Members of the Committee, good afternoon.
Thank you for the invitation to appear before you today on the work of the committee on official languages. I am accompanied today by Marc Barbeau, our executive vice-president and chief legal officer, and David Rheault, our vice-president, government and community relations.
I would have liked to deliver more of my opening remarks in both official languages, but my ability to speak French is not yet equal to the effort I've been investing into learning it.
On November 3, during a scrum before the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, I regret having made a statement that was insensitive to the status of French. I have apologized for my comments, and I have been taking French lessons ever since.
I'm sorry. I apologize once again, and I take responsibility for my remarks. I regret the impact that my remarks have had on our employees, who serve our clients in both official languages every day.
I say to Canadians, and to Quebeckers in particular, that I am sincere in my commitment to advance Air Canada's official language efforts. I've also reinforced this commitment to our employees and to the management team.
Air Canada has a special connection with Canadians. We understand our responsibility with regard to bilingualism and our obligation to provide service to our clients and to communicate with them in both official languages.
Air Canada embraces the unique expectations of bilingualism and is doing its utmost to ensure we meet them.
We have an ambitious language action plan adopted in 2020. We have established our own language learning programs to help our employees improve their language skills and use French in serving our clients. We have always prioritized the hiring of bilingual employees. In fact, almost half of our employees who serve our customers are bilingual.
At Air Canada, serving our clients in both official languages is a priority.
Like with many of our corporate priorities, over the decade leading up to the pandemic, we had made strides in improving our track record on official languages. Our linguistic services team maintains regular communications with the commissioner’s office, and we work with them to treat complaints diligently.
In addition, in 2020, we filed our 2020-23 action plan and have since put in place a cross-functional management committee to monitor and co-ordinate the initiatives stemming from that plan.
I am pleased to share with you today that Air Canada is implementing new measures to improve and strengthen its commitment to bilingualism. Thanks to our employees who shared their suggestions and perspective helping us develop these new initiatives.
We have announced additional measures to reinforce bilingualism at Air Canada.
As we emerge from the pandemic, we will continue to increase our efforts to consult with employees, and to mobilize our teams to improve our approach and initiatives. Again, I hope my mistake, which I have taken full responsibility for, does not take away from the hard work of our dedicated employees who work every day to serve our customers in the language of their choice.
I am very proud to be Air Canada’s CEO. I have worked for 14 years with this company’s great people. I know that the challenges we faced during those years prepared me to lead them in what has been a very difficult and uncertain period for the industry. Canada needs a vibrant, global airline. We will work tirelessly to rebuild it for all Canadians as we recover from the pandemic.
Embracing linguistic duality and bilingualism is a responsibility of ours, a matter of pride and principle, and a sign of respect for Canada and all Canadians.
Bilingual service is aligned with our business objectives, and it is also proudly part of our brand and identity. Mostly due to the complexity of our business, sometimes we do not meet our aspirations. We know we can do better.
I am determined to do better, and I know I have the support of the entire Air Canada team.
Thank you for your attention.
I am now available to answer your questions.