Evidence of meeting #33 for Official Languages in the 40th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was bilingual.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President and Chief Executive Officer, VIA Rail Canada Inc.
I will ask Mrs. Sirsly to answer that specific question.
Christena Keon Sirsly Chief Strategy Officer and Official Languages Champion, VIA Rail Canada Inc.
At present, we do not use the same classifications, but it is equivalent to what is used in the Public Service.
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Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
However, things are not always that great in the Public Service. We all know that. People who have taken courses and who are senior officials today have their language level but have never been able to speak French.
President and Chief Executive Officer, VIA Rail Canada Inc.
Mr. Nadeau, I would like to interrupt you, if I may. Let me clarify something.
I was talking to you about hiring, but we also have training programs. We have worked with the unions to develop programs that have enabled many employees to become familiar with the second language and to become bilingual, to a certain extent. Sometimes, these were francophones learning English. This happens less frequently, I agree, but it does happen. We need to make a distinction between the programs taken by unilingual people and the hiring program, which requires at the outset that the individuals know how to speak both official languages.
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Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
How many complaints did you receive from people who said that they were unable to obtain service in French during the incident in question?
Chief Strategy Officer and Official Languages Champion, VIA Rail Canada Inc.
We received four complaints, of which only one came from a passenger. The three other complaints came from federations, groups.
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Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
You received one complaint from a passenger who said that he had not been served in French during a crisis situation.
Chief Strategy Officer and Official Languages Champion, VIA Rail Canada Inc.
This passenger complained about the employee's attitude, rather than the ability to...this passenger was not spoken to in French, in fact; it was the employee's attitude that frustrated the passenger.
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Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
My next question may seem a little strange to you, but I want to make sure that we agree on the right terms.
As a candidate during the election, I had to take part in debates with candidates from other parties. Those candidates said that they were bilingual but I realized that, for them, being bilingual meant speaking French and Spanish. It was quite important to participate in the televised debate in French.
When you say “bilingual”, you are in fact talking about French and English, right?
President and Chief Executive Officer, VIA Rail Canada Inc.
It is already complicated enough as it is.
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Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Okay, we agree on the terms.
As an organization, did you have any doubts that there may in fact no have been service in French aboard this train?
Chief Strategy Officer and Official Languages Champion, VIA Rail Canada Inc.
Mr. Nadeau, there was no possible doubt! It is impossible for that to have happened. First of all, the service manager positions are all bilingual.
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Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Let me stop you there. Is the service manager in the car, in the train?
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President and Chief Executive Officer, VIA Rail Canada Inc.
... the service coordinator. He is in the train.
President and Chief Executive Officer, VIA Rail Canada Inc.
Service coordinators are assigned to long-distance trains. These trains go out west, and, on board, they have bars, dining cars, service counters, and so on. There are two positions, for the simple reason that the service director assigned to the train must at some point be able to rest. When the service director is resting, the coordination of on-board services is looked after by the service coordinator, who must be bilingual. So coverage is provided by bilingual staff 24 hours a day.
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Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
I would like to tell you something, Mr. Côté, Ms. Keon Sirsly and Mr. Wright. On occasion, I travel on Air Canada and VIA Rail. I use those two examples because they are the companies with which I am most comfortable.
If Air Canada did half of what VIA Rail does to show respect to the people on its trains, we would be much further ahead. You will not get a hard time from me. As for the people at Air Canada, that is another story. We will talk to them at another time. They are known offenders, you might say.
President and Chief Executive Officer, VIA Rail Canada Inc.
First of all, I would like to thank you for your comments, Mr. Nadeau. I say that sincerely and I say it to the entire committee: at VIA, we have worked on this since the company's inception. In 1978, I started working on programs such as the service program for people with reduced mobility. At the time, we called them “handicapped”, but we no longer use that term.
I worked with Mr. Dufault, who was Mr. Roberts' executive assistant when he was president of the corporation. It took some time, but we did see progress over the years. The meetings that I have with the commissioners of official languages...