For Immediate Release
Toronto, August 16, 1996... B'nai Brith Canada has asked the Ombudsman of Radio Canada to conduct an investigation into whether or not senior television reporter Normand Lester, in an irresponsible manner, took advantage of his position as a journalist with Radio Canada to make a major issue out of an isolated incident. Mr. Lester made false accusations about the Jewish General Hospital's ability to serve patients in French.
The hospital has since done its own investigation and found that, not only were Mr. Lester's allegations exaggerated, but his case was a very isolated incident. The Office de la langue francaise has now substantiated that the hospital continues to competently serve its francophone patients in their own language.
Bnai Brith Canada has also sought to reassure members of the Jewish Community, many of whom have expressed concern about the demonstration in front of the hospital tonight. Gilles Rheaume, a language hardliner promised that 101 individuals will demonstrate because of the Normand Lester affair.
B'nai Brith stressed that Rheaume's zealots do not reflect mainstream francophone opinion in Quebec. If they demonstrate, even after the Office de la langue francaise has cleared the hospital, then their real motives must be questioned.
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