Good morning, Mr. Chairman, honourable senators.
My name is Toby Lennox, Vice-President of Corporate Affairs and Communications for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to provide committee members with an overview of the efforts that the GTAA has made to ensure that appropriate levels of bilingual service are available in our facilities, particularly in relation to the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Vancouver next year.
As you may know, the GTAA is the private not-for-profit corporation that manages and operates Toronto Pearson International Airport. As Canada's busiest airport, Toronto Pearson is a vital component of our national transportation infrastructure, connecting businesses, families, and visitors from all corners of the world.
We handle approximately one-third of all passenger traffic in the country, and on an average day, more than 85,000 passengers travel through our airport. For many of these travellers, Toronto Pearson is their first impression of Canada, and this is a responsibility we take very seriously.
As a major point of entry into Canada and a primary hub of domestic flights within Canada, the GTAA makes every effort to ensure that bilingual service is available to the travelling public. As such, it is our policy to ensure that the public is aware that service is available in both official languages through the use of signage, information literature and active offers of service in either English or French.
As an airport authority our responsibilities include provision of appropriate facilities and as such we ensure that all signage in the terminal buildings is bilingual. While we do not manage the individual operations of government agencies, airlines, tenants and concessionaires, we provide front-line operations staff who interact with these groups as required.
The GTAA front-line staff includes uniformed terminals specialists and information representatives in addition to management personnel and 75% of the GTAA's front-line staff in the terminals is bilingual. Non-bilingual GTAA staff are provided with tools, such as translation cards, and also have access to bilingual assistance via radio communications. When staff are not available, courtesy phones, located throughout the public areas of the terminal buildings, are available to connect to GTAA's fully bilingual call centre.
To ensure active offer of service is consistently provided, GTAA staff are reminded of their obligations through regular training, and we randomly monitor staff interactions with the public, both on phone calls and at information counters in the terminals. As well, we recognize the importance of health, safety, and security issues, and therefore provide standardized bilingual public announcements and signage regarding these matters within the airport terminal buildings.
We recognize that there is room for improvement in provision of bilingual services at Toronto Pearson. In the Commissioner of Official Languages' follow-up report on the 2010 games, it was noted that the GTAA must take further measures to improve results for active offer and for availability of service in both official languages. In particular, in recommendation 9, we were asked to take concrete measures to ensure that front-line personnel who will be working specifically during the Vancouver games. We have heard this message and have taken action to ensure that appropriate corrective measures are in place for the Olympics and beyond.
To highlight the importance of bilingual services during the games, the GTAA met a year ago on November 27 with the official languages personnel in the Toronto office to begin discussions on the roles of airports and other agencies on official languages and the Vancouver Olympic Games. The office sought our assistance in bringing together parties at Toronto Pearson International Airport, and we outlined opportunities to raise awareness at the airport.
We have subsequently coordinated with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages to provide information sessions for retail operators and other tenants in the terminals. We will expand this program to other groups in the terminal buildings over the next two months. The GTAA holds regular committee meetings with the airline and tenant communities, and these forums will offer opportunities to carry forward the message of our commitment to offering services in English and in French.
The GTAA is in the process of preparing materials for our front-line employees as well as third-party contracted services that have specific interaction with passengers. We are aiming to raise awareness of the Official Languages Act and of our obligations to provide an active offer and to offer non-bilingual employees tools to assist in an active offer. All of our information counters will be equipped with enhanced signage highlighting the availability of bilingual services, and our staff will be provided with buttons, offering service in French.
We'll be working with our tenants to ensure that training is available and translation sheets with common phrases are provided to their front line airport personnel. We have also developed a card for non-bilingual staff of our contracted services. It is affixed to the airport pass and identifies that the agent is not bilingual but that they will access a bilingual colleague to assist.
It has long been a practice to provide our contracted services with a card for those agents who do not speak French. This card states:
“Un instant, j'appelle un agent qui parle français pour vous aider.”
Further, we will offer our tenants and concessionaires the opportunity to connect directly with bilingual GTAA personnel by telephone or radio for assistance during the expected increased demand for bilingual services during the games.
In accordance with recommendation 8 of the commissioner's report, we have worked closely with our colleagues at the Canada Border Services Agency, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, Air Canada, and the Vancouver International Airport Authority to bolster the bilingual experience at our airports. Together, we have identified and are sharing a number of initiatives to ensure that the experience of travellers through our facilities reflects both the spirit of the Official Languages Act and the adoption of concrete measures to ensure the active offer of bilingual services.
We have met with these other organizations to identify best practices, including sharing monitoring mechanisms, training tools, information sessions, brochures demonstrating the Francophone community's cultural activities and various strategies that have been put in place to increase the bilingual capacity. As a result of this partnership, we are now using common tools, for example, laminated cards and computer wallpaper with key phrases to assist in the active offer of services in both official languages.
We will continue to share information and identify opportunities to prepare for the Vancouver Olympics. We will take advantage of this momentum and commit to work together to ensure a successful customer experience in both official languages beyond the 2010 games.
In conclusion, let me state clearly that we believe that Toronto Pearson has a role to play in promoting a bilingual Canada. With the world soon at our door for the Olympics, we will ensure our facilities reflect the spirit of Canadians, nationwide. We look forward to it.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.