LANG Committee Report

LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS

RECOMMENDATION 1

The Committee recommends that the President of Air Canada personally ensure that the managers responsible for the planning and conduct of daily operations be made fully aware of and responsible for Air Canada’s commitment to official languages, as well as ensuring that it will also be acted on by all Air Canada employees.

RECOMMENDATION 2

The Committee recommends that the President of Air Canada consider the guidelines entitled Putting in Place an Official Languages Act Appropriate Implementation Scheme at Air Canada provided by the Commissioner of Official Languages in preparing his action plan and that he present the plan to the Commissioner, the President of Treasury Board, the Minister of Transport, and this Committee, as he made a commitment to do when he appeared before the Committee on December 3, 2001. In the context of the corporate action plan, Air Canada’s managers should be given specific objectives and deadlines and be evaluated on this portion of their responsibilities.

RECOMMENDATION 3

The Committee recommends that the President of Air Canada include in his action plan measures to better inform his customers of their linguistic rights and of the means available to them for filing a complaint with the Commissioner of Official Languages. To that end, the Committee recommends, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, that an official prepaid complaint form addressed to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages be placed in the seat-pocket of all of its aircraft; that Air Canada’s obligation to comply with the Official Languages Act be clearly and visibly posted at airport counters, on walls, on the complaint form, and in televised on-board messages, during the safety instructions.

RECOMMENDATION 4

The Committee notes that Air Canada’s Comment Card does not include the use of official languages among the areas to be evaluated.

The Committee therefore recommends that in all evaluations of customer satisfaction, whether done by response cards or other means, Air Canada request comments on the services offered in both official languages.

RECOMMENDATION 5

The Committee recommends that the President of Air Canada survey his customers periodically on the quality and availability of services in French and English. The methodology should be approved in advance by the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, and the results should be reported to the President of the Treasury Board, the Commissioner of Official Languages, and this Committee.

RECOMMENDATION 6

The Committee recommends that the President of Air Canada immediately develop follow-up mechanisms so that he can periodically assess the Corporation’s progress in implementing the Official Languages Act and achieving the objectives in his action plan. Air Canada must report to the Committee and the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages annually on progress achieved and the effectiveness of the follow-up mechanisms. The Committee invites Air Canada to include this report on official languages in its annual report to shareholders.

RECOMMENDATION 7

The Committee recommends that the President of Air Canada extend the principles of the memorandum of understanding to all of the Corporation’s services.

RECOMMENDATION 8

The Committee recommends that the President of Air Canada move forward with the linguistic identification of his employees in terms of the official languages and include the data, with a breakdown by job category, in his 2001-2002 Official Languages Annual Review, to be submitted to Treasury Board.

RECOMMENDATION 9

The Committee recommends that the President of Air Canada include in his action plan specific measures to rectify the under-representation of Francophone pilots in the Corporation’s workforce, in particular by adopting a recruitment strategy based on a proactive effort to attract qualified Francophone pilots and by respecting their linguistic rights in the recruitment process and in the training program for pilot candidates.

RECOMMENDATION 10

The Committee recommends that the Minister of Transport order a re-examination of section 10, as part of the legislative review provided for the Air Canada Public Participation Act, so that the wording clearly stipulates that Air Canada and its subsidiaries are subject to the Official Languages Act in its entirety, in the same way as a federal institution.

RECOMMENDATION 11

The Committee recommends that the Minister of Transport amend section 10 of the Air Canada Public Participation Act, the Aeronautics Act and any other related legislation to ensure that the linguistic regulations and provisions applying to Air Canada are adequate and provide an effective implementation regime, including sanctions, penalties and other non-compliance measures.

RECOMMENDATION 12

The Committee recommends that the Minister of Transport table a legislative amendment to the Air Canada Public Participation Act to make it clear that the Official Languages Act takes precedence over collective agreements.

RECOMMENDATION 13

The Committee recommends that the Minister of Transport instruct his Department’s Civil Aviation Directorate to ensure that safety briefings presented by cabin crews conform to the spirit and intent of the Official Languages Act, and to report on this to the Committee.

RECOMMENDATION 14

The Committee recommends that the President of Treasury Board monitor developments in the linguistic situation at Air Canada very closely and make sure that its chief executive officer’s commitments are kept and that the recommendations of the Commissioner of Official Languages and this Committee are implemented.

 

RECOMMENDATION 15

The Committee recommends that the President of Treasury Board ensure that clear signs are posted stating that Air Canada’s services are available in both official languages in the air and on the ground. In addition, it asks her to ensure that airport authorities in airports with significant demand fulfil their linguistic obligations with regard to both signage and in-person service, and that they adequately monitor the implementation of language-related clauses in leasing contracts with third parties.

RECOMMENDATION 16

The Committee recommends that the government provide specific one-time financial assistance to enable Air Canada to accelerate language training.