I think it is quite easy. Former member Stéphane Dion introduced a very simple bill, which unfortunately died on the Order Paper, providing that the Montreal Convention should have no effect on the Official Languages Act. I believe the government should table a similar bill.
I do not know whether you understand what that interpretation means. Consider this example. Two passengers take the same Ottawa-Toronto flight. One of them deplanes in Toronto, while the other continues on to Paris. Air Canada is required to provide service in both official languages and it knows it. There are no francophone flight attendants on the Ottawa-Toronto flight. The language rights of those two individuals have thus been violated. The one who deplanes in Toronto is entitled to file suit and potentially to be awarded $1,500. However, the one who continues on to Paris is now on an international flight. We have the same Official Languages Act, the same violations, and the same lack of service in French, but the court will find that, if that person had deplaned in Toronto, she might have received an award, but since she continued on to Paris, she is entitled to no compensation. That is absurd.
With all due respect, when the Supreme Court held that it was taking nothing away from the Official Languages Act in deciding as it did, it nevertheless took away the $4,500 that we had received and deprived all Canadians who travel internationally of the possibility of compensation.
The law is very clear. As a lawyer, you know that. Where there are no restorative measures, the law is dead. At present, the law is dead at the international level.
The court may order Air Canada to write a letter of apology, but do you not think its officers will laugh at that? They will take a standard document, add a name and address, affix a stamp, and, voilà, case closed. Internationally, the law is dead.
I am saying that Parliament must act, and quickly. It must tell the legal system that the Official Languages Act is more important than the Montreal Convention.