The plans Mr. Portelance referred to will be specific to regions and crossings. That's an important point; that is to say that we will be able to address specific aspects or specific challenges.
For performance measurement and follow-up, we want to establish a framework in which we measure the degree to which we are meeting our obligations. The commissioner described our obligations very well; they are very, very clear. In some locations, we're meeting our obligations better than in others, and that's why we need local plans.
First, with regard to ports, signage has to be bilingual. We're generally meeting that obligation very well. Generally speaking, signage is bilingual.
Second, the booths where bilingual service is offered must also be clearly identified. We're generally doing very well in that regard. If you go to Ottawa International Airport, all the booths now indicate that bilingual services are offered. In the case of Windsor, as well, two of the 23 booths that we have very clearly indicate that bilingual services are offered.
Third—and this is the toughest one—there must be a bilingual officer at a bilingual booth. I must ensure that schedules are designed so that a bilingual officer is there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A booth where bilingual services are offered needs, on average, seven to nine bilingual employees. That gives you an idea of what we have to do.
I gave you the example of Windsor. Five million travellers go through there every year, and I'm not including commercial traffic; I'm just talking about travellers. During the meeting we're holding today, the Border Services Agency will receive an average of 10,000 persons at the border. During our hour-long meeting, 10,000 people will arrive. You can imagine that—to answer Mrs. Zarac—if there isn't a bilingual officer in Windsor, the error rate can be high, and so the complaint rate could be as well. So we have to have very rigorous staffing plans to ensure we place bilingual officers in the booths that have signs indicating that bilingual services are offered so as to avoid this kind of situation that you very clearly described.
Then there is active offer. We have to say "Hello! Bonjour!" So we will have to measure to determine whether that's being done, and services have to be equivalent in English and in French. We want the strategy that has been used to date, which is to send people, francophones, to see a second person, to be cancelled so that service is equivalent.
What we also want to implement are short-term control measures so that we are able to know when non-bilingual people are on the job in bilingual booths. As a result, we would know about a problem before any complaints were filed. Let's suppose that, at Lansdowne, people are returning from vacation in August, when people are returning to Montreal, and a non-bilingual officer is posted at a booth where bilingual services are offered. That will cause us some problems. So we'll be able to avoid this kind of situation. The fact nevertheless remains that we absolutely have to find bilingual people.
I'm going to give you an example. In the case of Windsor, as Mr. Portelance explained to you, the francophone community is very small. We have to try to attract people from Gatineau or from French-speaking Ontario, Franco-Ontarians, or from the Quebec region, who can come and work in that region and provide us with additional capacity. The fact is that we currently don't have enough officers to provide the service. The local community will be able to help us, but we have to go beyond that if we want to meet our official languages obligations.
