(Ottawa) A senior French-speaking executive of the Canadian National Railway Company (CN) says he has never heard of any linguistic incidents within the company, even though the Teamsters union has been sounding the alarm since at least two years with senior management.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Coming to testify about the disruptions in the supply chain before the transport committee, Sébastien Labbé, vice-president of bulk activities, was rather hounded on the question of French while the largest rail carrier in the country is embroiled in controversy. on the subject since last week.
The Press revealed that the largest railway company in the country had closed the doors of its board of directors to francophones, even though its head office is in Montreal and it is subject to the Official Languages Act. Employees also denounced several linguistic incidents that occurred at the Taschereau marshalling yard with the arrival of unilingual Anglophone employees.
Mr. Labbé explained that he worked in Alberta, the province where management control of the company’s rail network was concentrated in early 2020. This decision quickly triggered several “irregularities” in the east of the country, according to the Teamsters Union, which represents locomotive engineers, conductors and yardmasters.
The vice-president of CN was asked by Bloc Québécois MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval if he had heard of the union’s grievances and if he had had internal discussions on the French issue.
“Not particularly on my side,” he replied. I’m more at the commercial level, so I’m less involved in human resources, relations with the different unions. »
Later, he added that no employee or customer had reported any language issues to him. “So I see it in the media, but working with clients every day, it’s not something that’s come up on my end,” he said.
Difficulties and “impossibilities”
In a letter dated April 16, 2020 and addressed to the then Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Jean-Jacques Ruest, union leaders Jean-Michel Hallé and Alain Gatien alleged difficulties or even “impossibilities” for certain members to communicate in French.
“It is their right to be served in French if they wish, they write in the missive obtained by The Press. We ask that you correct this situation so that our members can once again receive an acceptable level of service that respects their rights. »
Some seven months later, on November 24, 2020, there still appeared to be no progress, as the Teamsters sent a further letter to the CN executive lamenting a “lack of will and consideration” in the company to offer an adequate “linguistic service”.
We cannot believe that in 2020, we need to proceed with formal complaints to have our language rights respected, and this, within a company the size of CN. Above all, we consider this to be a blatant lack of respect for CN’s French-speaking employees.
Extract from the letter
MM. Hallé and Gatien returned to the charge earlier this month by sending another letter to the new president, Tracy Robinson – who is not fluent in French.
Mr. Labbé repeated in parliamentary committee Monday that the company would remedy “in the next year” the absence of Francophones on its board of directors.
During his introductory testimony, this senior CN official spoke only in English to the parliamentarians. The detail did not escape the Bloc MP, who asked if there was “a corporate culture that is hostile to French”.
“I’ve been with CN for 24 years,” explained the CN vice-president. I come from Beauce and I am currently in Alberta. I have always had the opportunity to have communications at CN in English-French. So, I express myself more in English being in Alberta. »
Sean Finn, CN’s senior vice-president of corporate services and chief legal officer, told The Press that CN was taken aback when Jean Charest decided to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party. He had been appointed to the company’s board of directors 22 days earlier for a five-year term.
CN called before another committee
CN’s senior executives will once again have to explain themselves to elected officials about the absence of Francophones on their board of directors and about the linguistic incidents reported by the Teamsters union. A motion by NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice was adopted unanimously to demand that they come and testify at the Standing Committee on Official Languages. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra will also be asked to explain what the government intends to do to ensure that the company respects the Official Languages Act. The Commissioner of Official Languages will also answer questions from committee members. Everything must take place “as soon as possible”.