Evidence of meeting #103 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was accessibility.
A video is available from Parliament.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Thank you very much, Ms. Pasher.
Thank you, Mr. Barsalou-Duval.
Next, we have Mr. Bachrach.
Mr. Bachrach, you have five minutes.
12:50 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses.
I think what we've heard on this panel is that the airports, especially the big airports, are doing lots of different things. There's a lot of activity. I don't think there's any question that these organizations take accessibility concerns seriously and that there's stuff going on.
What I think the committee is trying to get at, though, is the trend in accountability. We're trying to get some line of sight on how fast that process of improvement is occurring and, when things don't go well, what the reason for that is.
I haven't heard any of the airports talk about complaint processes, so maybe I'll start there.
How are complaints related to accessibility concerns handled by airport authorities, whether or not that data is disclosed publicly? What are the trends in that data and how could that be strengthened as part of the system?
Maybe I'll start with Ms. Pasher, then go to the airport authorities.
12:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Airports Council
I can start, but I think my colleagues would be better able to answer that specifically.
Thank you for your comments. Our airports really do care and a lot of work is under way.
Would more data on the issues being presented and how fast they're being remedied be helpful? Absolutely. I think data is always helpful in improving the system, and I talked about continuous improvement being our goal. We want to make sure everyone can access our system and do so in the way they want to experience that process.
12:55 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Ms. Pasher, is there a consistent system of reporting complaints related to accessibility across Canadian airports?
12:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Airports Council
I'm going to turn it over to them, if I could.
12:55 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Okay.
I thought perhaps you could give me the national view on that. Your response prompted me to ask whether there's a consistent national approach to reporting complaints.
12:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Airports Council
It would just be through the CTA really. I'll leave my colleagues to answer that one.
12:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Airports Council
I don't know if you want to weigh in, Kurush.
12:55 p.m.
NDP
12:55 p.m.
Executive Director, Customer Experience and Airline Relations, Greater Toronto Airports Authority
Thank you. I'm happy to take this one.
We have a number of different ways in which we solicit feedback from passengers. There's certainly a complaints area to which passengers can write with concerns they have, but we also survey passengers on a proactive and ongoing basis to better understand how our services and programs are performing and where there's opportunity for correction.
The response is directly tied to the feedback we get. Infrastructure things take significantly longer. Process changes are easy to implement, and we work directly with various parties at the airport to make those changes.
12:55 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Minocher, in regard to my last question around there being a consistent system across Canadian airports, are you aware of a consistent system for airport authorities to report that kind of data when it comes to accessibility complaints?
12:55 p.m.
Executive Director, Customer Experience and Airline Relations, Greater Toronto Airports Authority
Unfortunately I can speak only for Pearson. I'm not familiar with what other airports are doing in this space.
12:55 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Okay.
Ms. Vrooman, can you perhaps share YVR's approach on that topic?
12:55 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Vancouver Airport Authority
Our approach is very similar to Toronto's in that we certainly have a complaints process, but, frankly, most of the time, when we get complaints about accessibility issues, we're generally cc'd on a complaint that's already going to one of our airlines. We actually receive very few complaints relating to our services. We proactively go out and solicit feedback in the same way that Kurush described, but to your specific question, there is no national system of reporting other than through the CTA.
12:55 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thanks for that.
I do agree that it seems as though most of the focus of these inquires and the media coverage that we've heard has had to do with the airline experience as opposed to airport authorities.
I want to thank your team, Ms. Vrooman, for giving me a tour of YVR on a recent visit to the airport. I'm there a lot, as are my B.C. colleagues.
One of the things that were shared with me was information about the new program, under which you have ambassadors who greet passengers right at the curb and who then help them through the process to the hand-off at the check-in kiosk.
One of the topics that came up at a previous meeting was how people with disabilities or people who require accommodations identify that to personnel at the airport. Our understanding is that essentially they have to self-identify in order to obtain accommodations, and part of that has to do with privacy protections.
I wonder if your ambassadors are able to offer some sort of generic prompt at the curb to everyone, regardless of whether they have a visible disability, in order to identify people who require certain accommodations. Is there a conversation they engage passengers in around accommodating their experience?
12:55 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Vancouver Airport Authority
Thank you for that, and thanks for the shout-out to my staff. They're very pleased, at any time, to take people through our operations.
That is a new program. It's similar to what you see in a hotel setting where you're greeted at the curb, but it's very new for airports.
Already, just in the three months since we launched this program, we have had over 2,000 people with diverse needs who have been identified and served proactively.
Our folks have special training to be able to identify but also to ask in a private but human-centred way if people need assistance. Sometimes it's obvious. Sometimes it's not. We have found significant improvement in expediting people in a personalized way through to check-in, which then allows us to forward information on and coordinate with airlines through to the gate.
1 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Thank you very much, Ms. Vrooman.
Thank you, Mr. Bachrach.
Thanks to all of our witnesses for appearing before us today and sharing your expertise on this very important study for all Canadians.
Colleagues, I'm going to suspend for two minutes as we go in camera to discuss some committee business.
I'd like to ask the witnesses to log off at their pleasure.
This meeting stands suspended.
[Proceedings continue in camera]