Evidence of meeting #53 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 jazz.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Thank you.
Mr. Rheault, when you accompanied the president during your last visit here, we found the tone of the meeting a little...
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
I'm trying to find the right, respectful word. Be that as it may, the tone was different to what we might have expected. Today the tone is completely different.
Did you note that the committee was serious in its desire to apply all of the rules the corporation is subject to under the Official Languages Act?
12:40 p.m.
Senior Director, Government Affairs and Community Relations, Air Canada
We never doubted the committee's serious intent to apply the act and promote bilingualism in the country. We felt that for our next appearance, the committee would appreciate it if we submitted a list of the efforts we have made and the tools we have.
Today our presentation was content-based, so as to inform the committee of the efforts we have made. I am happy to hear that our presentation was of interest to the committee.
12:45 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Do I have any time left, Mr. Chair?
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you kindly for being with us today. Your appearance before the committee is appreciated and will build on the meeting we had in June of last year.
According to the 2015-17 linguistic action plan, the company is working to enhance the language of work policy in bilingual regions. What do you mean by “enhance”? Are you able to measure your progress? Can you capture it in charts like the ones we were looking at earlier? How do you implement these actions?
I would ask that you keep your answer brief because I have a number of questions.
12:45 p.m.
General Manager, Linguistic Affairs and Diversity, Air Canada
We are actually broadening our system of communications. For instance, we have instant access to people's reactions on the ground through our ambassadors' network.
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
12:45 p.m.
General Manager, Linguistic Affairs and Diversity, Air Canada
We measure our success at different levels. We have a team on the ground measuring progress. Team members carry out sampling to see whether [Technical difficulty] in terms of the active offer of service, to check whether agents are doing it, but also—
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
You said earlier that champions conducted audits. Is this along those lines?
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
When people apply for a job in the government, they undergo testing to assess their language skills. Overall, do you test your staff to determine their bilingual capacity?
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
You measure your staff's bilingual capacity, then?
12:45 p.m.
General Manager, Linguistic Affairs and Diversity, Air Canada
That is correct.
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Wonderful.
Earlier, you talked about the great land that is Canada, but you said that you sometimes had trouble finding bilingual staff because of how diverse the country is.
Is there something you would suggest in terms of how the government could help you find people with the language skills you need?
12:45 p.m.
General Manager, Linguistic Affairs and Diversity, Air Canada
Actually, the answer is education and training. It's necessary to introduce students to French and English language learning at a very young age and to give young people opportunities to continue speaking both languages. That also ties in with our community-based efforts. It's important to promote the importance of being bilingual and the added value it represents.
12:45 p.m.
Senior Director, Government Affairs and Community Relations, Air Canada
We took part in the consultation with official languages groups that was held here, in Ottawa, in December. I found some of the discussion forums very compelling.
I noticed that many of the people were involved in training and education. They were telling the government about their concerns and calling for more resources. I made the comment that I appreciated what they were saying and supported their request because we were at the end of the line.
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Concrete steps have to be taken on the ground so that you won't have to spend two days looking for four people to work in Newfoundland and Labrador.
12:45 p.m.
Senior Director, Government Affairs and Community Relations, Air Canada
Exactly.
We are at the back end of the process, but we have work to do on the front end. When I say “we”, I mean federal institutions as well.
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
For instance, we want you to find bilingual staff, no matter where you are located, and the government can help you with that.
I'm going to switch gears. I heard that Jazz had hired a young man at the Quebec City airport. You do realize that Quebec City tends to be a unilingual French-speaking city.
12:45 p.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
That's what people think.
