Official Languages committee  No, not really. We haven't looked at that specifically, in fact. Nevertheless, I can tell you that, at VIA Rail, as far as access to the employee's language of choice is concerned, as far as the French language is concerned, be it for work, the forms or supervisors... I have been

Official Languages committee  Absolutely not, no.

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  All right, I will start over.

Official Languages committee  I will start my explanation over.

Official Languages committee  All right, I will try to clarify. Up until 1985, the people hired to work for VIA Rail, namely to work on board trains, in stations or in telephone sales offices, did not have to speak both official languages. You could, for example, be hired to work in a train traveling between

Official Languages committee  Yes, there are. I could be an example. If I were unilingual English and had been hired in 1972, I could have come here and spoken to you in English only, unless I had taken language training and been successful. It is clear that there are people who began working in our organizat

Official Languages committee  It is possible. What I said earlier is that, if a unilingual English person to whom you have spoken in French is serving you in a dinning room, the instructions are clear.

Official Languages committee  That may happen, but that is not what happened with this train.

Official Languages committee  It happens.

Official Languages committee  We conducted interviews and we did a language check. The employee on board this train was bilingual, absolutely.

Official Languages committee  Are you referring to the problem?

Official Languages committee  Yes, it is sad. Nevertheless, if a person whose first language is English finds him or herself in an emergency where there is clearly going to be stress, panic and agitation... The locomotive was on fire. I don't know whether you saw the photos, but when it is nighttime—

Official Languages committee  You know, Mr. Godin, this is all about human behaviour and conditioning, in the positive sense of the word. We have to remind people about their obligations. We have to strengthen the training programs and conduct crisis simulations, emergency simulations. We must always remind t

Official Languages committee  I will ask Mrs. Sirsly to answer that specific question.