David Smith might not get much use from the threemonth intensive Frenchimmersion program his employer ordered him to take.
Because as soon as Smith completed the program, his employer ordered his transfer from Montreal to Toronto.
But maybe Smith got something out of the program anyway. Maybe he learned the French expression "bouc émissaire," which means "scapegoat."
In the Old Testament, the scapegoat is a goat that was sent out into the desert symbolically bearing the sins of the Israelites so that they would be cleansed of them.
And a scapegoat is what Smith's employer has made of him. Only instead of being sent into the desert to cleanse his employer of its linguistic sins, Smith is being sent to Toronto.
Last November, La Presse reported that French-speaking employees at the Montreal head office of Ivanhoe Cambridge had complained that their language rights were being violated because they had to communicate in English with two unilingual anglophone executives.
One of them was Smith, the executive vice-president for human resources and corporate services.
Ivanhoe Cambridge is the real-estate subsidiary of the Quebec government's pension-fund manager, the Caisse de dépôt, a symbol of Québécois economic power since its creation in 1965 early in the "Quiet Revolution."
It's that story that launched the current public campaign against English and minorities who don't speak French, from private citizens to the interim coach of the Montreal Canadiens to, most recently, immigrant owners of corner stores.
Under political pressure from Premier Jean Charest and the other party leaders in the National Assembly, the Caisse announced a number of measures that its subsidiary had taken.
One of them was that Smith was "immediately" starting the three-month French program, during which he would be "fully dedicated to learning French."
After that, he would go back to work in a new position at what appeared to be the same level, as executive vicepresident for international human resources.
But when the three months were up, the Caisse announced what amounted to a demotion for Smith.
He would report to the executive replacing him in his former position. And after what La Presse reported was 11 years in Montreal, he would be uprooted and banished from Ivanhoe Cambridge's headquarters to its office in Toronto.
Ivanhoe Cambridge wouldn't let me speak to Smith, and wouldn't answer any questions about him other than to say that he is "finalizing" his move to Toronto. After humiliating Smith twice in public statements, his employer had developed scruples about releasing "confidential or personal" information about him.
So I don't know whether Smith will be leaving behind family members as well as friends, or whether he has children who will be taken out of their schools.
And I don't know whether he has learned French.
I do know that Smith is not just a symbol, but a human being. And I know that he's been made a scapegoat.
It wasn't Smith who appointed himself to a position for which he wasn't fully qualified because of his lack of French. La Presse reported last November that the previous June, he had been appointed in preference to two experienced, bilingual francophones. The choice was made by the president of Ivanhoe Cambridge, Daniel Fournier, who joined the Caisse in July 2010 as executive vicepresident for real estate.
As of this writing on Wednesday, the Caisse's website shows that Fournier still holds his positions at Ivanhoe Cambridge and the Caisse. He doesn't appear to be going anywhere, while the scapegoat who is paying for his sins continues his packing.
dmacpherson@ montrealgazette.com
Twitter: @MacphersonGaz