Air Canada has been ordered to pay an Ottawa French-language rights crusader and his wife $12,000 and formally apologize for failing to offer them services in French.
Among several complaints to the Federal Court of Canada, Michel Thibodeau described how when he asked a unilingual anglophone flight attendant in French for a 7-Up, she gave him a Sprite.
Thibodeau characterized the incident and others as "malicious, oppressive and reprehensible," conduct by Air Canada employees that only aggravated the violation of the couple's linguistic rights.
The court Wednesday agreed in part, and ruled the airline breached the Official Languages Act on four occasions in 2009 involving Thibodeau and his wife, Lynda, of Orléans.
"The applicants' language rights are clearly very important to them and the violation of their rights caused them a moral prejudice, pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of their vacation," Justice Marie-Josée Bédard wrote in her judgment.
"It is also my opinion that awarding damages in this case will serve the purpose of emphasizing the importance of the rights at issue and will have a deterrent effect."
It is Michel Thibodeau's second successful legal action against the airline and its subsidiaries. In 2000, he was refused service in French when he tried to order a 7-Up from a unilingual English flight attendant on an Air Ontario flight from Montreal to Ottawa.
Thibodeau filed suit in Federal Court for $525,000 in damages. The court upheld his complaint, ordered the airline to make a formal apology and pay him $5,375.95. Thibodeau was later honoured by the French-language rights group, Imperatif français.
In 2007, he filed a complaint against the City of Ottawa, accusing it of not providing sufficient bilingual services on its buses.
In the latest case, the Thibodeaus initially complained of eight instances in 2009 in which they did not receive services in French at airports in Atlanta, Toronto and Ottawa and aboard three related Air Canada Jazz flights between Canada and the United States.
The Official Languages Act requires Air Canada to communicate and provide services in both official languages in the National Capital Region and elsewhere in Canada, "where there is significant demand for those services in the minority language and where it is warranted by the nature of the office or facility."
In an affidavit filed with court, Michel Thibodeau, who represented the couple, criticized the attitude of a flight attendant on the flight from Charlotte to Toronto on May 12, 2009.
"When I boarded the plane at 11: 00 a.m., I said hello to the flight attendant. She replied in English. I asked her whether she spoke French, and she said 'no' in English. She said that there was no service in French. So, no active offer of services in French, and no service in French on that flight.
"At 10 past 11, the flight attendant came by, and she stopped to tell me that she was not obliged to speak French, that she and several other unilingual English flight attendants had been hired in the '90s and that service in French was not mandatory.
Among several complaints to the Federal Court of Canada, Michel Thibodeau described how when he asked a unilingual anglophone flight attendant in French for a 7-Up, she gave him a Sprite.
Thibodeau characterized the incident and others as "malicious, oppressive and reprehensible," conduct by Air Canada employees that only aggravated the violation of the couple's linguistic rights.
The court Wednesday agreed in part, and ruled the airline breached the Official Languages Act on four occasions in 2009 involving Thibodeau and his wife, Lynda, of Orléans.
"The applicants' language rights are clearly very important to them and the violation of their rights caused them a moral prejudice, pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of their vacation," Justice Marie-Josée Bédard wrote in her judgment.
"It is also my opinion that awarding damages in this case will serve the purpose of emphasizing the importance of the rights at issue and will have a deterrent effect."
It is Michel Thibodeau's second successful legal action against the airline and its subsidiaries. In 2000, he was refused service in French when he tried to order a 7-Up from a unilingual English flight attendant on an Air Ontario flight from Montreal to Ottawa.
Thibodeau filed suit in Federal Court for $525,000 in damages. The court upheld his complaint, ordered the airline to make a formal apology and pay him $5,375.95. Thibodeau was later honoured by the French-language rights group, Imperatif français.
In 2007, he filed a complaint against the City of Ottawa, accusing it of not providing sufficient bilingual services on its buses.
In the latest case, the Thibodeaus initially complained of eight instances in 2009 in which they did not receive services in French at airports in Atlanta, Toronto and Ottawa and aboard three related Air Canada Jazz flights between Canada and the United States.
The Official Languages Act requires Air Canada to communicate and provide services in both official languages in the National Capital Region and elsewhere in Canada, "where there is significant demand for those services in the minority language and where it is warranted by the nature of the office or facility."
In an affidavit filed with court, Michel Thibodeau, who represented the couple, criticized the attitude of a flight attendant on the flight from Charlotte to Toronto on May 12, 2009.
"When I boarded the plane at 11: 00 a.m., I said hello to the flight attendant. She replied in English. I asked her whether she spoke French, and she said 'no' in English. She said that there was no service in French. So, no active offer of services in French, and no service in French on that flight.
"At 10 past 11, the flight attendant came by, and she stopped to tell me that she was not obliged to speak French, that she and several other unilingual English flight attendants had been hired in the '90s and that service in French was not mandatory.
"With a sarcastic smile, she asked Lynda and me whether we were from Quebec. We replied that we lived in Ontario, in Ottawa. I asked her name as I was going to file a complaint about the lack of service in French ...
"At 11: 46 a.m., the flight attendant came by and asked my wife and me, 'Anything to drink folks?' Lynda said, "Rien merci" [No, thank you]. I told her "Je vais prendre un 7-Up s.v.p." [I would like a 7-Up, please]. She served me a Sprite."
For its part, Air Canada admitted to the court it is not always able to provide all services in French as required by the Act, but that breaches are occasional and do not reveal a systemic problem, as alleged by the Thibodeaus.
