Official Languages Committee on April 13th, 2010

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I'll stop you there. What was Air Canada at that time?

[Louise-Hélène Sénécal]

Air Canada was a company that held a minority of shares in certain regional carriers, as well as full ownership of a tour operator.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Did this apply to the tour operator in question?

[Louise-Hélène Sénécal]

No, the tour operator was under its provincial jurisdiction.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Bélanger.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I'll be coming back to that, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

We'll now continue with Mr. Nadeau.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good morning, everyone.

The Paul Martin and Stephen Harper governments have tabled certain bills and we in the Bloc Québécois would like to see those bills come into force as soon as possible. We know that no new bills are being studied. We asked the Commissioner of Official Languages to suggest a bill that would be more up-to-date, with provisions to ensure that people receive services in French when they fly with Air Canada or one of its partners.

It seems a bit crazy to me to hear you say this morning that you do not need this act, given that you represent Air Canada, one of the worst offenders with regard to non-compliance in the area of official languages and complaints received by the Commissioner.

You state that the ratio is 1 complaint per 1.5 million service points. I tested the system myself on October 14 and I made a lot of people wait. I didn't win any popularity contests when I asked for service in French aboard the plane that was taking me to Vancouver to see the Olympic facilities. I asked for something very simple: a soft drink and some food. The lady raised her voice on the plane.

The upshot was a complaint filed with the Commissioner of Official Languages, which is not worth the paper it is written on because the Commissioner has no power to reprimand Air Canada and make it pay any kind of fine. It's becoming common and it's always the same thing: we ask you to do better and you say that you will.

In these circumstances, it's a real shame and even downright annoying that we have to use legislation to force you to respect our official languages, but that's the way it is and that is what we are going to do.

When you met with us the last time, Ms. McEvoy, you said that the 2001-2010 Official Languages Action Plan had not been updated since 2007. Have you reviewed this action plan to determine the quality or at least the progress made with regard to services offered specifically in French? Because we know that it is mainly French that suffers at Air Canada.

[Louise McEvoy]

We have updated the action plan. As I said, it was an administrative problem. It had not been updated on paper. However, this action plan is really the foundation for our linguistic activities, and we do follow it.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

In your action plan as such, what are the elements that help you improve?

[Louise McEvoy]

There is the recruitment and training aspect. Obviously, recruitment gives full priority to airports and in-flight service, especially to bilingual, that is, English-French candidates, and the training ensures that current Air Canada employees can learn or keep up their French. Our greatest challenge, at the time we submitted this action plan, was the cost arising from language training. We had submitted that to the committee, which supported us, but we did not receive...

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

With all due respect, Ms. McEvoy, I would say that the question of cost is your obligation. At some stage, you have to get the job done. Isn't that so?

When you hire a doctor, you make sure that he is properly trained. If you want bilingual employees, then the training must be given.

There is something I would like to know. When a complaint is filed on a given employee of Air Canada, and you can identify that employee, is he or she dealt with? Is the employee asked to participate in a French course in order to learn how to say yes, or thank you, or to learn how to understand someone who asks for a soft drink, and to reply that he will go and get one?

Do you teach them the basic elements of providing service? We're not asking them to learn Le Petit Larousse off by heart.

[Louise McEvoy]

Absolutely.

These people are met with or contacted individually. Their supervisor contacts them and reminds them of their linguistic obligations, very definitely.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

I was reading in the Official Languages Commissioner's report that 41% of so-called bilingual positions are occupied by bilingual people. That means that 59% of your positions are occupied by what I assume to be unilingual anglophones.

How do you handle numbers like that?

[Louise McEvoy]

In some cases, the position is shared by many employees. We ensure that, in a branch where a single position is held by many employees, there is at least one bilingual employee at all times. We also provide training.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Is the training provided by unilingual or bilingual people? It is astounding to see that complaints carry through from one report to the next. Each time you are breaking the law, and each time we find ourselves in a similar situation. It gets to the point where we even wonder about all the training, because we always end up in the same situation. There is a lack of commitment somewhere along the line.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Nadeau.

We will continue with Mr. Godin.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, everyone.

Ms. McEvoy, I would like to congratulate you on your 30 years with Air Canada. At some point in their lives, people start thinking about retirement, but once they have taken it, they find something else to do.

You provided staff with a document entitled "Airport Hiring—Summer 2010". Is this for airports in those regions?

[Louise McEvoy]

Yes, it is for airports, that is correct.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Above the word "Posting", we see the words "Le Franco", "Le Chinook", etc. Are these airports?

[Louise McEvoy]

Yes. This is the same advertisement that we have reproduced on the other side. It is for openings in airports. With regard to the Courrier de la Nouvelle-Écosse, for example, we have reproduced the ad itself. On the other page, we have indicated the dates when those ads were published.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Would it be possible to hire, for example, people from another province during the summer, or is it just for residents of the province in question?

[Louise McEvoy]

Based on our experience, people do not apply for jobs somewhere other than where they live, because these are entry-level, casual and sometimes part-time jobs. This does not allow them to relocate and rent an apartment somewhere else.

As I explained, in the case of flight attendants, we often hire them where we find them, and then they move...

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I am curious to see that the Moncton airport is not mentioned when it is located in the only bilingual province in Canada.

[Louise McEvoy]

That is because we did not need to hire anyone at the Moncton airport.