Evidence of meeting #20 for Official Languages in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was languages.
A video is available from Parliament.
Louise-Hélène Sénécal Assistant General Counsel, Law Branch, Air Canada
I am happy to answer that right away.
In Mr. Thibodeau's case—
Liberal
Assistant General Counsel, Law Branch, Air Canada
No. Well, I have my own files.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Would it be possible to provide the clerk with a list of lawsuits about language complaints, with details of the amounts paid out, including your expenses?
Assistant General Counsel, Law Branch, Air Canada
It won't take long once we get a decision from the court.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Thank you very much.
Second, Mr. Rovinescu, given that you are unaware of all the—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis
Just a moment, please. I want to make sure I understood that answer. Ms. Sénécal said that, once they get a decision from the court—
Assistant General Counsel, Law Branch, Air Canada
Yes indeed, after a judgment in court, it would be no problem for us to provide a list of any amounts we may have paid.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Mr. Rovinescu, let me inform you that, in the appeal against the 2012 Federal Court of Appeal decision, number 246, the court demanded the following from Air Canada:
She therefore ordered the airline to put in place within the next six months a monitoring process that would “quickly identify, document and quantify potential violations of its language duties”…
Have you followed up on that order?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
Which case is that? Are you talking about Mr. Thibodeau's case?
Liberal
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
Can you answer, Ms. Sénécal?
Assistant General Counsel, Law Branch, Air Canada
That order was set aside by the Federal Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court of Canada also held that we had no obligations and that the order was not appropriate in the circumstances.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
What I gathered from the Supreme Court of Canada decision, is that domestic flights were still subject to the Official Languages Act, but not international flights. Is that correct?
Assistant General Counsel, Law Branch, Air Canada
No, but I would be happy to explain the Supreme Court decision to you.
The Supreme Court decided to that, under the Montreal Convention, which is an international agreement enshrined—
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
I am sorry, Ms. Sénécal, but I know the answer.
In fact, the court said that, with domestic flights, those inside the country, you still had to comply with the language obligations. Yes or no?
Assistant General Counsel, Law Branch, Air Canada
Actually, we are required to comply with our linguistic obligations everywhere, when the demand warrants.
Assistant General Counsel, Law Branch, Air Canada
The Supreme Court confirmed that the right to damages applies only to domestic flights.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
So it applies to domestic flights, inside the country. That's fine.
So, Mr. Rovinescu, let me also inform you that Air Canada has settled cases and paid damages out of court, following simple complaints submitted to the Air Canada office.
Ms. Sénécal, could you tell us if it is possible to get a list of those?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
There are a number of confidentiality rules governing the information about the people we do business with. As Ms. Sénécal mentioned, in a public case, it is possible to find out that information, but not otherwise.
As I said before, we have 42 million passengers each year. I am repeating that in case you did not fully grasp it. If you assume that each passenger contacts the company five times, that is 210 million interactions. We have a lot of interactions, a lot of discussions, with our customers.
With all due respect, it is not information that we can share.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
You seem to be aware that complaints are submitted directly, following which you pay damages directly to the customers.
I am not asking for the names of the customers. I understand the confidentiality aspect. I practiced law for 23 years.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
We must maintain the confidentiality of the complaints.