(Montreal) Caught in the midst of a linguistic storm, Canadian National (CN) reiterated its intention to recruit a French-speaking administrator, but members of senior management did not comment on the headlines reporting the dissatisfaction of French-speaking employees at the company at its annual meeting on Friday.
Posted at 3:02 p.m.
The rail carrier, whose head office is located in Montreal, has begun a process to find a French-speaking director on its board of directors, said its chief legal officer, Sean Finn. “We expect to appoint this person in the coming months,” he said.
Former Quebec Premier Jean Charest was named to the CN board in January, but left his post less than two months later to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.
If the linguistic composition of the Board does not reflect the diversity of the Montreal and Canadian population, the outgoing Chairman of the Board of Directors, Robert Pace, underlined the diversity of the directors in other respects. “Half of our independent directors come from a diversity community and we exceed the gender parity criteria. »
In French, Mr. Finn said that CN respects its Montreal heritage. “CN’s head office has been located in Montreal for more than 100 years and the Board itself respects and takes great pride in the company’s rich history in Quebec, where the official language is French. »
Unconvinced critics
However, this respect is not felt by French language defense groups and by French-speaking employees, who have confided in the media.
The Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society of Montreal deposited, earlier Friday, a statue with the effigy of a lemon in front of the head office of the company to denounce the absence of Francophones on the board of directors. “The common and working language in Quebec is French, and its total absence from CN’s highest decision-making sphere shows contempt for Francophones,” said its president, Marie-Anne Alepin.
The absence of French-speaking administrators created waves all the way to Ottawa, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “blown away” by the situation last April. The carrier was also called before the Standing Committee on Official Languages.
Many French-speaking employees and former employees have also expressed their dissatisfaction with the company’s language practices in The Press. Although the company claims to “revise” its language practices, a French-speaking manager in Edmonton would have been forced to provide explanations for having requested communications in French, according to a message obtained by the daily.
Company spokesperson Jonathan Abecassis responded by email that CN has begun an internal review of its official languages practices. “It is important for us to set an example in the area of official languages and to respect the obligations of the law. CN will investigate and remedy any situation that comes to CN’s attention where an employee believes that any of these obligations have not been met. »
President and CEO Tracy Robinson declined our interview request. It was therefore not possible to ask him about the linguistic controversy or the logistical challenges affecting the company.
When his appointment was announced in January, Ms.me Robinson was committed to learning French. During the meeting, she gave the first minute of her speech in French and spoke in the language of Molière for another segment of about thirty seconds.
Supply chain
At the end of April, CN had lowered its forecast for the year 2022 due to difficult logistical conditions. “There was a big shock in the supply chain. And we are working very hard to find our rhythm, ”explained Mme Robinson to financial analysts in late April.
During the meeting, Mr.me Robinson said the company would need to be “flexible” to manage supply chain challenges. She said she would place great importance on dialogue with customers.
Some CN customers have been impacted by supply chain disruptions. This is the case of Resolute Forest Products, which reported at the beginning of May that the company’s wagons have been less available in recent months in the Lac-Saint-Jean region.
“The way this is reflected at home is a significant increase in our lumber inventories, explained its president and CEO, Rémi Lalonde, in an interview with The Canadian Press. Our inventories almost doubled during the quarter [trois premiers mois de l’année] to $43 million for the finished lumber product. »
CN stock, which did not release financial results on the day of its meeting, gained 27 cents, or 0.19%, to $142.37 on the Toronto Stock Exchange around noon.