Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Therriault-Power, Mr. Paquet, good morning.
I would like to read out to you a letter addressed to the official languages commissioner:
Mr. Commissioner, through this letter, I wish to file a complaint against the Canadian Transport Security Authority Agency (CATSA) at the Macdonald-Cartier airport in Ottawa, pursuant to section 58 of the Official Languages Act. On Friday, October 9, 2009, around 4 p.m., at the Macdonald-Cartier airport in Ottawa, I was walking toward the boarding gates before going through security. Both of the employees who were there told me that they did not speak French “We don't speak French”, after I had asked for service in French. Both employees were looking down on me, as they immediately took me for someone who wants to assert himself and to give them trouble. I need not tell you that I was not happy, I was furious, all the more so because I had before me a little poster telling me that I can ask for service in French. Neither of the two employees even deigned to offer me to go get someone who spoke French to serve me. I felt like a second-class citizen. It is already frustrating enough that I should have to request service in my language, which is French, an official language in our country Canada, but in addition to that, two employees who were not bilingual made things even worse by their arrogant attitude. I do not accept that. There are some limits. Suddenly, at the very end of the process, another employee came up to me and offered me French service. This situation is unacceptable [...]
I filed this complaint. In fact, on last October 9, I was going to Vancouver to look into the state of French language services for the Olympic Games. The adventure began in Ottawa. Can you explain to me how come employees in Ottawa tell me: “We don't speak French”?