class unless the dog learns English.
Tessier's faithful companion understands only French commands, but the university's English immersion program is strictly English.
The program's students are not permitted to speak French during the course. They also have to mingle in the community, learning to communicate with people in English.
Tessier was asked to sign a declaration that he would only speak to his dog in English.
He refused, saying it's too hard to teach an old dog new tricks that would only confuse his well-trained companion.
"I need to speak French to my guide dog," he told ATV News.
Tessier says the university should have made an exception in his case.
The university's public relations spokesperson, Susan Mesheau, says this is not the first time that a student with a guide dog has enrolled in an immersion course. She says, in the past, those students have been accommodated.
"In the situation with the guide dog in the past, we actually provided English commands that the owner of the dog taught their dog, basic commands in English prior to arriving at the university," she says. "So that help can be put in place. But it does require some time to do that."
Mesheau says, in this case, Tessier did not give UNB enough time to prepare for a visually impaired student.
"It is a total English language program. That understanding has to be there on the part of the student," she notes.
Pavot was trained by the Mira Foundation, a group that prepares dogs to serve the visually impaired. The foundation's Louis Turgeon describes the university's position as "bizarre."
"What is the problem with allowing a person to use 20 words to ensure that they are safe," wonders Turgeon. "To suggest that it is going to jeopardize the efficiency of the program, I just don't buy that."
Tessier says he will take his case to the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission.
UNB officials are recommending Tessier consider the immersion program offered by Dalhousie University in Halifax.
CTV.ca News Staff
A Quebec man is filing a human rights complaint against the University of New Brunswick, after being told that his guide dog would have to learn English.
Yvon Tessier is in Fredericton this summer to attend a five-week English immersion program at the university to learn how to speak English. He's also visually impaired and uses a guide dog, named Pavot, who's trained in French.
The university won't allow Tessier to bring the animal into class unless the dog learns English.
Tessier's faithful companion understands only French commands, but the university's English immersion program is strictly English.
The program's students are not permitted to speak French during the course. They also have to mingle in the community, learning to communicate with people in English.
Tessier was asked to sign a declaration that he would only speak to his dog in English.
He refused, saying it's too hard to teach an old dog new tricks that would only confuse his well-trained companion.
"I need to speak French to my guide dog," he told ATV News.
Tessier says the university should have made an exception in his case.
The university's public relations spokesperson, Susan Mesheau, says this is not the first time that a student with a guide dog has enrolled in an immersion course. She says, in the past, those students have been accommodated.
"In the situation with the guide dog in the past, we actually provided English commands that the owner of the dog taught their dog, basic commands in English prior to arriving at the university," she says. "So that help can be put in place. But it does require some time to do that."
Mesheau says, in this case, Tessier did not give UNB enough time to prepare for a visually impaired student.
"It is a total English language program. That understanding has to be there on the part of the student," she notes.
Pavot was trained by the Mira Foundation, a group that prepares dogs to serve the visually impaired. The foundation's Louis Turgeon describes the university's position as "bizarre."
"What is the problem with allowing a person to use 20 words to ensure that they are safe," wonders Turgeon. "To suggest that it is going to jeopardize the efficiency of the program, I just don't buy that."
Tessier says he will take his case to the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission.
UNB officials are recommending Tessier consider the immersion program offered by Dalhousie University in Halifax.
