LANG Committee Report
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APPENDIX B
Memorandum of Agreement on the handling of complaints under
the Official Languages Act concerning Air Canada’s
ground services in airports
between
The Commissioner of Official Languages
and
Air Canada
and
The National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and
General Workers Union of Canada
hereinafter "the parties"
*********************
WHEREAS Air Canada is a private commercial firm subject to the Official Languages Act under the Air Canada Public Participation Act and it must, in particular, meet its linguistic obligations under Part IV of the OLA with respect to the language of ground services in airports;
WHEREAS in the context of a restructuring of the debts of Canadian Airlines International Ltd., Canadien Airlines International Ltd. became a subsidiary of Air Canada pursuant to the provisions of the Air Canada Public Participation Act as amended by Bill C-26;
WHEREAS on January 1, 2001 Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International Ltd. amalgamated to form the new Air Canada;
WHEREAS over the next two years, Air Canada will devote a great deal of energy to consolidating the foundations of the new Air Canada in Canada;
WHEREAS the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada (hereinafter "the Union") is not subject to the OLA, but is committed to working in co-operation with Air Canada, under circumstances that will be changing rapidly, to ensure bilingual service in airports pursuant to the Official Languages Act;
WHEREAS Air Canada and the Union both recognize the importance of the goals of the Official Languages Act;
WHEREAS the Union is prepared to contribute to the attainment of these goals by, among other things, the mechanisms foreseen in this Memorandum of Agreement;
WHEREAS Air Canada and the Union recognize that, by signing this Memorandum of Agreement, the Commissioner does not waive or affect her position that the Official languages Act imposes requirements which must be met notwithstanding impediments which might be presented by contracts such as collective agreements;
WHEREAS the Commissioner and Air Canada recognize that, by signing this Memorandum of Agreement, the Union does not waive or affect any of its legal positions, including the position that its collective agreement does not impose an impediment to achieving the goals of the Official Languages Act;
WHEREAS the parties agree that none of the settlements in this Memorandum of Agreement is meant to prevent the Commissioner from instituting new proceedings that she believes appropriate in the event she concludes that, notwithstanding the mechanisms foreseen here, the goals of the Official Languages Act are not respected;
WHEREAS the Commissioner of Official Languages filed two court remedy applications in 1996 in the Federal Court against Air Canada concerning the language of ground services provided by Air Canada at Pearson International Airport in Toronto (file T-2043-96) and at Halifax International Airport (file T-1989-96);
WHEREAS, since the filing of the proceedings in 1996, Air Canada has adopted measures that, in principle, make it possible to resolve various problems raised by these court remedy actions and Air Canada has also reconsidered the situation and made efforts to ensure the maintenance or introduction bilingual services in the new Air Canada;
WHEREAS, however, problems may persist with regard to the implementation of these measures and, consequently, complaints may continue to be brought to the Commissioner’s attention;
WHEREAS, in the case of complaints brought to her attention, the Commissioner is obliged to conduct her investigation pursuant to her mandate and to the powers conferred on her by the Act in order to determine whether the complaints are founded and, if appropriate, to make the recommendations she deems necessary in her report;
WHEREAS the Commissioner of Official Languages determines her own procedures and can agree with an institution subject to the Official Languages Act, by means of a memorandum of agreement, on specific procedures for pursuing her investigations of that institution;
WHEREAS Air Canada’s status as a private firm warrants the use by the Commissioner of Official Languages of investigation procedures in its regard different from those she normally uses with other institutions;
WHEREAS the facts alleged by complainants with regard to their complaint must be brought to Air Canada’s attention by the Commissioner as fully and rapidly as possible by means of her notice of intention to investigate in order to enable Air Canada to trace the source of the alleged problem and enable it to respond to the allegations of the complaint;
WHEREAS Air Canada’s co-operation is essential to enable the Commissioner of Official Languages to conduct her investigations fully, and whereas she often needs direct access, in connection with her investigations, to witnesses and persons involved in the situation that led to the filing of the complaint and to the relevant documents in Air Canada’s possession;
WHEREAS Air Canada considers that the disclosure, voluntary or indirect, of certain confidential documents could give a commercial advantage to the competition and have serious economic consequences for Air Canada’s shareholders;
WHEREAS, when the Commissioner of Official Languages investigates a complaint, she is bound to the secrecy of investigations and must do a thorough job, in accordance with the letter and spirit of the Official Languages Act;
WHEREAS the Commissioner of Official Languages must report her conclusions on each complaint based on the letter and spirit of the OLA, must produce substantiated reports and, consequently, must ensure that her investigation procedures, even those specific to Air Canada, will enable her to meet her obligations;
WHEREAS the parties agree to restrict this Memorandum of Agreement to the handling of complaints involving the language of ground services provided by Air Canada in airports where the Official Languages Act applies;
WHEREAS this Memorandum of Agreement is also intended to terminate the two court remedy actions previously mentioned in the files of the Federal Court, T-2043-96 and T-1989-96;
Therefore, the parties agree as follows:
I-
Ground services covered and obligationsThe ground services provided by Air Canada in airports and which are covered by this Memorandum of Agreement include: check-in; ticketing; baggage; information and boarding announcements; security searches in airports where Air Canada administers the security contracts; boarding; the Maple Leaf Lounges and signs and notices of all kinds.
