Mayor Ken Hill says he believes the bylaw will ultimately draw the community together. (CBC)

A bylaw amendment requiring businesses to post new signs in both English and French was narrowly approved by the council of Russell Township in eastern Ontario.

The township council voted 3-2 in favour of the controversial amendment Wednesday evening after its first and second reading, despite opposition from the Russell Chamber of Commerce and an emotional debate in the community. The amendment will go into effect if it passes a third reading and another vote on June 16.

Under the revised bylaw, signs carrying the name of a business can be in one language only, but any further information must be posted in both English and French, with lettering in both languages identical in size and style. The township has not yet decided what fines or other penalties will be levied against businesses that don't comply, but penalties will be approved by the province before they go into effect.

The Russell Chamber of Commerce argued that the change infringes on freedom of expression and will mislead customers into thinking certain businesses serve customers in both languages when, in fact, they operate in one language only.

Jean-Guy Patenaude, who proposed the regulation, says he is disappointed the vote was not unanimously in favour of bilingual signs. (CBC)

Mayor Ken Hill voted in favour of the amendment, which would make his township the fourth in eastern Ontario to adopt a bilingual sign regulation, after Casselman, Clarence-Rockland and La Nation.

"Certainly, I was quite happy with the results," Hill said Thursday.

He said he thinks the issue has generated a lot of speculation and fear because it's new, and dismissed criticism that it has divided the community.

"If anything, it will draw the community together."

Some members of the business community had suggested bilingual signage be brought in as a pilot project in the township, which was officially declared bilingual in November 1989.

But Hill said the community has been bilingual for 100 years.

"I think a 100-year test pilot proved that it was time to put ink to paper."

Elizabeth Munro, a business owner who does not speak French, says she does not want customers to think her business offers services in both English and French. (CBC)

Jean-Guy Pateneaude, a local resident who lobbied for the bylaw, said he was disappointed that the council vote wasn't unanimously in favour of the amendment.

He believes the bylaw will benefit the community, where almost half the population lists French as their mother tongue and almost half lists English.

"It will sensitize them to the presence of francophones and to our desire to keep our identity and culture," he said.

But business owner Elizabeth Munro, who doesn't speak French, said she doesn't like what the debate over bylaw has done to the community.

"It's sort pitting one group against the other and it's very sad," she said, adding that she would be uncomfortable putting a bilingual sign in front of her business. "It's a privately owned business. I think I should have the right to decide how I want to represent my business … and I think it's fraudulent to say I have services in French when I don't."

Russell Township, 20 kilometres east of Ottawa, includes the communities of Russell, Embrun, Marionville and Limoges. In the 2001 census, 46 per cent of the township's residents listed French as their mother tongue; 48 per cent listed English.

How they voted

Mayor Ken Hill	Yes
Coun. Lorraine Dicaire	Yes
Coun. Jamie Laurin	No
Coun. Donald St-Pierre	Yes
Coun. Jean-Paul St-Pierre	No