Evidence of meeting #8 for Official Languages in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was bilingual.
A recording is available from Parliament.
General Manager , Languages and Diversity, Employee Relations, Air Canada
Unless I'm mistaken, the two complaints involved the same employee, which we found out afterwards.
General Manager , Languages and Diversity, Employee Relations, Air Canada
Jazz discovered this in the course of its inquiry, and disciplinary measures were imposed, but I think that was a matter of discipline.
General Manager , Languages and Diversity, Employee Relations, Air Canada
Yes, it is more than a language matter.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
No. Here, you are doing the same thing as what happened when Mr. Thibodeau complained about a can of 7UP. He had to take his case to court.
Jazz had to know that the employee was not bilingual, because I can assure you that I spoke with her, and you couldn't speak French with her, because she could not understand. It embarrassed her, and she said that she couldn't speak French.
There is a problem. I would like to know what kind of tests are given by Air Canada. What do the French and English bilingualism tests look like? Is it possible for us to get a copy of them?
General Manager , Languages and Diversity, Employee Relations, Air Canada
We cannot give you the tests themselves.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
I'm not talking about her test results, but rather the test criteria.
General Manager , Languages and Diversity, Employee Relations, Air Canada
Sure. That's not a problem.
In fact, this employee had passed her Jazz bilingualism test.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
I'd really like to see that test!
I swear, this is a joke. Jazz is blaming her. They didn't do the test. I think it is really regrettable that she was subjected to disciplinary measures, because Jazz knew she was not bilingual. I can assure you, for having spoken with her—I did so on purpose—that she was unable to express herself in both languages. Perhaps the test should have assessed whether she could say: “Hello, I will find someone for you.”
General Manager , Languages and Diversity, Employee Relations, Air Canada
No, I believe that the test was a bit more complete than that.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
I would like Air Canada to investigate this employee. I disagree with the fact that she was the subject of disciplinary measures. The people who run Jazz should be disciplined, because, as we say in English, they just passed the buck.
General Manager , Languages and Diversity, Employee Relations, Air Canada
Perhaps the person needs—
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
I filed a complaint with the official languages commissioner. Perhaps he could meet with this employee to see whether she is bilingual or not, because as far as Jazz is concerned, they just passed the buck.
Further, I recommend that you, the representatives of Air Canada, meet with this employee. If you want, we can talk about it afterwards, before you retire.
General Manager , Languages and Diversity, Employee Relations, Air Canada
That's fine, sir.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Thank you very much, Mr. Godin.
We will now begin our third round with Ms. Zarac.
Liberal
Lise Zarac Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning and thank you for being here today.
You provided us with some numbers with regard to complaints, which is something that really interests me. In a previous life, I worked in the senior management complaints department in a big company. You said that one complaint is one too many. That's right. But I would like to advise you of something. If you receive 355 complaints within a five-year period, but you know that only 1 person out of 17 will file a complaint, those 17 unsatisfied customers will tell another 20 people about their experience. Consequently, 25,000 people will have a bad opinion of your service. I am tempted to ask you a question. For Air Canada, what exactly does it mean when an employee is designated as bilingual? Is it a matter of respecting the law, providing better service to customers, or making sure that security is second to none?
General Manager , Languages and Diversity, Employee Relations, Air Canada
It's all of that. When we hire someone, we test the employee. Therefore, we know what this employee's language skills are from the very beginning. The person either meets language requirements or not, and then moves on to the next stage. Throughout an employee's career, they are regularly tested on their second official language. If those skills have become weaker, the employee will take a course. Often, employees will take courses on a regular basis. Many of them do this simply to maintain their language skills.
Liberal
Lise Zarac Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC
Is language training based on the types of services you provide? The official languages commissioner told us a slightly funny story. The story involved Chinese menus for Chinese visitors. The employees only had to remember a number, which was much easier to translate.
However, the services you provide to your customers are specific and concise. That type of language is easy to learn, because often the same words come up. Is your training based on this type of approach?
General Manager , Languages and Diversity, Employee Relations, Air Canada
Training is based on that approach at every level, except for real beginners. In that case, we provide general language training. As soon as someone has reached the intermediate level, they take a language of work course. As the employer, we want our employees to learn how to deal with the requests of the public and passengers.
Liberal
Lise Zarac Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC
The official languages commissioner gave us a report following concerns he had relating to the Olympic Games. It concerned follow-up of various institutions. The information we received with regard to Air Canada is that you intended to prepare a video on active offer, which would then be given to all of Air Canada's employees in January 2010. I'm sorry, but I don't think that's very serious. It's all very well and good to look at a video, but you're not going to learn very much.
General Manager , Languages and Diversity, Employee Relations, Air Canada
The purpose of the video was to increase employee awareness. It was the last activity we organized just before the Olympic Games.
In the course of the previous year, we gave a workshop entitled “Un moment s'il vous plaît” to people who were not fluent enough in both official languages. Then, we gave courses to all the other employees to help them retain the language skills they had acquired, and we also gave all airport employees a copy of a document entitled “Aérovocab”. In fact, it is a small English-French lexicon which contains words and expressions used in our sector and at the Olympic Games.
This last activity really helped us raise employee awareness, and it was broadcast in every employee communications centre, that is, the place each employee went to before his or her flight, or before they began working at their airport job.
Liberal
Lise Zarac Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC
As a business, are you legally obliged to provide a certain amount of training to your employees?
General Manager , Languages and Diversity, Employee Relations, Air Canada
I don't know if there is such an obligation under the law, but there certainly are training obligations. Air Canada's language training is very popular, and we increase the number of courses we offer every year. We offer many courses, especially those to help employees maintain their language skills.
Liberal
Lise Zarac Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC
Given that it is difficult for you to hire bilingual personnel, and based on what you said, what is the percentage of language training you give compared to all other types of training?