Air Canada and the Union will meet to review and consider various means of assigning bilingual agents and/or any other measures so as to provide compliance with the Official Languages Act. Air Canada will report, in writing, to the Commissioner, within 6 months of the signing of this Memorandum of Agreement, on the progress made in the meetings and will implement any agreements reached with the Union. The Commissioner reserves the right to examine, in the context of her investigation, any such agreement in order to verify their effectiveness and the extent to which Air Canada is meeting its obligations under the OLA.
For the contract with security agencies, Air Canada will continue, when it administers the security contract, to include in it the clause concerning the obligation to provide security services in both official languages and to ensure compliance with this clause.
II- Reception of complaints
The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages will gather all pertinent information available from complainants, in accordance with the nature of the complaint. To this end, it will ensure that its officers in complaints reception ask complainants as many questions as possible when they make their complaints, so as to have as accurate a picture as possible of the incident reported. They will, in particular, ask questions about the points listed in the grid in Appendix A, which will he kept up to date jointly by the Commissioner of Official Languages and Air Canada.
The Commissioner of Official Languages agrees to make her clients aware, when they make complaints and, where possible, in any documentation intended for the general public, of the fact that the passage of time can be an obstacle to the effective handling of complaints.
III- Notices of intention to investigate
Notices of intention to investigate pursuant to section 59 of the OLA will be sent without delay to Air Canada and, at the discretion of the Office of the Commissioner, will be preceded by a telephone call to the Official Languages Director to inform her of the details of the complaint and its appropriate handling.
Notices of intention to investigate may be signed by a person authorized by the Commissioner and may be sent to the General Manager Customer Service at the airport, with a copy to the Office of Linguistic Affairs and Diversity. To accelerate the process, a facsimile of the notice may be sent to the Office of Linguistic Affairs and Diversity, and its original version will continue to be sent by mail to the General Manager at the airport. At the Commissioner’s discretion, certain notices will continue to be signed by her and sent by mail to the President with a copy to the General Manager Customer Service at the airport and to the Office of Linguistic Affairs and Diversity.
IV- Complaints handling
All admissible complaints concerning Air Canada’s services in airports that are brought to the attention of the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages shall be handled by the Commissioner expeditiously and Air Canada shall respond to each of these complaints. Alternative methods of conflict resolution will be considered as required. More specifically, the parties agree to respect the following obligations:
A) Air Canada
Within 30 days of receipt of the notice of intention to investigate, Air Canada will inform the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages of its position with respect to the complaint, will make available all information required to resolve the complaint and will indicate the corrective measures that may have been taken.
In this regard, Air Canada agrees to facilitate access to documents, witnesses and persons involved in the facts of the complaint in order to enable the Commissioner to bring her investigation to a conclusion. Air Canada, however, reserves the right to ask for explanations as to why the Commissioner wishes to obtain access to these sources.
