Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I will begin immediately with a point of information by mentioning that we do not necessarily have confidential information to provide to the committee. However, if the committee wishes to go into more depth on certain issues, at that point going in camera might be an option.
We have information to provide to your committee this morning. We are happy to proceed in this way as long as it suits the committee.
On behalf of the Interim Commissioner of Official Languages, Ms. Ghislaine Saikaley, and on behalf of the colleagues joining me today, Ms. Mary Donaghy, Assistant Commissioner, Policy and Communications Branch, Mr. Jean Marleau, Acting Assistant Commissioner, Compliance Assurance Branch, and Ms. Carole Séguin, Senior Investigator, Compliance Assurance Branch, I would first like to thank the committee for having undertaken this important study on Air Canada's implementation of the Official Languages Act.
It goes without saying that the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages has followed your work with interest. We await your report with enthusiasm.
We wanted to appear before you today in order to provide a technical briefing and elaborate on some of the proposed solutions put forward in the report.
After 10 years as commissioner, Mr. Fraser believed that the issue pertaining to Air Canada's compliance was one of sufficient importance to provide Parliament with a special report on the situation.
It is only the second time in the history of our office that a special report has been tabled in Parliament.
The special report was a summary of the interventions of the commissioner regarding Air Canada, as well as of those of the five commissioners who preceded him. The report also mentions the conclusions—including yours—of parliamentary committees that have examined the situation at Air Canada over the years.
In the report, the commissioner proposes to amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act to clarify some of Air Canada's language obligations and, most importantly, strengthen enforcement mechanisms in cases of non-compliance.
The report contains a single recommendation addressed to Parliament: that the special report be referred for study, on an urgent and priority basis, to one of the official language standing committees.
As mentioned in the recommendation, this special report is the last tool in the commissioner's tool box. All the other tools have failed to produce tangible results. Therefore, the commissioner is looking forward to seeing one the standing committees on official languages study the special report in order to make strong recommendations to the government on the appropriate legislative amendments necessary to strengthen the enforcement regime applicable to Air Canada.
Since the special report was tabled in June 2016, the situation has not changed. We continue to receive complaints and to make recommendations that lead to very little progress.
I'm going to ask my colleague Mr. Jean Marleau to briefly present a summary table of compliance by Air Canada over the last year.