Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning, Mr. Duguay. I may be a little tough: I don't believe what you've said this morning. You should read the report of the Commissioner of Official Languages. I rely on him before I rely on CATSA, which is trying to justify the unjustifiable.
When you say that only 55% of people occupying bilingual positions are actually bilingual, I think that constitutes a major problem. We agree on that, beyond a shadow of a doubt.
You've received my complaint letter. I'm going to read you a paragraph from it:
On Friday, October 9, 2009, around 4:00 p.m., at Ottawa's Macdonald-Cartier Airport, I proceeded to the departure gate and went through security. The two employees present informed me that they did not speak French—We don't speak French—when I asked to be served in French. Both treated me in a condescending manner, immediately considering me as someone who no doubt wanted to assert himself and annoy them. Needless to say, I was not very pleased. I was furious, particularly since I had in front of me a little sign informing me that I could ask to be served in French. Neither employee even offered to go and find a French speaker to serve me. I felt like a second-class citizen.
Mr. Duguay, all that took place here at Ottawa Airport, in a supposedly much more bilingual area than other areas in Canada. We must agree on the fact that “bilingual” means French and English. One of the employees told me: “I do speak a lot of languages.” This was in Canada. In Ottawa, which is part of Canada, the official languages are French and English.
That said, how do you train your employees to show them what active offer is? Active offer isn't complicated; it amounts to saying “Bonjour, Hello.” In that way, people who arrive at the airport know they can be served in French or English and that, if the CATSA person who receives them can't answer them in the desired language, they will go find a bilingual colleague. That may take a minute or two, and that bilingual colleague will come and provide service in French or in English, as the case may be.
How do you provide training on active offer, if you do provide it?
Second, incidentally, I am very pleased that the Olympic Games are being held in Vancouver, but we'll go on living afterwards. I hope you won't stop providing your services or making your efforts at the end of February 2010.
How do you train your people with regard to active offer? How do you do that? I was personally faced with two individuals who quite stupidly told me: “We don't speak French.”
I'm listening.