"Air Canada emphasizes that things are evolving within the organization; it has made commitments and it makes considerable efforts to hire bilingual staff and to develop the language skills of its employees and those of Jazz, that service in French has improved over the years and that its complaints track record has improved substantially," Justice Bédard wrote.
Still, the airline, according the reasons for the judgment, admitted four breaches in the new Thibodeau case:
No services in French on board ? ? flight AC8627 flying the Toronto-Atlanta route on Jan. 23, 2009: Air Canada acknowledges there was no bilingual flight attendant on this flight, although it was a flight on which there was significant demand for services in French.
No translation of an announce-? ? ment made in English by the pilot concerning the arrival time and weather on flight AC8622 flying the Atlanta-Toronto route on Feb. 1, 2009: Air Canada acknowledges that the announcement should have been translated by the flight attendant (who was bilingual) because it was a flight on which there was significant demand for services in French.
No services in French on board ? ? flight AC7923 flying the Charlotte-Toronto route on May 12, 2009. Air Canada acknowledges that there was no bilingual flight attendant on this flight and that it was a flight on which there was significant demand for services in French.
Announcement made in English ? ? only to passengers concerning baggage collection at the Toronto airport on May 12, 2009: Air Canada admits that this announcement should have been made in English and French because the Toronto airport is an airport where there is significant demand for services in French.
Air Canada, however, denied the Thibodeaus' complaint that it was responsible for an announcement to passengers made in English only regarding a change of baggage carousal at the Ottawa airport on Feb. 1, 2009.
The airline denied it was its responsibility to make those announcements and told the court it was the airport authority's responsibility since the airlines did not have access to the transmission.
The court ruled Air Canada breached its duty to provide French services four times and awarded the each of the Thibodeaus $6,000 in damages, or $1,500 for each breach, (plus $6,982.19 in costs). The couple had sought $5,000 for each infraction, for a total of $25,000.
The court dismissed the Thibodeaus' claim for $500,000 in exemplary and punitive damages based on allegations of "the systemic nature of Air Canada's breaches and on the arrogant attitude of Air Canada employees."
Justice Bédard did, however, find that a "systemic problem" complying with linguistic requirements exists at Air Canada.
She ordered the airline to introduce, within six months, "a proper monitoring system and procedures to quickly identify, document and quantify potential violations of its language duties," under the languages act and a language requirement contained in the act under which the former Crown corporation was privatized in 1988.
The airline Wednesday said it was reviewing the judgment and had no comment.
"At 11: 46 a.m., the flight attendant came by and asked my wife and me, 'Anything to drink folks?' Lynda said, "Rien merci" [No, thank you]. I told her "Je vais prendre un 7-Up s.v.p." [I would like a 7-Up, please]. She served me a Sprite."
For its part, Air Canada admitted to the court it is not always able to provide all services in French as required by the Act, but that breaches are occasional and do not reveal a systemic problem, as alleged by the Thibodeaus.
"Air Canada emphasizes that things are evolving within the organization; it has made commitments and it makes considerable efforts to hire bilingual staff and to develop the language skills of its employees and those of Jazz, that service in French has improved over the years and that its complaints track record has improved substantially," Justice Bédard wrote.
Still, the airline, according the reasons for the judgment, admitted four breaches in the new Thibodeau case:
No services in French on board ? ? flight AC8627 flying the Toronto-Atlanta route on Jan. 23, 2009: Air Canada acknowledges there was no bilingual flight attendant on this flight, although it was a flight on which there was significant demand for services in French.
No translation of an announce-? ? ment made in English by the pilot concerning the arrival time and weather on flight AC8622 flying the Atlanta-Toronto route on Feb. 1, 2009: Air Canada acknowledges that the announcement should have been translated by the flight attendant (who was bilingual) because it was a flight on which there was significant demand for services in French.
No services in French on board ? ? flight AC7923 flying the Charlotte-Toronto route on May 12, 2009. Air Canada acknowledges that there was no bilingual flight attendant on this flight and that it was a flight on which there was significant demand for services in French.
Announcement made in English ? ? only to passengers concerning baggage collection at the Toronto airport on May 12, 2009: Air Canada admits that this announcement should have been made in English and French because the Toronto airport is an airport where there is significant demand for services in French.
Air Canada, however, denied the Thibodeaus' complaint that it was responsible for an announcement to passengers made in English only regarding a change of baggage carousal at the Ottawa airport on Feb. 1, 2009.
The airline denied it was its responsibility to make those announcements and told the court it was the airport authority's responsibility since the airlines did not have access to the transmission.
The court ruled Air Canada breached its duty to provide French services four times and awarded the each of the Thibodeaus $6,000 in damages, or $1,500 for each breach, (plus $6,982.19 in costs). The couple had sought $5,000 for each infraction, for a total of $25,000.
The court dismissed the Thibodeaus' claim for $500,000 in exemplary and punitive damages based on allegations of "the systemic nature of Air Canada's breaches and on the arrogant attitude of Air Canada employees."
Justice Bédard did, however, find that a "systemic problem" complying with linguistic requirements exists at Air Canada.
She ordered the airline to introduce, within six months, "a proper monitoring system and procedures to quickly identify, document and quantify potential violations of its language duties," under the languages act and a language requirement contained in the act under which the former Crown corporation was privatized in 1988.
The airline Wednesday said it was reviewing the judgment and had no comment.
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
