Bill Expands Air Bilingualism

www.blacklocks.ca , By Dale Smith
Canadian airlines would be compelled to guarantee bilingual service for passengers aboard international flights under a private Liberal bill introduced in the Commons. It follows a Supreme Court dismissal of damages claimed by an Ottawa-area couple who complained they were denied French-language service on Air Canada flights to Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.

“This is a bill that will correct an unintended gap in the protection of fundamental rights of Canadians,” said MP Stéphane Dion, the bill’s sponsor; “Canadians will be as protected on international flights as they are on domestic flights.”

Michel and Lynda Thibodeau complained Air Canada breached the Official Languages Act when it failed to provide service in French at an airport check-in Atlanta in 2009; that an in-flight service announcement was in English only; and that Mr. Thibodeau ordered a 7-Up in French from a flight attendant and was served a Sprite instead.

The Supreme Court in a 5-2 decision in 2014 said the airline had no legal obligation to pay $18,982 in damages under the Montreal Convention that limits international carriers’ liability. Air Canada acknowledged it assigned unilingual attendants to U.S. flights only. And the Commissioner of Official Languages dismissed the complaint of English-only service in Atlanta, noting it was “not an airport where there is significant demand requiring the provision of services in French.”

Bill C-666 An Act To Amend The Carriage By Air Act would subject Canadian airlines to bilingualism law regardless of a flight’s destination, or the location of an airline service counter. “No one saw this coming – not the legal experts in the justice department nor members of all parties, not even organizations for human rights,” Dion yesterday told reporters. “We could not predict that the Supreme Court would rule in this fashion.”

Air Canada estimates 47 percent of its flight attendants and more than 50 percent of its call centre employees are functionally bilingual. The airline has been the subject of 369 complaints since 2006 alleging violation of the Languages Act, the most of any federally-regulated agency. The Supreme Court in its dismissal of damages had ruled it was evident that service in French was “clearly very important” to the Thibodeaus, “and the violation of their rights caused them a moral prejudice, pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of their vacation.”

A lower Federal Court judge had upheld the Thibodeaus’ claim and made the five-figure damage award.