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.
11:20 a.m.
Vice President, Human Resources, Air Canada
Yes. It's a challenge for us and it is also the case for other companies.
11:20 a.m.
Senior Director, Government Affairs and Community Relations, Air Canada
The fact remains that efforts have been made. For example, there were recently six airport employee positions to be filled at St. John's, Newfoundland. We determined we had to hire six bilingual people. Finding six unilingual employees for the airport in St. John's would have taken us three hours, but in this case, we needed two days. We conducted interviews. The Regroupement de développement économique et d'employabilité helped us. I believe that the employees are newcomers. They are people whose first language is French and who have immigrated to Newfoundland. They are also proud to be employed by the national carrier. This experience tells us that it is possible to find bilingual employees when we make efforts to make it happen.
11:20 a.m.
Serge Corbeil Director, Government Relations, Western Region, Air Canada
If you allow me, Mr. Chair, I would like to add something.
I am from Vancouver and I live in British Columbia. I am involved in the francophone and Acadian communities. I am also on the Board of Directors of the Economic Development Corporation of British Columbia. Every day, we find that, for all employers—not only for Air Canada—finding bilingual workers is a challenge. We compete with the federal government, in particular. You have to admit, it probably faces the same challenges.
I can assure you that the will exists, even among representatives of the federal government with whom I deal as a member of the francophone community in British Columbia. Recruiting people is sometimes part of the reality on the ground. We have a partnership with francophone communities outside Quebec, including RDEE and ACFA in Alberta. We are confident, as this has already demonstrably helped us to recruit the manpower we needed.
11:20 a.m.
Senior Director, Government Affairs and Community Relations, Air Canada
I would like to add an anecdote. When we had to fill the post of director of government relations for the western region, we made an extra effort to find a bilingual candidate. That is how Mr. Corbeil joined us last October. His French is not bad.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis
Thank you, Mrs. Boucher.
We will now turn to New Brunswick and open the floor to René Arseneault.
March 23rd, 2017 / 11:20 a.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Long live New Brunswick!
What a great recruitment pool this officially bilingual province is for Air Canada.
11:25 a.m.
Conservative
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Thank you for being with us. I appreciate the tone in which questions are asked and answered. It is quite different from the atmosphere the last time we met representatives of Air Canada.
On page 16 of your presentation, in the first chart, entitled "Call Centres“, we see that the number of employees has nearly doubled. The president of Air Canada did not seem too worried that the company was not meeting its linguistic obligations. But the fact that this result could be achieved shows us that there was work to be done and that the Official Languages Act was not being respected.
Bravo. If this isn't the end, it is the beginning. There is still a lot of work to be done. I congratulate you. We cannot criticize the progression in a negative way. It is indeed a fine progression, even a jump. I would have liked to see the difference between 2015 and 2016, but that is just a comment.
My questions will rather focus on your relationship with the unions affiliated with Air Canada as well as with Jazz. I am completely ignorant in many ways. I would like to know how your relationships work with regard to language rights, how your union sees the situation and what is the difference between Jazz and Air Canada.
11:25 a.m.
Senior Director, Government Affairs and Community Relations, Air Canada
With regard to our unions, some of their members will appear following our presentation.
Our ultimate goal is to ensure that clients and passengers benefit from a service in both official languages. We have developed a number of tools, and, together with the unions, we are working on the implementation of our language policy, on providing training sessions, on developing and distributing procedures.
Thank you also for your comment on the progress made by our employees. I must tell you that we have hired a lot of staff in New Brunswick in our call centres, which has allowed us to improve the statistics in this regard.
Since Jazz offers services on behalf of Air Canada, its staff must of course provide bilingual services. We are working closely with the Jazz team in terms of training their employees.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Excuse me. Legally, is Jazz also subject to the same linguistic obligations as those that Air Canada must meet?
11:25 a.m.
Senior Director, Government Affairs and Community Relations, Air Canada
Jazz must offer services in both official languages, in the same manner as, and as if it were, Air Canada.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Okay.
Do Air Canada and Jazz have different unions?
11:25 a.m.
Senior Director, Government Affairs and Community Relations, Air Canada
Jazz employees have their union and Air Canada employees have another.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
11:25 a.m.
Senior Director, Government Affairs and Community Relations, Air Canada
I believe it's Unifor.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
11:25 a.m.
Vice President, Human Resources, Air Canada
The Canadian Union of Public Employees, or CUPE.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
That's what I thought.
In your view, are the unions reluctant to comply with the language requirements? Be honest, does Air Canada feel a reluctance on the part of its union representatives, or those of Jazz, with respect to the obligation to respect language rights?
11:25 a.m.
Vice President, Human Resources, Air Canada
I can't speak for Jazz since I don’t negotiate with its union, but I can say that with regard to ours, we feel no reluctance. As you saw in the chart, we try to work very closely with our unions to maintain communication.
11:25 a.m.
Senior Director, Government Affairs and Community Relations, Air Canada
It usually works very well with employees and unions when the message is positive.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Okay.
Who in the organization negotiates with Unifor for Jazz?
11:25 a.m.
Vice President, Human Resources, Air Canada
The Jazz management team deals with with its union.
11:25 a.m.
Senior Director, Government Affairs and Community Relations, Air Canada
However, we are the ones who develop training tools and give courses to Jazz employees. In that way, we help Jazz in implementing the delivery of bilingual services because passengers who travel with Jazz also have a relationship with Air Canada. It’s a real team effort.
11:25 a.m.
Vice President, Human Resources, Air Canada
To answer your question as to whether the relationship is difficult with the unions, I would tell you that it is not. It is certain that unions have to take seniority into account as a matter of principle, but to comply with our linguistic obligations, we must sometimes override seniority and propose a bilingual agent.