Any officer of the new Air Canada assigned to respond to complaints of a linguistic nature brought to the attention of Air Canada by the Commissioner will be made aware of the requirements of the OLA, of the official languages policies and of the procedures for investigation and co-operation set out in this Memorandum of Agreement.
B) The Union
The Union agrees to identify a representative to work, together with Air Canada, to resolve the problems raised by complaints, as necessary.
C) The Commissioner
The Commissioner, through her investigators at the Office of the Commissioner, shall investigate the facts alleged by the complainants in each complaint. To this end, she may need to have access to witnesses and persons involved in the facts of the complaint and to relevant documents in the possession of Air Canada. In such cases, the Commissioner will identify the persons she wishes to include in the investigation and inform Air Canada accordingly;
If the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages believes that the information provided to it by Air Canada following the notice of intention to investigate or, if applicable, that the corrective measures that may have been taken are not adequate to close the investigation, it will inform Air Canada of the subsequent actions it will take in connection with the pursuit of the investigation.
Any investigator assigned to investigate complaints about Air Canada will be made aware of the particular needs of Air Canada, of the investigation procedures of the Office of the Commissioner and of the investigation and co-operation procedures set out in this memorandum of agreement.
V) Other provisions
The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages agrees to participate, at Air Canada’s request, in any meeting organized by Air Canada involving representatives of the CAW and other unions for the purpose of finding solutions comply with the Official Languages Act to problems raised. These solutions must of course comply with the requirements of the Official Languages Act.
The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages agrees, at Air Canada’s request, to make presentations to unions to inform them of any issue related to the implementation of the Official Languages Act.
The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages and Air Canada mutually agree to participate, at the request of either party, in any type of discussion or meeting concerning the entrenchment of the official languages in the new Air Canada and to provide any advice in the context of this new reality.
The Commissioner of Official Languages agrees to withdraw, within 20 days of the signing of this Memorandum of Agreement by all the parties, the court remedy actions filed with the Federal Court of Canada against Air Canada with respect to the language of the ground services provided by Air Canada at Pearson International Airport in Toronto (file T-2043-96) and at Halifax International Airport (file T-1989-96).
VI- Terms of the agreement
This Memorandum of Agreement binds the parties in accordance with the terms and conditions contained in it effective the day of its signature. It may be amended with the consent of the parties or revoked by any party with 30 days’ notice to the parties concerned.
VII- Signatures
Air Canada, by its President,
|
Dated |
Commissioner of Official Languages,
|
Dated |
CAW, by Mr. Gary Fane,
|
Dated |
CAW, President of local 2213,
|
Dated |
APPENDIX A
Grid listing questions that may be asked of complainants by officers of the Office of the Commissioner when receiving complaints, by nature of the complaint
a) Complaints about signage
- date, time, place
- location of sign
- description of sign
- identification of the agent on duty or witnesses, if any
- description of actions taken by complainant to notify Air
Canada staff or management of the problem, if any
b) Complaints about baggage check-in and ticketing
- copy of boarding pass, if still available
- date, time, place
- services in question
- location or number of counter or point of service, if applicable
- description of lack of services, details of communications
- identification of agent or agents who provided services
- identification of witnesses, if any
- description of actions taken by complainant to notify Air Canada staff or management
of
the problem, if any
c) Complaints about announcements
- date, time, place
- place where announcement was heard
- place where announcement was made
- description of announcement
- identification of agent or agents who made the announcement, if possible
- identification of witness, if any
- description of actions taken by complainant to notify Air Canada staff or management
of
the problem, if any
d) Complaints about self-service kiosks
- copy of boarding pass, if still available
- date, time, place
- location or number of self-service kiosk
- description of lack of services
- identification of agent or agents who may have given explanations about the operation
of
the kiosk, if any
- identification of witnesses, if any
- description of actions taken by complainant to notify Air Canada staff or management
of
the problem, if any
e) Other complaints
- date, time, place
- location where the problem arose
- nature and description of problem
- identification of witnesses, if any
- description of actions taken by complainant to notify Air Canada staff or management
of
the problem, if any
- copy of boarding pass, if relevant and still available