An all-Chinese strata council, the subject of a human-rights complaint for conducting meetings only in Mandarin, now says it will also work in English after it faced mounting pressure from local politicians.

The complaint was filed with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal in December by Andreas Kargut on behalf of himself and three others at the 54-unit Wellington Court townhouse complex in Richmond. In December, strata-council president Ed Mao told Mr. Kargut all meetings would be conducted in Mandarin "for efficiency" when Mr. Kargut requested to attend one earlier that month.

Mr. Kargut wrote in his complaint that he felt unwelcome and that his dignity was damaged, and is now calling for financial compensation and for all future meetings to be held in English. He has said he will not drop his complaint, despite the recent accommodation from the strata council.

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His complaint was the first time the provincial government, who regulates strata, said it had heard of a such an issue. The ministry responsible for housing has since told The Globe and Mail they'll wait on an outcome from the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal before deciding whether they'll review strata regulations, which don't cover language.

Linda Reid, MLA for Richmond East and B.C. Speaker of the House, as well as Steveston-Richmond East MP Joe Peschisolido, have come out in support of the complaint, which highlights growing tensions between English and Mandarin speakers in both the complex and the city.

About 30 per cent of the complex speaks English only, while more than half of Richmond identifies as Chinese. "I have spoken to the property-management company and they indicated to me that all future strata meetings will be conducted in [English], Ms. Reid said in an e-mail to The Globe last week.

"Mr Kargut believes that the meetings should be conducted in one of Canada's two official languages … I am happy to be supportive of this direction."

Mr. Peschisolido also called for a change in strata regulations, despite it being a provincial matter.

"I believe it's important in meetings that there is one language that unites all and that should be either in the legislation or in the [regulations] or at least translation, and probably the way I perceive it is to have English as the main language and when numbers warrant, to have translation into other languages," he said.

Both politicians said they met with the complainants in January.

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Mr. Mao and the strata council's vice-president, Marry Zhang, declined to comment. Sunny Cheng, the building's property-management agent, confirmed that Ms. Reid did contact the company – AA Property Management. But he said Ms. Reid was told meetings would held in both English and Mandarin moving forward, not in English only.

"That is the instruction from the strata council," he said via phone.

He couldn't confirm whether meetings would be translated from English to Mandarin or from Mandarin to English, but did say a qualified interpreter would be hired moving forward. The next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 23.

According to Tony Gioventu, executive director and strata property adviser for the B.C. Condominium Homeowners Association, the strata council's willingness to include English in meetings now gives both parties an opportunity to resolve the complaint, which could take more than a year to be reviewed by the tribunal before a hearing is scheduled.

Bernd Walter, chair of the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, couldn't confirm the existence of the complaint until 90 days before a hearing is scheduled, but said more than 80 per cent of complaints are settled without a hearing.

"There are so may opportunities to settle so that people's names don't get out there," he said.

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But Mr. Kargut said he's adamant the group will pursue the complaint. Past meetings held in both languages with a qualified interpreter left them wondering if the translations were accurate and comprehensive.

"It still doesn't undo all the damage," he said.

"We have a council in there that has a superiority complex so they believe that anybody that doesn't speak their language or doesn't have their cultural background is inferior to them. In other words, we have no rights whatsoever."