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.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Would it be possible to obtain a list of the out-of-courts amounts you have paid, without mentioning the names of the complainants?
You can tell the clerk whether or not you can provide the list, but I am making the request.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
When you settle complaints you receive directly at Air Canada, that therefore do not go through the Commissioner of Official Languages, or that are not official complaints about linguistic rights, do you not feel, Mr. Rovinescu, that these are complaints that fly under the radar and are not counted in the commissioner's statistics?
3:55 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
No. Personally, I cannot speculate on whether cases are flying under the radar or are about people who perhaps just want to complain. However, I can present you with the facts. I know that there were 52 complaints from more than 200 million interactions, which works out to 0.000024%.
4 p.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
You understood my question, then.
The complaints you refer to are official complaints. I am talking about the complaints you settle in secret.
4 p.m.
Liberal
4 p.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
You have no idea. Okay.
Ms. Sénécal, is it possible to provide us with the number of complaints? Is it possible for you to find out the number of times when, in your offices, you have settled complaints officially submitted to you?
4 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis
If I may, Mr. Arseneault. I would like to make it clear that the committee has a right to make that request.
We do not want to be placed in a position of passing a special motion that would force you to do it. We are asking for your cooperation.
4 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
We will consider in due course, Mr. Chair
4 p.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
We would like to find out the number of complaints. I do not need names.
4 p.m.
Liberal
June 15th, 2016 / 4 p.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you all for being here today.
I would like to go back to what Mr. Généreux said earlier. We are very proud of Air Canada as an institution, our institution. We are also very proud that it is a bilingual institution and subject to the Official Languages Act. We hope that you feel the same way. I gather that you do indeed.
In the House of Commons, I put a question to Mélanie Joly, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, who is responsible for the Official languages Act. Her answer was that, in the circumstances, it goes without saying that Air Canada has to comply with the act and that the status quo is unacceptable. She indicated that she was going to speak to the Minister of Transport and that she was going to ask the committee to study that report.
Have you been in contact with people from the office of either the Minister of Canadian Heritage or the Minister of Transport after the report of the Commissioner of Official Languages appeared?
4 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
As you know, that report was published last week, and the following day, if not the same day, there was an appearance before this committee. So we have not had a lot of time to study, discuss and debate the content of the report.
That said, from our point of view, it appears clear that the rules must apply to the entire industry, and we are going to keep repeating that.
We also feel that the commissioner's office is not necessarily the best equipped to deal with the operations of private sector companies in the air industry. So we recommend that Transport Canada—
4 p.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Fine, let’s get to the report. I thought that you were in contact with the Minister of Transport about Bill C-10. We are opposed to that bill because it is going to displace a lot of jobs. I also thought that the Liberals would have intervened more quickly to ensure compliance with the Official Languages Act.
You mentioned all the efforts you are making. I know that that is the case. However, in an audit done in 2014-2015, the Commissioner of Official Languages noted that only one of the 12 recommendations in the 2011 report had been implemented.
How do you explain that?
4 p.m.
David Rheault Director, Government Affairs and Community Relations, Air Canada
That part of the Commissioner of Official Languages’ report surprised us a little. In fact, in a previous report, he mentioned that most recommendations had been implemented. He considers that only one was fully implemented. I feel that saying that only one recommendation has been implemented does not tell the whole story. In fact, several of the 12 recommendations have been implemented.
The discussion we had with the Commissioner of Official Languages sought to determine the extent to which they had been completed and the extent to which he was satisfied or dissatisfied. To say that only one recommendation has been implemented is not the whole story. In fact, several recommendations have been implemented to a level of satisfaction that we see as appropriate.
4 p.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
That satisfaction level is moderate or higher, depending on the stage.
4 p.m.
Director, Government Affairs and Community Relations, Air Canada
Now we have a new action plan and we are moving forward.
You talk about the status quo, but there is no status quo. Bilingualism and the implementation of our language policy are constantly evolving. We have no status quo.
We engage with our employees each year, which increases the level of bilingualism.
Perhaps we have to quote from the 2012 report of the Commissioner of Official Languages. I have it here in English.
4 p.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
I am going to have to interrupt you because I do not have a lot of time. Perhaps we can talk about it again in the second hour.
I want to talk about the report that you quoted. In that report, one of the things I read was that you were now going to talking to official language minority groups. That is a very good idea, I feel. Since 2009, in fact, the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada has been stating that it wants the commissioner to be granted more powers. They have been making that recommendation since 2009. You say that you are going to start consulting them, which is a very good idea. However, do you look favourably on the recommendation to provide more powers to the Commissioner of Official Languages, so that you can work together?
It is no good for everyone to be working against each other. What concerns me at the moment is that you are at odds with the commissioner and he is at odds with you. You do not accept the commissioner’s recommendations and he does not accept the way you are going about things. If there were at least enforcement mechanisms, as the commissioner recommends, that could be good for everyone.
4:05 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
As I just said, this is an area that requires more expertise or tools than what the commissioner has. This industry is complicated. I don’t want to compare it to other government agencies, but I would say that it is quite a bit more complicated.
That said, we should perhaps—
4:05 p.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
I'm sorry for interrupting you, but I'm almost out of time.
Would you agree, for example, to offer—
4:05 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
I'm talking about the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, other Canadian companies, other airlines, airports, the entire community that operates in the air transport industry. If we all work together, yes, he will be welcome to take part in this if he wants to.
4:05 p.m.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
So you aren't necessarily against binding agreements between the commissioner and your company that would allow you to work together rather than against each other. Currently, the problem is that you are working against one another and there is never a solution. If you had binding agreements—
4:05 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
It wouldn't necessarily be a binding agreement. The commissioner spoke about it last week. We studied this, and I don't know whether or not we are in favour of it. But I can say that we are willing to work more closely with the air transport community, as well as with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, which understands the industry much better.