Official Languages Committee on March 21st, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Yes.

[David Rheault]

We work with community groups across the country to recruit bilingual staff. We also advertise jobs in Canada's francophone newspapers.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Excuse me for interrupting, Mr. Rheault, but I was referring to the question you were asked earlier, about whether you are offering bilingualism bonuses.

[David Rheault]

We take notice of the committee's suggestions on how to improve our recruitment efforts.

As we mentioned, we are now going to offer a bonus to those who help us recruit bilingual applicants.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Okay.

I have a minute left.

I have a final question for you. In your answer to the second question that my colleague asked earlier, you said that you were making sure that bilingual service was provided on flights with significant demand.

How do you define flights with significant demand in Canada?

[David Rheault]

That's a very good question.

The answer is specified in a regulation. Demand on a flight must be 5% to be considered significant. We believe that this method of calculation ought also to apply to other carriers with obligations.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We are discussing Air Canada today.

Where is the demand coming from? Who determines the percentage?

You have 20 seconds.

[David Rheault]

Among other things, we calculate passenger demand from the language they used when they booked their flight.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you.

Mr. Beaulieu, It's over to you now for two and a half minutes.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's not very reassuring to find that after six months of intensive French-language training, Mr. Rousseau is unable to answer questions in French.

I'll ask my earlier question once again.

Would Air Canada hire a unilingual English person in Quebec?

[Michael Rousseau]

We hire based on merit. As I said earlier, we focus on hiring bilingual employees. As David said, we've been relatively successful in doing that, although not as successful as we'd like.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Rousseau.

I'll take that as a "yes".

You know, about half the francophones in Quebec don't speak English. Would you hire a unilingual French employee?

[David Rheault]

Perhaps I could answer your question, Mr. Beaulieu.

When I began working at Air Canada, I had a lot of trouble speaking English.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

So you were hired even though you did not speak English. But you haven't answered my question directly.

[David Rheault]

I spoke French, but I had a lot of trouble with my English.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

If you're short of people who speak French…

[Michael Rousseau]

Yes, we would hire a francophone, as well. We hire based on merit with a view of trying to hire as many bilingual employees as possible.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

All right.

I have a final question.

At Air Canada, I believe Ms. Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer and Public Affairs, Is responsible for compliance with the provisions of the Official Languages Act.

Why isn't she here to answer questions?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

You have 20 seconds to answer.

[Michael Rousseau]

David Rheault reports to Arielle, so we chose to have David here. Arielle could certainly have been here and addressed these questions, but we chose David, given his understanding.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Rousseau.

Ms. Niki Ashton has the floor now for two and a half minutes.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

My first question is for Mr. Rousseau.

We've discussed the number of hours of instruction at length. How many hours, approximately, have you spent on learning French?

[Michael Rousseau]

In the four months that I've been taking lessons, from mid-November until today, it's been approximately 10 hours a week of lessons and homework.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

On another front, an official languages management committee was to have been struck to support linguistic matters involved in implementing your linguistic action plan. It says so in your plan.

Has the committee begun its work? If so, what are the concrete results?

[David Rheault]

I can answer that question.

The committee began its work, even during the pandemic. It meets on a quarterly basis. One of its objectives is to establish centralized communications among the various sectors to remind everyone about the importance of our official languages obligations and procedures.