Good afternoon, members of the committee.
My name is James Bogusz. I am the president and CEO of the Regina airport. I'm also the chair of the small airports caucus for the CAC. I've worked in airports for over two decades and have direct experience with both the Victoria airport and the Regina airport when it comes to the obligations of official languages in airports and serving the travelling public.
I want to put on record that up until 2018, our obligations for official languages for travellers that met a specific demand were very clear. The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages actually posted these obligations on its website, in public for all to see. These included things like wayfinding signage, preprinted restaurant menus, security notices and a host of other items that were very specific to the traveller.
However, from 2018 until now, it's my opinion that the office changed the very nature of these obligations dramatically, expanding the scope to touch almost every area of our airport's business, well beyond the essential needs of the travelling public, as intended. They're now validating a wide range of compliance issues, which is of great concern to us now that there's consideration for a regime of potential monetary penalties. This new regime has also enabled legal challenges from a few members of the public who are looking to monetize airports like Regina's as if we're not complying with the regulations.