Air Canada has failed to implement dozens of recommendations from the Commissioner of Official Languages, such as monitoring the provision of services in French and English during designated bilingual flights or ensuring that members of the public who file a complaint receives a response in the official language of their choice.
Dozens of recommendations were made following 32 final investigation reports into 38 separate complaints filed against Air Canada from 2019 to 2022. A follow-up was then carried out from June to September 2023.
According to the preliminary monitoring report, of which The duty obtained a copy, no recommendation was implemented.
The airline, which was once a federal public corporation, is subject to Canada’s Official Languages Act, and therefore still has the obligation to offer its services in English and French.
The complaints recorded in the report reveal numerous situations where French services were not available and where announcements to passengers were made in English only. Other complaints noted that the signage at the boarding counter was not completely bilingual at the Toronto airport.
The follow-up process reveals that Air Canada was unable to provide documentation supporting the steps taken to comply with the numerous recommendations.
For the recommendation on monitoring the provision of bilingual services, the company stated that a mechanism was in place to “supervise cabin crew” and that flight attendants “are subject to an annual evaluation” . Air Canada also added that it offers two training modules to ensure that flight attendants are familiar with their language obligations.
Although the commissioner indicated that Air Canada “generally recognizes the importance of offering bilingual service” and that the company “has taken positive measures”, it did not provide documentation to support these declarations, we can read in the document of around thirty pages.
It is noted that the documents provided “focus on the statement of obligations rather than on monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.” The recommendation is therefore considered not implemented.
The carrier was also unable to provide any documentation or evidence showing that it would have recommended to the management team at Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson International Airport that all signs that indicate the maximum dimensions for baggage is published in both official languages.
Called to react, Air Canada confirmed having received the preliminary report, but that it will take the time to study it as a whole before commenting.
“We are proud to offer services in both official languages of Canada for more than 50 years, in an industry with complex rules, while serving our clients in more than 20 languages in 51 countries in addition to Canada, and we will continue to offer our collaboration to the Commissioner of Official Languages in this objective,” responded a spokesperson to the Duty.
“As the follow-up of the recommendations is ongoing, I must limit my comments. However, I would like to reiterate that it still happens too often that Air Canada fails to meet its linguistic obligations, whether through the absence of an active offer, an insufficient number of bilingual employees or signage in only one official language. “, declared the Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada, Raymond Théberge, in an email to Duty.
“The significant number of complaints that I receive year after year against Air Canada bears witness to this. I believe that this demonstrates that the public expects to receive more services in both official languages from the carrier,” he adds.
Last year, the commissioner’s report revealed that Air Canada had been the subject of three times more complaints under the Official Languages Act than in a typical year.
The 276 complaints even represented a ten-year high — except for the year of the speech in English by the airline’s big boss, Michael Rousseau. Almost all of the complaints concerned shortcomings related to communications and services to the public.
Although no date is official, the commissioner’s final monitoring report should be made public in the coming months.