At one time, I thought that French was simply not important at Air Canada. The service was organized for the language of the majority and accommodations were made to respond superficially to the cumbersome rules on official languages.
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Today, I think otherwise. It is no longer just negligence or disinterest. Air Canada acts to impose English in a maximum of its operations. We feel that the company is testing the limits of what can be accepted by French speakers without much protest.
Wednesday morning, the three largest daily newspapers in Quebec each had their story on Air Canada and French. The newspaper presented the story of Jean-Pierre Beaudoina businessman from Quebec who was categorically refused to be served in French… on a flight departing from Quebec.
La Presse tells us that an oversight occurred when the compensation of the CEO of Air Canada, Michael Rousseau, was increased to 12.4 million. Air Canada had promised that fluency in French would be part of its CEO’s performance evaluation. So his pay has more than tripled… just as the French standard goes up in smoke.
As for Le Devoir, they had set up a file on the low offer of Quebec TV in French integrated into the entertainment systems of Air Canada planes. Only five Quebec TV productions in French are found there, including one where the language of Molière appears in the subtitle, and another (Les gags) is simply silent.
On-board service, entertainment system or senior management, there is no jealousy… French is neglected from one end to the other at Air Canada!
Good people too…
The case of passenger Jean-Pierre Beaudoin probably partly explains how Air Canada is doing. We say nothing. Mr. Beaudoin was asking for service in French on a plane that was going to take off from Quebec. On board, there were essentially only French speakers. Apart from him, no one says anything. Too good people…
I don’t blame, I see. I sometimes do the same. We don’t want to cause problems. We answer in English to simplify our lives and move on. When everyone does this, the company ends up thinking that everything is fine in English.
Then one day a case as pathetic as that of Mr. Beaudoin arises. He is in a flight full of French speakers in Quebec. He is asking for service in French. But the flight attendant assigned to her row is unilingual Anglophone. We end up threatening Mr. Beaudoin, we suggest he get out of the plane and take another flight later.
Shamelessly
The company demonstrates its contempt, but also its beef front.
How does an organization come to have so many fronts? When she thinks she’s above the law. If the government wants to be serious with its Official Languages Act, it must give it teeth, penalties that hurt enough to change old habits.
